Transcript F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age

F. Scott
Fitzgerald and
the Jazz Age
The Roaring 20’s
• The 20’s are also referred to as “The
Jazz Age,” a term coined by F. Scott
Fitzgerald
• The Jazz Age began with the end of
WWI, at a time when, for the first time,
the U.S. had emerged as a world power.
• The Jazz Age ended with the stock
market crash of 1929.
• This decade saw changes in lifestyle
and technology that revolutionized
American life in such a way that it has
never been the same since.
The Great Gatsby Era in
America
• Model-T became a way of life and people could travel
as never before
• Mail order catalogues, such as Sears, came out and
Americans had access to world’s biggest stores
• Hollywood was becoming a factory of the world’s
daydreams; Wall Street – the world’s money mart
• Americans became obsessed
with the frivolous:
alcohol, music, dancing,
and sex
F. Scott Fitzgerald
• said to be representative of the
American viewpoint because:
– He was one of America’s greatest dreamers.
– He reflected America’s exaggerated hopes
and dreams, especially The American
Dream.
– He was self-indulgent.
– He was passionate and committed and he
died “with his boots on.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Chronology
• Born Sept. 24, 1896 in St.
Paul, Minnesota. Full name
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
• His early life is shaped by the
fact that his mother’s family
is wealthy but his father is
unsuccessful at business so
money is always an issue. He
is poor but he attends prep.
schools which make him feel
like an outsider.
• Enters Princeton University in 1913. Tries,
unsuccessfully, to play for the football team.
• Writes for the Princeton Tiger and begins to
write and act in plays. Impresses peers this
way.
• Falls in love with Genevra King, a wealthy
young socialite but is rejected. He is not
wealthy enough.
• 1915--drops out of Princeton
• 1916--returns to Princeton
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1917—is placed on academic probation. Joins the army as
a second lieutenant.
First novel attempt, The Romantic Egoist, is rejected
1918--meets and falls in love with wealthy socialite Zelda
Sayre. They become engaged. Theirs is one of the great love
story of their time!
1919--End of WWI--Fitzgerald is discharged from the army.
Zelda breaks off engagement due to Fitzgerald’s lack of
financial success.
1919--Working in advertising,
Fitzgerald is living with his parents
and writing
1919--Writes and submits novel
This Side of Paradise. It is accepted
by Scribners, and it is a huge success.
1920. Fitzgerald and Zelda marry!
• This Side of
Paradise captured
the hopes of
success of
Americans but also
the fears of failure
and poverty.
NOTE:
* A reoccurring theme that runs
throughout Fitzgerald’s best works
is that happiness and success are
unattainable.
“He could glamorize wealth and yet
stand away from the people who
had it – and look at their values
with utter detachment and
sometimes with horror.”
• During the next 5-10 years, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald are at
the center of Jazz Age culture, and regularly appear in gossip
magazines. They were the talk of the town! What was their life
like?
•
•
•
•
•
She was wild! Some would say CRAZY!
He was an alcoholic!
They partied hard!
He worked hard also.
They both had affairs but loved each other deeply!
Works written by F. Scott Fitzgerald during
this period:
– 1922--The Beautiful and the Damned
– 1922--Tales of the Jazz Age (short stories)
– 1923--The Vegetable (a play)
– 1925--The Great Gatsby – the defining novel
of the 20’s
– 1934--Tender is the Night (last finished novel)
is unpopular because it is published after the start of The Great
Depression and it is about people with money.
People didn’t want to read about success
and excess when they didn’t have enough!
– His unfinished novel is The Last Tycoon
about Hollywood
•1930--Suffering her first of many emotional breakdowns,
Zelda is hospitalized in Paris. Later diagnosed with
schizophrenia.
•1932--As his popularity as a novelist declines, Fitzgerald
begins to work on movie scripts for MGM to work himself
out of debt. He despises Hollywood, and despises himself
for having to write “commercially.”
•1932-1940--As Zelda’s mental state
worsens, the Fitzgeralds gradually
separate.
•1940--F. Scott Fitzgerald dies
of a heart attack.
•1940 - 1948—Zelda Fitzgerald spends
next eight years in and out of
institutions and dies in a fire
at Highland Hospital
in Ashland, NC in 1948.
“Gatsby believed in the
green light, the orgiastic
future that year by year
recedes before us. It
eluded us then, but
that’s no matter –
tomorrow we will run
faster, stretch out our
arms farther . . . And
one fine morning ------”
This quote describing Gatsby at the end of his
novel could just as easily describe Fitzgerald
himself.