F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography

If you have read the famous American story the Great Gatsby, you must have learned about the great American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. Along with his novels, he is renowned for his short stories as well. He was also famous for his turbulent personal life. His book The Great Gatsby is considered one of the best novel representations of the Jazz Age. However, he received all the attributes for this work posthumously. Recently, a movie has been enacted on the book as well.

The Great Gatsby is the third F. Scott Fitzgerald book. He started penning down his thoughts at the early age of 24. He married his muse, Zelda Sayre. However, his addiction to drinking started his downfall. He even tasted failure in his second novel; Tender Is the Night. He started another career as a scriptwriter in Hollywood movies. He died due to a heart attack at the tender age of 44.

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Birth, Childhood, and Family of Francis Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott was an American by birth. He was born in Minnesota on the 24th of September, 1896. Most people confused his name with his namesake, Francis Scott Key, lyricist of Star-Spangled Banner. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is his second cousin from his father’s side. His father’s name is Edward Fitzgerald, and his mother’s name is Mary McQuillan. His father owned a business of wicker furniture in St. Paul. His mother hailed from a catholic family with Irish roots who worked as wholesale grocers. 

Fitzgerald’s father’s business failed later, and he was recruited as a salesman in Procter & Gamble. The Great Gatsby author has to do a lot of shifting between Syracuse and Buffalo in the first ten years of his life. When he was 12, his father again lost his job, and the family returned to St. Paul’s and made a living out of his mother’s inheritance.

F Scott Fitzgerald’s education started at St. Paul Academy. His first printed writing is a detective story which he wrote when he was 13. The story was published in the in-house school newspaper. His parents sent him to Newman School when he was 15. 

The Newman School is considered quite prestigious in the list of Catholic preparatory schools established in New Jersey. Fitzgerald met with Father Sigourney Fay in this school. Fay was one of the first people to notice Fitzgerald’s literary skills and was one of the chief driving forces for his ambitions. Fitzgerald graduated in 1913 from the Newman School.

After his graduation, he decided to stay in New Jersey to pursue his artistic skills. He joined Princeton University and was part of the famous Triangle Club musicals at this university. He mainly honed his craft as a scriptwriter during those days and wrote for a few magazines.

However, his coursework got affected by the time he spent on such writings. He was initially considered for academic probation but was later dropped out in 1917. He desired to join the army but was afraid to die in World War I before fulfilling his literary dreams. His fear culminated in The Romantic Egotist's famous novel, which he completed weeks before he reported to duty. However, his publisher Charles Scribner’s Sons rejected his idea but encouraged his originality. They asked him to submit more work in the future.

In the US army, he was assigned as the second lieutenant in Camp Sheridan located outside Montgomery, Alabama. However, the war ended even before Fitzgerald was ever deployed. He returned to New York City to find work in the lucrative advertisement business. This was an approach to win over his girlfriend, Zelda, but Scott left the job a few months later. After that, he returned to St. Paul to rewrite and complete his novel.

Scott Fitzgerald Books that Received Several Honours and Accolades 

If you look at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s biography, you will find it written with several notable books. The first of the many is This Side of Paradise, which he completed in 1920. The story is written in an autobiographical style and mainly circulated the concepts of greed and love. The protagonist of the story, Amory Blaine, was an ambitious person who falls in love with two girls from high-class families but was later rejected by both of them.

The story received rave reviews soon after its release. The work sounded so passionate and finessed that Fitzgerald was considered one of the most promising young writers at the early age of 24. However, he could not live up to the seriousness of his reputation as a literary writer. He gave into the extravagant angle of his celebrity status and earned the notorious reputation of a playboy.

The second of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books is The Beautiful and Damned. He released his second novel in 1922. In this story, he wrote about the troubled marriage between Gloria and Anthony Patch. This novel helped Fitzgerald cement his place as one of the greatest satirists and chroniclers of wealth, ambition, and extravagant culture. Such a culture was prevalent in society in the 1920s, and it culminated into the Jazz Age. According to Fitzgerald, the Jazz Age is considered an age of art, excess, and satire.

However, the finest work of Fitzgerald will always be the Great Gatsby. People consider that the beautiful lyricism of the novel is the exact portrayal of the Jazz Age. It is also the perfect representation of love, materialism, and the great American dream. Fitzgerald wanted to change his surroundings, which he believed would trigger his creativity for this novel. Therefore, he moved to Valescure, France, to write the book.

The Great Gatsby encompasses the life of the protagonist, Nick Carraway. He is a Midwesterner who moved to West Egg next to the mansion owned by Jay Gatsby. The novel continued its story through Nick and Gatsby’s strange friendship, Gatsby’s pursuit to win his lady love, ultimately resulting in his exposure as a bootlegger. When the story was published, it was received suitably by the public. However, it reached its cult status and portrayal of the Roaring Twenties in the 1950s and 60s, several years after Fitzgerald’s death.

Along with the society, Fitzgerald took inspiration from his own life as well. The Great Gatsby author based his fourth novel, Tender is the Night, on his wife’s struggle with several mental illnesses. He published his fourth novel in 1934. Although the novel was a commercial failure soon after its release, it is now considered one of the greatest American novels. Fitzgerald’s last novel is The Love of the Last Tycoon, which he began writing in 1939. However, he passed away prior to completing his novel.

Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Along with novels, F. Scott Fitzgerald is also known for his short stories. He started writing them in 1920 and continued throughout his career. He obtained financial support through these publications for Esquire and The Saturday Evening Post. Some of his world-renowned short stories include The Camel’s Back, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and The Last of the Belles. A movie has also been released on the level of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

How Did F. Scott Fitzgerald Die?

The F. Scott Fitzgerald biography has always been eventful. Along with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s works, he is also known for his extravagant lifestyle. He was a heavy drinker, which took a toll on his health at an early age. Due to a massive heart attack in Hollywood, California, he passed away on 21st December 1940, at 44. At the time of his death, Scott regarded himself to be a failure since none of his work received commercial recognition at that time.

F. Scott Fitzgerald mainly focuses on the Jazz Age in his literary works. For example, both the Great Gatsby and the Beautiful and Damned are proper representations of it. He also wrote several short stories for different publication groups. Had he not followed an extravagant lifestyle, he might have lived longer and ushered us with more literary finesses.