Monday, May 10, 2010

Historical Information On F. Scott Fitzgerald

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3 comments:

Halley Tower said...

F. Scott Fitzgerald, or Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota, into a family of inherited wealth on his mother’s side. He attended the St. Paul Academy and later went on to attend the Newman School in New Jersey. Fitzgerald went on to attend Princeton, in the class of 1917. At Princeton Fitzgerald disregarded his studies focusing more on writing many scripts and lyrics for Princeton’s musicals and contributing to numerous magazines at the college. Disregarding his studies put Fitzgerald on academic probation and made him unlikely to graduate which caused him to enroll in the army in 1917. During the war, as a second lieutenant in the infantry, Fitzgerald was convinced he would die which caused him to rapidly write a novel which he named “The Romantic Egotist”. Charles Scribner’s sons rejected the book, but commended the originality of the novel and asked that he submit the novel again once it was revised. When Fitzgerald was assigned to a camp near Montgomery, Alabama he fell in love with Zelda Sayre, the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court Judge. A little while later the war ended and he was discharged in 1919. His second draft of his novel was rejected again by Charles Scribner’s sons and he then moved to New York to seek his fortune to marry. Zelda’s unwillingness to wait for Fitzgerald and live on his small fortune caused her to brake off the engagement. Fitzgerald then quit his job to focus on reworking his book which he changed the name to “This Side of Paradise”. The book was then picked up by an editor and accepted. Fitzgerald then moved on to write for mass circulation magazines and was very successful. In 1920, Fitzgerald’s novel, “This Side of Paradise”, was published making him famous overnight. Fitzgerald’s fame caused Zelda to come running back to him and a week later they were married. In 1921 Zelda and Fitzgerald had their first and only child, a girl, Francis Scott Fitzgerald. In 1922 the Fitzgerald’s moved to Great Neck, Long Island where they lived the fabulous life. They became fairly fond of drinking causing their marriage to become tumultuous. In 1924 the Fitzgerald’s moved to France where he wrote The Great Gatsby. Zelda Fitzgerald shook up the marriage when she had an affair with a French naval aviator. The Fitzgerald’s stayed in France until 1926 when they then returned to America. Money played a huge role in the Fitzgerald’s life and Zelda tended to spend it faster than it was earned. Zelda fell apart after their move back to America and the Fitzgerald’s lived their lives apart. Most of her time was spent in hospitals leaving Fitzgerald to keep up with the bills. Fitzgerald moved to California to try to make money where he fell in love with a movie columnist. In 1940, on December 21, Fitzgerald died of a heart attack in the movie columnist’s apartment.

May 10, 2010 at 8:28 PM
Bishop said...

Tower--

Nice job on this assignment. I really like how you made the central focus of your response about how Fitzgerald's life impacted The Great Gatsby.

My only question is--do you think any of this information needs to be cited OR is it primarily your own words....let me know what you are thinking.

But thank you so much for the effort you put into this research.

Best,
AK

May 12, 2010 at 2:44 PM
jordanS said...

Modernist Literature was a movement in the 1900’s that represented the individual and its doubt in society and its truths. This literary movement gave power to the individual and their expression as a character in any work. This proved to be the end of the Romance era leaving the door wide open for the possibilities of literary styles of writing to take shape. With this some of the great works of this movement lacked a central figure and had at some times multiple narrators, which drastically changed the approach of writing at the time. Some other characteristics of modernist literature can represented by the World War effects on society, or a prominent frustration or loneliness as a constant theme in the book.

Francis Cugat created the original cover of The Great Gatsby, as F. Scott Fitzgerald was still in the process of writing the novel. With the cover being finished before the book, Fitzgerald reportedly told his publisher he incorporated the cover into the thematic elements. The cover depicts a woman looking out of a moving car towards an amusement park. It only shows the reflection of her eyes, bright lips, and a green tear rolling down her face, and in the eyes are two reclining nude women. On this cover is a great contrast and combination of the key colors of the novel blue, yellow, and green.

May 12, 2010 at 7:43 PM

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