F. Scott
Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896, and was a notable author of novels
and short stories. He married Zelda
Sayre in 1920 and had one daughter, whom he named after himself but called
“Scottie” in 1921. For an
extensive biography of the Fitzgeralds go to http://www.zeldafitzgerald.com/chronology/chronology.asp.
He is known as an autobiographical writer as well as one who wrote
stories that corresponded with the times in which he was living.
"Babylon Revisited," which he wrote in December of 1930,
immediately after the crash, is both a personal and a national story of the
1920s and 1930s. The characters in
"Babylon Revisited" are taken directly out of his own life, with
amazing similarities.
The Fitzgeralds, F. Scott, Zelda, and “Scottie”
F. Scott Fitzgerald really struggled with a drinking problem and Zelda had her first mental breakdown in 1930. Fitzgerald’s life became hard in the 1930s; Scottie was placed with a French governess, and Zelda was committed to a mental institution. Fitzgerald struggled with finances and tried to write more and more to make more money. He had little success and turned to Hollywood screenwriting in the late '30s. Finances began to get better for him and he planned to go back to writing fiction, but he died tragically at age 44 of a heart attack.
Fitzgerald wrote many famous works, his most famous was The Great Gatsby, which was published in 1925. Some of his other famous works include This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, Tender is the Night, and 178 short stories.
Here is a quote on Fitzgerald’s writing genius:
"Fitzgerald was a better just plain writer than all
of us put together. Just words writing."
- John O'Hara to
John Steinbeck; Selected Letters of John O'Hara, New York: Random, 1978, 224.
Sources: http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/ http://www.zeldafitzgerald.com/chronology/chronology.asp
--created by Renata Perkins, lightly edited by LG.