Who Was F. Scott Fitzgerald?

F. Scott Fitzgerald was a prominent American novelist and short-story writer, known for his depiction of life during the Jazz Age. He is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of writers who lived in Paris in the 1920s. Fitzgerald's novels—most notably The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and Tender Is the Night—have been widely praised as modern classics and have sold millions of copies.

Fitzgerald is also remembered for the decadent and extravagant lifestyle he shared with wife Zelda during the Roaring Twenties. After a brilliant early career, Fitzgerald saw his health and reputation fall into decline due to alcoholism.

Dates: September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940

Also Known As: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, Scott Fitzgerald

Famous Quote: "All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath."

Early Years

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 24, 1896 to Mollie McQuillan and Edward Fitzgerald. They named their son after a distant cousin, Francis Scott Key, who had written the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner in 1814. Just months prior to their son's birth, the couple had lost their daughters, age one and three, to influenza.

Mollie McQuillan Fitzgerald came from a wealthy family and had inherited a large sum of money when her father died as a young man in 1877. Edward Fitzgerald, originally from Maryland, came from a more modest background.

He owned a small furniture business, but it was not successful and he was forced to close it in 1898.

Scott, as he came to be known, was always keenly aware of the differences between those with money and those without it, a theme that would later emerge in several of his stories.

Having lost two young children, Mollie was always very protective of her son and fretted when he was ill. Following the loss of another daughter who died at birth, the Fitzgeralds were thrilled when a healthy girl, Annabel, was born in 1901.

A Family on the Move

The family moved frequently during Scott's childhood after Edward was hired as a wholesale grocery salesman. They lived in various cities in upstate New York between 1898 and 1908. Young Scott had difficulty fitting in at school, not only because of the frequent moves, but also because he was somewhat spoiled and boastful. He longed to play football, but was small in stature and lacked athletic talent.

In 1908, Edward lost his job, forcing the family to move back to St. Paul, where the McQuillan family could help them with finances. Because his father was viewed as a failure, Scott developed a sense of shame and an inferiority complex. As before, he was unpopular in school and received poor grades.

Yet Scott soon discovered he enjoyed writing. When he was 13, one of his stories was featured in a school publication; this accomplishment gave young Fitzgerald a sense of self-confidence. He soon became involved in dance classes and writing and acting in plays.

Private School in New Jersey

In 1911, 15-year-old Scott Fitzgerald enrolled at Newman School, a Catholic prep school in Hackensack, New Jersey, in preparation for entrance to Princeton University. Fitzgerald finally realized his dream of playing football when he joined the intramural team at Newman.

The school's proximity to New York City allowed Fitzgerald to attend Broadway plays on the weekends. His interest in theater inspired him to write a play that was performed by a dramatic club in St. Paul during his 1912 summer vacation. The play was a great success and received rave reviews.

Fitzgerald was not so successful in his academic endeavors. Because of his poor grades, he was not accepted at Princeton University. Convinced he could talk his way into Princeton, Fitzgerald pleaded with admissions officers to review his application once again. Incredibly, they relented, and accepted him.

Fitzgerald entered Princeton in 1913 at the age of 17.

Life at Princeton

Not surprisingly, Fitzgerald's grades suffered because he focused more on writing and socializing than on keeping up with his school work. He became a member of the Triangle Club, Princeton's theatrical group, and worked on the staff of the Tiger, the school's literary magazine. Although he continued to write plays, Fitzgerald's poor grades made him ineligible to perform in them. He was also banned from realizing one of his fondest dreams—becoming the president of the Triangle Club.

While home on Christmas break in early 1915, Fitzgerald met Ginevra King, a wealthy young woman who was his neighbor's roommate at boarding school. Smitten by one another, Scott and Ginevra kept up a regular correspondence for nearly two years.

In 1916, Fitzgerald became ill during the Christmas break with what was later diagnosed as tuberculosis. Adding to his woes, he was informed that he would have to repeat his junior year because of his abysmal grades.

In January 1917, Fitzgerald received crushing news. Ginevra broke off the relationship because of her engagement to another man—one whose wealth Fitzgerald could not compete with. The unattainable Ginevra King would serve as the inspiration for several of his female characters, most notably Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby.

Meeting Zelda Sayre

Like many men of his generation, Fitzgerald chose to join the war effort when the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917. He joined the U.S. Army in July of that year and received a commission as a second lieutenant. Fitzgerald trained in Kansas, then was sent to several army camps in the southeastern U.S., eventually ending up at Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, Alabama. In his free time, he worked on a novel he had been writing, titled The Romantic Egoist.

As he waited to be deployed overseas, Fitzgerald attended numerous social events in Montgomery. At a dance one evening in July 1918, he met beautiful Zelda Sayre, the 17-year-old daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge. Zelda was known in Montgomery for her great beauty, and, like Fitzgerald, she had been fussed over and spoiled as a child. The two were instantly attracted to one another.

Just as Fitzgerald was getting ready to go overseas, the war ended in November 1918. After his discharge from the army, Fitzgerald moved to New York City. He and Zelda wrote letters back and forth, and soon became engaged.

Double Rejection

Fitzgerald accepted a job with a New York advertising firm with the intention of earning enough money to marry Zelda. But he and Zelda preferred an exciting lifestyle that included parties, drinking, and staying up all night—a lifestyle that his salary could not sustain. Then came the disappointing news that his novel had been rejected by the publisher. Zelda reacted by breaking off the engagement, insistent that she would not marry Scott if he could not assure her of a decent income.

Fitzgerald moved back to his parents' home in St. Paul to work on revising his novel. Determined to stay focused on his project, he abstained from drinking alcohol during this time. In September 1919, his novel, re-titled This Side of Paradise, was resubmitted to Scribner's, where it was accepted, to Fitzgerald's great relief. The novel is centered on a young man who is clearly based upon Fitzgerald himself.

Because Fitzgerald received no advance payment from the publisher, he struggled to make ends meet prior to his book being published. He worked furiously on a number of short stories, submitting them to various literary magazines.

Marriage and Literary Success

Fitzgerald continued to pursue Zelda, but she wouldn't agree to marry him until his book was published in March 1920. They were married just a week later in a small, private ceremony in New York City. Scott Fitzgerald was 23 years old and Zelda only 19.

This Side of Paradise was an unqualified success, selling 45,000 copies in 1920 alone. Fitzgerald was the toast of the town, as he and Zelda celebrated with friends in New York City. In spite of the advent of Prohibition in January 1920, the Fitzgeralds became legendary for their all-night parties and decadent lifestyle; they were even thrown out of some hotels because of their wild, disruptive behavior.

Fitzgerald's second published work was a book of short stories, called Flappers and Philosophers, published in September 1920.

Parenthood

In early 1921, Zelda learned that she was expecting a baby. The Fitzgeralds decided to tour Europe before they became parents. They visited England and Italy in the spring of 1921, then returned to the United States to await the birth of their child in Fitzgerald's hometown of St. Paul.

Scott Fitzgerald was feted and celebrated when he returned to St. Paul, hailed as a hometown hero. Zelda was not so well-received by the tight-knit community, viewed instead by many as an outsider.

The couple moved into a summer cottage, where Fitzgerald worked on another book of short stories and his latest novel, The Beautiful and Damned. Despite his workload, Fitzgerald found time to attend plenty of social gatherings, often drinking far too much.

On October 26, 1921, their daughter, Frances Scott Key Fitzgerald ("Scottie"), was born in St. Paul.

Less than a year after their daughter's birth, Fitzgerald and Zelda grew tired of the sedate atmosphere in St. Paul. They moved back to New York in September 1922, settling in at a home on Long Island. They managed to continue their extravagant lifestyle, but it soon took its toll upon their finances.

Fitzgerald knew that he had to write more stories to keep up with bills. He and Zelda decided that Paris would provide the perfect environment for a writer, as well as minimize their cost of living. They moved to Paris in May 1924. There, Fitzgerald worked on the novel that has become an enduring classic: The Great Gatsby. As he had done with his previous novel, Fitzgerald stayed sober while writing The Great Gatsby.

The Success of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby was released on April 10, 1925 and was received enthusiastically by critics. Although initial sales of the book were slow, Fitzgerald's reputation profited from the rave reviews the novel had been given. Soon after The Great Gatsby was published, Fitzgerald met fellow expat writer Ernest Hemingway. Theirs would be a complicated and conflicted relationship.

Through Hemingway, Fitzgerald met many members of the literary and artistic communities of Paris in the 1920s, including American writer and critic Gertrude Stein, novelist John dos Passos, and artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.

Fitzgerald became associated with the group of writers living in Europe (including Hemingway and Stein, among others) known as the "Lost Generation." These writers were literary innovators who rejected more conventional methods of writing, which they viewed as outdated. The "Lost Generation" also sought to find meaning in a world vastly altered by the horrors of World War I.

Fitzgerald began work on a new novel, Tender Is the Night, in 1925, but became distracted by his ongoing celebrations for the success of The Great Gatsby. Heavy drinking and smoking adversely affected his health, and Scott argued frequently with Zelda, who was also drinking heavily. Adding to the marital strain, Zelda had had a romantic relationship with a French aviator during a visit to the French Riviera the previous year.

Return to the U.S.

Seeking a more peaceful existence, the Fitzgeralds moved back to the U.S. in 1926, first to Alabama and then to California, where F. Scott Fitzgerald had been hired to write a movie script. They left their daughter in the care of Scott's parents.

In Hollywood, Scott and Zelda resumed their spendthrift ways, quickly going through the advance Fitzgerald had been paid for the script. Unfortunately, the script was rejected, so Fitzgerald was not paid his final fee. Returning home on a train, the couple argued repeatedly about an actress F. Scott Fitzgerald had flirted with.

Soon after their return, Zelda developed severe mood swings, which led to even more bickering with her husband. Attempting to find a quiet place where they might repair their marriage, the Fitzgeralds rented a mansion in Wilmington, Delaware. There, Fitzgerald—desperate for money to maintain the mansion—churned out stories to be published in magazines.

By spring of 1928, Fitzgerald still struggled with completing Tender Is the Night. The ever-restless couple decided that Paris might once again be the best place for Scott to focus on his writing and set off for France. But by summer's end, Fitzgerald had only completed two chapters of his novel. They returned to Delaware in October 1928, but continued to travel to France for vacations.

Zelda's Breakdown

As Fitzgerald worked to complete his novel, Zelda's behavior became increasingly alarming. During a visit to the French Riviera in the summer of 1929, she displayed signs of serious mental illness, insisting that she heard voices coming from inanimate objects. Following an acute episode of anxiety, Zelda was admitted to a clinic in Paris for psychiatric care in April 1930.

In early May, Zelda signed herself out of the clinic against medical advice, but her condition only worsened. After an episode of hallucinations and a suicide attempt, she was admitted to a clinic in Switzerland and diagnosed as having schizophrenia, a form of psychosis.

Fitzgerald remained by Zelda's side, while Scottie stayed in Paris with her governess. After Zelda's discharge in September 1931, the Fitzgeralds returned to the United States for good, renting a house close to Zelda's parents in Montgomery.

Following another psychotic episode, Zelda was admitted to a psychiatric clinic at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore in February 1932. Fitzgerald rented a nearby house so that he and Scottie could visit Zelda as often as they wanted. During her lucid moments, Zelda painted and wrote short stories while institutionalized, and even had a novel published in 1932.

Tender Is the Night Is Published

Fitzgerald, in the meantime, had great difficulty finding the time and discipline to work on Tender Is the Night, so busy was he writing stories just to stay afloat financially. He continued to drink and smoke heavily and was hospitalized with typhoid fever as well as for treatment of alcoholism.

Tender Is the Night was finally published on April 12, 1934, earning mixed reviews. Sales were disappointing. One theory as to why it did not sell well had to do with the decade in which it was published. People struggling with difficult economic times during the Great Depression were not interested in a story about rich Americans living on the French Riviera. In the decades since Fitzgerald's death, the book has come to be highly regarded.

Disappointing sales for his book were not the only difficulty facing Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda made several attempts to commit suicide in the hospital as her condition deteriorated. Heartbroken, Fitzgerald came to realize that there was nothing more he could do to help her; their life together had come to an end. Sadly, Zelda would spend much of the rest of her life institutionalized.

Final Years

Fitzgerald continued to write short stories for magazines, but always worried about keeping up with his bills. Financial concerns, coupled with angst over Zelda, contributed to his physical decline and fueled his drinking.

When Fitzgerald's mother died in 1936, he inherited a good sum of money from her, but quickly spent much of that. He soon became discouraged that many of his stories were being rejected, and that he had earned a reputation as an alcoholic. Yet a new opportunity came his way in 1937.

When offered the chance to write screenplays, he accepted and moved to Hollywood. His scripts, however, were often rewritten by others, and he only received screen credit for one film. (Although Fitzgerald failed as a screenwriter, several of his stories were later made into films, including "Tender is the Night," three versions of "The Great Gatsby," and an adaptation of his short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.")

In Hollywood, Fitzgerald met Sheilah Graham, a movie columnist with whom he fell in love. Graham inspired the main female character in Fitzgerald's final novel, The Last Tycoon. Due to Fitzgerald's declining health, the novel was never completed. In November 1940, Fitzgerald suffered a heart attack, and was placed on strict bed rest.

He never fully recuperated. On December 21, 1940, F. Scott Fitzgerald was stricken by a second and fatal heart attack and died at the age of 44.

Although incomplete, The Last Tycoon was published in 1941 to mostly positive reviews.

Zelda Fitzgerald died in a fire at a mental hospital in 1948. She was buried next to her husband in Rockville, Maryland. Their tombstone is inscribed with the final line from The Great Gatsby: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."