F Scott Fitzgerald was a well-known American fiction writer who lived from the progressive era to the jazz age. His epic works perfectly illustrated the excessive and extravagant lifestyle typical of the Jazz Age. While he was alive, he was not celebrated as he became after his death. This is not to say that he was not successful, for he achieved a good measure of fame and wealth during his lifetime.
Today F. Scott Fitzgerald is considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. century. In his lifetime he wrote and completed four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night. He began the fifth, The Last Tycoon, but could not finish it. The novel was later published after his death. During his life, he also wrote and published four short stories.
F Scott Fitzgerald Bio
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, as Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. His father was a salesman and his mother an Irish Catholic woman who inherited a successful grocery store in Minnesota. His parents named him after his cousin, who wrote the poem that turned out to be the words of the American national anthem. The family moved around a lot and could only settle in St. Paul, Minnesota after his father lost his job.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing skills manifested themselves quite early in life. When he was 13 years old, he wrote his first story, which revolved around the escapades of a detective, and was published in his school newspaper.
Although F. Scott Fitzgerald was good at telling and writing stories, he was not outstanding academically. He was expelled from school because of his poor academic performance. Nevertheless, his parents did not shy away from giving him an education, and so they secured him admission to the Newman School, a Catholic school in New Jersey. There he was a boarding school student and graduated in 1913.
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He moved on to Princeton to receive a college education. His passion for literary works was so strong that he inadvertently traded his degree from Princeton University for it. He wrote articles for the university’s humor magazine and stories for the literary magazine. He even wrote scripts for the Triangle Club musicals. To pursue his literary passion, F. Scott Fitzgerald paid little attention to his academics. The university put him on academic probation in 1917 for poor performance, but he eventually left Princeton to join the army.
In the time before he joined the army, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his first novel, The Romantic Egoist. He submitted it for publication, but the publisher rejected the manuscript. This did not stop him from writing some of the most critically acclaimed books today.
Who is F Scott Fitzgerald Wife?
Writers were praised for their ability to find their way with words. F. Scott Fitzgerald is no different. While serving his country in the army, he met Zelda Sayre. Their parts crossed at Camp Sheridan in Alabama. Zelda was the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge.
F. Scott Fitzgerald proposed to Zelda afterward, and everything seemed to go well for the young lovers. However, after World War I in 1918, F. Scott Fitzgerald was relieved of his duties, and Zelda, worried that he would not be able to take care of her, broke off the engagement. Although F. Scott Fitzgerald later got a job writing stories for an advertising agency in New York, Zelda still hesitated.
Desperate over the separation, F. Scott Fitzgerald returned home to live with his parents. There he worked on one of his novels, The Romantic Egoist. The novel was accepted for publication, and F. Scott Fitzgerald began to get some light rays again. Shortly thereafter, the couple got back together. They married in 1920, a week after the publication of The Romantic Egoist, and a year later the union was adorned with a son.
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All You Must Know About the American Writer
The last part of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life was nothing to write home about. He became a chronic alcoholic, which led to writer’s block. His wife was diagnosed with schizophrenia after her mental state deteriorated. He tried to write a novel about an American psychiatrist who was married to a schizophrenic. Well, the novel missed its mark and ended in a commercial disaster.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s condition worsened with many financial problems and he succumbed to depression. When Zelda was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in North Carolina in 1937, he left her there and moved to Hollywood. Later he died of a heart attack at the age of 44.
