Transcript Document

F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby
Created by Ms. Sorrese Lefkow
Biography:
born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1896
Father- business man of moderate success.
Mother- daughter of wealthy family.
father's business folded in 1897, moved to
New York (Buffalo, then Syracuse). Lived
there until 1908.
Family returned to St. Paul, where
Fitzgerald's mother's family lived. Lived off
mother's family fortune.
Middle-class parents constantly extended
themselves financially
Lived on the outskirts of the city's most
fashionable residential neighborhood.
As a child, played with rich children of the
neighborhood, all the time knowing he was
never entirely a part of their society.
Academic Career:
Attended St. Paul Academy from 1908-1911 and the
Newman School (Hackensack, NJ) from 1911-1913.
Wrote articles for his school paper Now.
Excelled in debate and athletics. Not a scholar.
Entered Princeton University in 1913.
Wrote scripts and lyrics for the Triangle Club.
By 1917, on academic probation. Unlikely to
graduate.
Joined army as second lieutenant in the infantry.
Continued to write while serving.
First Love
--Ginevra
King. She was the daughter of
Ginevra and Charles Garfield King. Charles G.
King was a wealthy Chicago businessman and
financier.
-She was a beautiful and wealthy debutante
from Lake Forest, Ill., with whom Fitzgerald
had a romantic relationship from 1915 to 1917.
-Broke up with Fitzgerald in 1917 because he
was too poor.
-Ginevra's father reportedly told Fitzgerald,
"Poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich
girls."
-Fitzgerald's original "golden girl," the model for
Isabelle in This Side of Paradise and (in part)
Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby.
Marriage and Work:
In 1918, while assigned to Camp Sheridan
(Montgomery, Alabama) met 18-year-old
debutante Zelda Sayre.
Youngest daughter of Alabama Supreme Court
judge.
Engaged, but she refused marriage until he could
support her in the manner to which she was
accustomed.
War ends before he could be sent overseas.
Discharged from army in 1919, moved to New
York and worked for an advertising agency to
earn money.
June of 1919, Zelda tired of waiting and calls off
engagement.
Fitzgerald quits and returns to St. Paul and
revises The Romantic Egotist.
Scott and Zelda:
lived the extravagant life of young celebrities.
lived in Connecticut, NYC, traveled abroad.
1921- settle in St. Paul for birth of their daughter,
Francis Scott (Scottie) Fitzgerald.
1922- move to Great Neck, Long Island to be close
to Broadway. Fitzgerald expected to do well with his
play, The Vegetable.
Distractions of New York impeded his work.
Drinking, elaborate parties, domestic rows,
spending money.
Alcoholic, but always wrote sober- myth that he was
irresponsible writer.
Painstaking reviser, multiple drafts.
Fitzgerald utterly devoted to Zelda.
F. Scott and Zelda- Honeymoon photograph- 1920
Fitzgerald's Silver Hip Flask
the engraving reads:
"To 1st Lt. F. Scott Fitzgerald
65th Infantry
Camp Sheridan
Forget-me-not
Zelda
9-13-18
Montgomery, Ala"
Expatriots:
1924- go to France seeking tranquility for
his work.
Writes The Great Gatsby.
Zelda has affair with French naval aviator.
1925 The Great Gatsby published.
Meets Ernest Hemingway- then an
unknown- forms friendship.
A member of the "Lost Generation" of
American expatriates in Paris.
Zelda frequently drunk. Causes scenes in
public places. Hemingway and Fitzgerald's
friendship strained over Zelda.
Remain in France until 1926, alternating
between Paris and the Riviera.
Writing:
Return to America in 1926. Attempts to write more
novels.
Unsuccessful stint of screen writing in Hollywood.
Zelda commences ballet training, intent on becoming
a professional dancer. Often separated for work and
ballet training.
Continue to throw elaborate parties. Zelda's behavior
becomes more erratic.
1927-Zelda suffers first mental breakdown and goes
to Prangins clinic in Switzerland. Diagnosed with
schizophrenia.
Zelda relapses in 1932- hospitalized in Baltimore.
Spends the rest of her life in sanitariums.
Fitzgerald forced to write short stories to pay the
medical bills.
Writes for The Saturday Evening Post. $4,000 peak
story fee (equivalent to $40,000 in 1994).
Fitzgerald frustrated with writing stories. Wants to
write novels.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, his wife, Zelda, and daughter, Scotty, in their Paris apartment in 1926.
The End:
Remains married to Zelda for
the rest of his life.
She requires more care than he
can provide.
Falls into debt trying to pay for
her round-the-clock care.
Eventually meets Sheilah
Graham, a movie columnist
and spends remaining years
with her.
Dies in Graham's apartment on
December 21, 1940 of a heart
attack.
Dies believing he is a failure.
Zelda dies in a fire in 1948.
F. Scott Fitzgerald died of a heart attack on December 21, 1940. His grave is located in the cemetery of St.
Mary's Catholic Church in Rockville, Maryland. The site is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest authors of the
twentieth century.
The 1920's:
Nicknames for the Decade:
The Roaring Twenties
The Jazz Age (term attributed to Fitzgerald)
The Flapper Era
The Aspirin Age
The Age of Wonderful Nonsense
Prohibition- the 18th Amendment prohibited
manufacture and sale of alcohol.
Thousands turned to bootlegging.
Mob activity increased to supply what was
once legal.
America Values Post- WWI:
Post- WWI- Americans begin to question
traditional values
Standard of living increased for most
abandoned small towns for urban living
economy prospered as Americans tried to
forget the war: frivilous spending, illegal
alcohol, immorality
Modernism: the philosophy of the Jazz Age
-Literature, art, and music reflected changing values
-Many authors attacked traditional values
-Authors moved to Paris, becoming "the Lost
Generation" or expatriates (including Fitzgerald,
Hemingway, Pound, Stein)
-Belief that there are multiple ways of looking at the
world- no one right way.
-No thing or person was born for a specific use;
instead, they found or made their own meaning in
the world.
-Themes of individualism, the randomness of life,
mistrust of institutions (government, religion) and
the disbelief in any absolute truths, literary structure
that departs from conventionality and realism.
-Modernism as a literary movement reached its
height in Europe between 1900 and the middle
1920s
Works Cited
"Scott F. Fitzgerald." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Apr 24 2013, 10:36
http://www.biography.com/people/f-scott-fitzgerald-9296261.
http://www.fscottfitzgeraldsociety.org/
http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/