|
Home | Character Profiles | Chapter Summaries | Biography of the Author | Color/Symbolism Page |
|
|
|
Biography of Francis Scott Fitzgerald
(1896-1940) Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born on Sept. 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was raised by his father after his mother's death. He and his father lived off of the meager inheritance she left them. Fitzgerald was enrolled in Princeton in 1913, where he was educated until 1917 at which time he enlisted in the Army. Never stationed in Europe, and never seeing battle, he met a wealthy judge's daugher, named Zelda Sagre, at a country dance. Zelda's father forbid them to marry until F. Scott could prove that he would be able to support Zelda and a family. After being discharged from the Army he moved to New York in order to start an advertising business. Zelda broke off the engagement after he was unable to raise any type of real wealth. Fitzgerald went into a physical decline as he turned to alcohol. He borrowed money from former Princeton classmates and moved back home to finish his novel This Side of Paridise, which was a huge success. He and Zelda got back together, and were married in April of 1920. They had one daughter Francis Scott, whom they called Scotty. They travelled to Europe, which also paralleled Tom and Daisy's trip to Europe after their marraige. It was during this time that he finished The Great Gatsby, which did not meet expectations of success after its release in 1925. This marked the decline of Fitzgerald's carreer. Zelda had served as F. Scott's advisor and literary editor, but after breakdown ins 1930 and 1932 she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Without money and work, the Fitzgerald's moved to their home in La Paix, where Zelda was hospitalized for the rest of her life. While recovering from breakdowns between 1935 and 1936 Fitzgerald relased another unsuccessful novel Tender is the Night. While recovering from this, he took a job as a Hollywood scriptwriter, and living with a famous Holleywood gossip columnist, Sheilah Grahm. The completion of his final novel, The Last Tycoon, was interrupted by a heart attack on December 21, 1940, which killed him. He died at 44 years old. |
|
Home | Character Profiles | Chapter Summaries | Biography of the Author | Color/Symbolism Page |
|
