F. Scott Fitzgerald "Benediction" I

Who is F. Scott Fitzgerald?


Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul Minnesota on September 24, 1896. Edward, his father, came from Maryland and had some allegiance to the Old South. His mother, Mary McQuillan, was the daughter of an Irish immigrant who was a grocer in St. Paul. Both of Francis's parents were Roman Catholics. Francis attended the Newman School in New Jersey. It was at this prep school that Francis met The Reverend Father Sigourney Fay who encouraged Francis in his writing. Francis attended Princeton University and frequently abandoned his studies to focus on developing his writing. He wrote for several publications while at Princeton. Francis fell in love and was engaged to Zelda Sayre while he was writing "The Romantic Egotist. The novel was rejected at the publishing firm twice and Francis was sent to fight in the First World War. After being discharged, Francis went to New York City to pursue his career. Zelda was not so enthusiastic about waiting for Francis and she broke the engagement.

Francis's Novel This Side of Paradise was published on March 26, 1920. It made Francis famous. A week after the publishing, he married Zelda Sayre and they lived as young celebrities. They had a son Francis Scott (Scottie) Fitzgerald who was born in 1921. The Fitzgeralds became wealthy after the success of Francis's play The Vegetable. Francis became connected to the Jazz Age. While in France, Francis wrote his most famous book The Great Gatsby in 1924. A year later, in Rome, Francis revised the work and it was published in Paris in April of 1925.

In 1931, the Fitzgeralds returned to America. Zelda suffered a relapse and entered Johns Hopkins Hospital. She remained in the hospital or as an outpatient for the rest of her life. She rapidly wrote Save me the Waltz, her autobiographical novel, which caused strain between the couple. In response, Francis wrote Tender is the Night which failed. Francis's child being sent to boarding school due to Francs's degrading lifestyle, Francis pursued a career in Hollywood, striking a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. Although his debts were paid, he was unable to save and spend much visiting his wife. He fell in love with writer Sheliah Graham. He continued to work as a freelance script and short story writer. He died of a heart attack on December 21, 1940, halfway through writing The Love of the Lost Tycoon. Zelda Fitzgerald died in a hospital fire in 1948

Source:
Matthew J. Bruccoli’s “A Brief Life of Fitzgerald” originally appeared in F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters, ed. Bruccoli with the assistance of Judith S. Baughman (New York: Scribners, 1994.); essay reprinted courtesy of  Simon & Schuster.