F. Scott Fitzgerald is in many ways one of the most of import American authors of the 20th century. In his first novel, This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald epitomized the mentality of an epoch with the statement that his coevals had, grown up to happen all Gods dead, all wars fought, and all religions in adult male shaken ( Fitzgerald 307 ) .
Aside from being a major literary voice of the mid-twentiess and mid-thirtiess, Fitzgerald was besides among The Lost Generations harshest and most insightful societal critics. In his authoritative novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald blatantly criticized the immorality, philistinism, and hedonism which characterized the life styles of America’s businessperson during the nineteen-twenties. Jointly, Fitzgerald’s novels and short narratives provide some of the best penetration into the life styles of the rich during America’s most comfortable epoch, while at the same time analyzing major literary subjects such as disenchantment, coming of age, and the corruptness of the American Dream.
The life of F. Scott Fitzgerald is marked by every bit much, if non more, romanticism and calamity than his novels. Throughout Fitzgerald’s life, he unsuccessfully battled alcohol addiction, depression, and himself, in a pursuit for both personal and literary individuality. At the age of 23, Fitzgerald published his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to critical raves and impossible economic success. Shortly after the publication of this novel, Fitzgerald was able to coerce Zelda Sayre into matrimony. This matrimony is obviously the most important event of his life? finally, Zelda would non merely expedite, but basically, cause the personal and literary ruin of Fitzgerald.
Upon matrimony, and besides co-occuring with the pinnacle of Fitzgerald’s celebrity, Scott and Zelda began populating a life of uneconomical extravagancy that was frequently characterized by recklessly drunken behaviour. In order to keep this life style, Fitzgerald was forced to set aside working on novels, and concentrate his originative attempts on writing moneymaking, but by no agencies extraordinary, short narratives.
Throughout their matrimony, Zelda put changeless economic, every bit good as, emotional strains on Fitzgerald. She encouraged his short narrative authorship, as good as his imbibing, and was continually rocking his focal point from composing to socialising. Besides, Zelda’s eventual mental dislocation triggered Scott’s ain series of nervous dislocations. Because of these factors, Zelda is frequently considered the premier provoker of Fitzgerald’s literary and personal diminutions. Yet in malice of Zelda’s over ly negative influence on Fitzgerald, he continued to love his married woman to the twenty-four hours he died.
Later in life, after Zelda became mentally sick, Fitzgerald clearly illustrated his unconditioned love for his married woman by compromising his artistic unity in order to compose short narratives to support her medical disbursals. Aside from Zelda, two major American literary figures played a significant function in Fitzgerald’s life, and his personal diminution every bit good. On an drawn-out trip to Europe, and at the pinnacle of his celebrity, Fitzgerald met and became acquainted with a so vague fellow exile named Ernest Hemmingway. Throughout the class of their friendly relationship, Hemmingway would go Fitzgerald’s harshest critic, and in the eyes of Fitzgerald, his, artistic scruples ( Meyers 263 ) .
The 2nd major American literary figure who influenced Fitzgerald’s life was Edgar Allen Poe. Fitzgerald’s machination with both the tragic and romantic elements of Poe’s life, every bit good as the many similarities these two work forces shared, may hold really good facilitated his dip into the unforgiving abysms of alcohol addiction and depression. Jeffrey Meyers life Scott Fitzgerald provides a complete and apparently indifferent history of the life of one of the most complex work forces in American literary history. Whereas old lifes tended to over-exaggerate either the romantic or tragic elements of Fitzgerald’s life, Scott Fitzgerald does non in any manner effort to stress these facets. Rather, this life offers a strait-forward reading of both the life and plants of Fitzgerald. It illustrates the importance of his relationships with Zelda Sayre and Ernest Hemmingway ; the mentally and physically destructive influence of his alcohol addiction ; and the analogues between his life and his Hagiographas. Through these aspects, and many others, Meyers provides insight into Fitzgerald’s life, without coercing his ain sentiment of the topic upon the reader.
Personally, I found Scott Fitzgerald to be both insightful and interesting. Compared to other Fitzgerald lifes that I have read, Meyers life was clearly the least colored and the most strait-forward. In footings of literary manner, I found this life really delighting to read. Meyers dexterously wove primary quotation marks, his ain prose, and extracts of Fitzgerald’s composing into a coherent and thought arousing portraiture of a really complex adult male. To all fans of F. Scott Fitzgerald, I recommend this life strongly, but to those who don T know the difference between Scott and Ella Fitzgerald, I recommend this life with reserve.
