F Scott Fitzgerald The Making of The Great

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Making of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby • Originally published in 1925 • Closer to Henry James and Charles Dickens than we are to Scott Fitzgerald • Period piece, encapsulating splendors and miseries of “the Jazz age” • Seems also distinctly modern, almost contemporary

F. Scott Fitzgerald • The dominant influences on F. Scott Fitzgerald were – – Aspiration Literature Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Alcohol

Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald • Born in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 24, 1896 • Namesake of his relative Francis Scott Key who wrote the National Anthem • Names indicate parents’ pride in father’s ancestry • Father, Edward, from Maryland, Old South • Mother, Mary (Mollie) Mc. Quillan daughter of an Irish immigrant who beacme wealthy as a wholesale grocer in St. Paul • Both Catholics

Family Life • Father failed as a manufacturer of wicker furniture in St. Paul, became salesman for P & G in New York • Dismissed in 1908, lived on wife’s inheritance

Schooling • Scott Fitzgerald attended the St. Paul Academy • First writing in print was a detective story in the school newspaper when he was 13 • During 1911 -13 he attended the Newman School, a Catholic prep school in NJ • Met Fr. Sigourney Fay, who encouraged his ambitions for distinction and achievement

Princeton years • Member of the Princeton Class of 1917 • Neglected his studies for his literary apprenticeship • Wrote scripts and lyrics for the Princeton Triangle Club musicals • Contributor to Princeton Tiger humor magazine

Army years • On academic probation and unlikely to graduate, Fitzgerald joined the army in 1917 • Commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry • Thought he would die in the war, wrote a novel “The Romantic Egotist” which was rejected, but asked him to revise and resubmit

Zelda Sayre • Fitzgerald assigned to Camp Sheridan near Montgomery, AL Fell in love with 18 -year • old belle, Zelda Sayre • Youngest daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court Judge • War ended, so he went to New York City to seek fortune in order to marry • Zelda unwilling to wait, broke engagement

Writing • Fitzgerald quit his job in July 1919, returned to St. Paul to rewrite his novel as This Side of Paradise • Accepted by editor Maxwell Perkins of Scribners in September • Set at Princeton, described as “quest novel” • Traces the career aspirations and love disappointments of Amory Blaine

Success in Writing • Winter of 1919, Fitzgerald began writing stories for the mass-circulation magazines • Interrupted work on novels to write moneymaking popular fiction for the rest of his life. • Saturday Evening Post became his best story market • Early stories about young love introduced new character, the independent, determined young American woman.

Marriage to Zelda • Publication of This Side of Paradise on March 26, 1920 made the 24 -year-old Fitzgerald famous almost overnight • One week later, he married Zelda in New York • Embarked on an extravagant life as young celebrities • Fitzgerald tried to remain serious writer, but playboy image impeded this goal

Married Life with Zelda • Spent wild summer in Westport, Connecticut • Took an apartment in new York city • He wrote his second novel the beautiful and the damned • Zelda became pregnant • Took first trip to Europe • Settled in St. Paul for birth of Frances Scott Fitzgerald

First drama: The Vegetable • Fitzgerald thought he would become rich from his first play • Moved to Great Neck, Long Island to be near Broadway • Play failed at its tryout in November 1923 • Fitzgerald wrote more short stories to keep income

Alcohol and the Fitzgeralds • During the period after his play failed, Fitzgerald turned to alcohol • He was alcoholic, but did not drink when writing • Zelda liked to drink, but not alcoholic • Frequent arguments brought on by drinking

Bad reputation • Fitzgerald had trouble getting published because of his alcohol problem • Others created myth that he was an irresponsible writer • Actually, he was very careful, doing several drafts of all his works • Chief theme: aspiration, the idealism he saw as defining American character • Identified with the Jazz Age

Writing The Great Gatsby • Moved to France in spring of 1924 • Wrote The Great Gatsby in Valescure • Marriage hurt by Zelda’s fling with a French aviator • Became friends with expats Gerald and Sara Murphy

The Great Gatsby He revised The Great Gatsby in Rome in 192425. This novel marked a striking advance in F’s technique, using complex structure and a controlled narrative point of view. Sales of the novel were disappointing but stage and movie rights brought in some money

Fitzgerald and Hemingway • F met Ernest Hemingway in Paris • He admired Hemingway’s genius and personality • Fitzgerald remained in France until the end of 1926, between Paris and the Riviera

Fourth Novel • Fitzgerald had trouble making progress on his fourth novel, a study of American expats in France • Titled “The Boy Who Killed His Mother” – “Our Type” – “The World’s Fair” • Zelda’s behavior became more and more eccentric

Ellerslie Mansion • Returned to America • Rented a mansion near Wilmington, Delaware named “Ellerslie” • Stayed for two years • Zelda began ballet training, intended to become a professional dancer

Zelda’s Breakdown • They returned to France in 1929 • Zelda’s intense ballet work damaged her health, caused estrangement • April 1930, suffered first breakdown • Treated at Prangins clinic in Switzerland until Sept. 1931 • Work on novel suspended while he wrote short stories to pay psychiatric bills

Short Stories • Peak story fee of $4, 000 from the Saturday evening post equal to $40, 000 today • Not among the highest paid writers of his day, most income from magazines • He made under $25, 000/year, not a fortune • They spent money faster than he earned it • He wrote about the effects of money, but he couldn’t manage his own finances

Back to America • They returned to America in fall of 1931, rented a house in Montgomery • Fitzgerald took a second trip to Hollywood in 1931 • Zelda suffered relapse in Feb. 1932, entered Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore • Spent the rest of her life as a resident or outpatient of sanitariums

Zelda’s writing • While a patient at Johns Hopkins, Zelda wrote Save Me the Waltz. • Autobiographical novel, caused bitterness between the two of them because he thought she was stealing his material • Fitzgerald completed his fourth novel “Tender is the Night”, published 1934

Tender is the Night • Most ambitious novel, but a commercial failure • Merits disputed • Set in France during the 1920’s • Looks at the deterioration of Dick Diver, an American psychiatrist during the course of a marriage to a wealthy mental patient

The Crack-Up 1936 -37 • Fitzgerald was ill, drunk, in debt, and unable to write commercial stories • Lived in hotels in Asheville, NC • Zelda in Highland Hospital • No more home for Scottie, she was sent to boarding school, and Obers became her family Fitzgerald was a father by mail, helping with her education and social values

Hollywood • Fitzgerald went to Hollywood alone in 1937 with a 6 -month Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer screenwriting contract at $1, 000/week • Screen credit for adapting Three Comrades in 1938 • Contract renewed for a year at $1250/week • Good money during late Depression years • Trips east to Zelda were disastrous

New love • Fitzgerald fell in love with a movie columnist, Sheilah Graham. • Relationship ok in spite of drinking • MGM dropped his option in 1938

More Hollywood • Worked as a freelance script writer • Wrote short-short stories for Esquire • Began Hollywood novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon in 1939 • Wrote more than half of working draft • Died of a heart attack in Graham’s apartment on Dec. 21, 1940 • Zelda died in a fire at Highland Hospital, 1948

The End • F. Scott Fitzgerald died thinking he was a failure • Condescending obits • Fitzgerald revival 1945 -50 • By 1960 he had achieved a sure place among America’s most famous writers • The Great Gatsby defines the classic American novel

Works Cited • Matthew J. Bruccoli’s “A Brief Life of Fitzgerald” originally appeared in F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters, ed. Bruccoli with the assistance of Judith S. Baughman (New York: Scribners, 1994)