F. Scott Fitzgerald: Jazz Age Icon

    Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Named after his distant relative Francis Scott Key, the writer of "The Star Spangled Banner", Fitzgerald was born to a an upper middle class midwestern family. He attended pre-schools and later Princeton University where he mastered the craft of writing. However, his grades were low and once put on academic probation Fitzgerald left the university to join the Army. He was stationed in Montgomery Alabama during WWI.
    In Montgomery, he fell in love with the daughter of a Supreme Court Justice, Zelda Sayre. They were engaged but Zelda would not marry him until he made enough money so he joined an advertising firm. However it was his writing that would make him his money when he wrote the novel "This side of Paradise". Ironically the book that made the money to convince Zelda to marry him was about a Midwesterner who falls in love but is rejected by women of higher class... Sounds familiar.
    In 1920, at the age of 24, Fitzgerald skyrocketed to stardom and married Zelda in New York to make them into a New York power couple living the life of fame. He continued his success in writings through short stories mostly in magazine publications. In an attempt to hone in on his creativity, Fitzgerald moved to Paris in 1924: the virtual hub of arts and literature in the 1920's. There he met fellow writer Ernest Hemingway. The two became good friends (Fitzgerald and Zelda are both characters in the novel "The Paris wife that I am currently reading). However, Hemingway was not fond of Fitzgerald's "whoring" in his writing by selling his works to magazines and writing only for money and fame. Realistically this was mostly Hemingway's "holier that thou" attitude since he did achieve great fame and fortune also by stepping on his friends and family.
   It was in France that Fitzgerald wrote his most famous work "The Great Gatsby", a personal favorite of mine. This novel also focuses on the same theme of Midwestern characters and a rejection based on money which comes from his early relationship with Zelda. The book was an instant classic and fully captured the Jazz Age and the Roaring 20s.
   Afte the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald did not produce any real notable works. His wife, Zelda was very sick and had to pay medical bills. The Fitzgeralds' life of luxury and fame had cost them much of their money and they were now struggling to get by. He attempted to write a few more pieces and also tried his hand at screen writing, but was not extremely successful. Fitzgerald died at age 44 in 1940. He died believing he was a failure because he had slipped out of the spotlight. However, today he is considered to be one of the greatest American writers of all time and his best work "The Great Gatsby" is forever cemented as a literary classic. If only he had lived longer to make his climb back to the top we may have seen more of his great writing style.