F. Scott Fitzgerald(1896 — 1940)
F. Scott Fitzgerald
États-Unis
6 min read
American writer (1896-1940), a major figure of 20th-century literature. A chronicler of the Roaring Twenties, he embodies and critiques the American Dream in novels such as The Great Gatsby.
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.»
Key Facts
- Born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States
- Published his first novel, This Side of Paradise, in 1920, which made him famous
- Published The Great Gatsby in 1925, his most famous work
- A figure of the “Lost Generation” of American writers who lived as expatriates in Paris during the 1920s
- Died of a heart attack in 1940 in Hollywood, at the age of 44
Works & Achievements
First novel, an immediate success that made Fitzgerald the voice of the post-war generation of youth.
A novel about a young couple destroyed by idleness and money, mirroring his own life with Zelda.
A masterpiece about the American Dream and its illusions, now a worldwide literary classic.
A novel about the downfall of a psychiatrist and his wife, drawn from Zelda's illness and their years in Europe.
A series of autobiographical essays in which Fitzgerald examines his own personal collapse with clear-eyed honesty.
An unfinished novel about life behind the scenes in Hollywood, published posthumously.
A collection of short stories that gave a whole era its name, the “Jazz Age.”
Anecdotes
Fitzgerald's full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald: his parents named him in honor of a distant cousin, Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics of the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
At 24, Fitzgerald published his first novel, *This Side of Paradise* (1920), which became an immediate success. The following week, he married Zelda Sayre, who had initially refused his proposal because he was not yet rich enough.
Fitzgerald and Zelda embodied the flashy extravagance of the Roaring Twenties: it is said that they jumped fully clothed into the fountains of New York and rode down the staircases of the Plaza Hotel. Yet their lavish lifestyle often left them in debt.
*The Great Gatsby* (1925), now regarded as a masterpiece, was a commercial failure during the author's lifetime: when he died in 1940, unsold copies were still sitting in the publisher's warehouses. His posthumous fame came mainly after the Second World War.
To earn a living, Fitzgerald wrote dozens of short stories for magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, sometimes paid several thousand dollars apiece. In the 1930s, broke and alcoholic, he went to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter for the studios.
Primary Sources
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic 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…
Of course all life is a process of breaking down.
Everything I have achieved in life came from shaping my character through work and effort, and not from merely having a good time.
A new generation had grown up, dedicated more than the last to the worship of success; having found all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken.
Key Places
Fitzgerald's birthplace, in the American Midwest. He returns there several times and writes part of his early works in the city.
Prestigious university where Fitzgerald studies from 1913 without earning his degree. It inspires the setting of his first novel.
Wealthy region of the East Coast that serves as the model for the mansions of “West Egg” and “East Egg” in “The Great Gatsby.”
French Riviera where the Fitzgeralds settle in the 1920s among the community of American expatriates; Scott writes “Gatsby” there.
Capital where Fitzgerald mingles with the “Lost Generation” of expatriate American writers and meets Ernest Hemingway.
Film capital where Fitzgerald works as a screenwriter at the end of his life and where he dies in 1940.
