Showing posts with label F. S. Fitzgerald novels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label F. S. Fitzgerald novels. Show all posts

Thursday, April 7, 2016

F = FITZGERALD, F. Scott, Author - A-Z Blog Tour 2016

You've heard of the jazzy 1920s, when Flappers were dancing in clubs and college men wore raccoon coats. Fitzgerald was in Paris with Hemingway and other authors of the expatriate community. 


F. Scott Fitzgerald, c. 1921, PD


F = Fitzgerald, F. Scott, Author
Theme = Authors A2Z


Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, born September 24, 1896 and died from a heart attack December 21, 1940, was an American novelist who also wrote short stories. His works are paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. He is considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and a member of the Lost Generation of the 1920s. 

He finished four novels This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night. A fifth novel The Love of the Last Tycoon was unfinished. 

The Romantic Egoist, recast as This Side of Paradise, a semi-autobiographical account of Fitzgerald's undergraduate years at Princeton. His revised novel was accepted by Scribner's in the fall of 1919 and was published on March 26, 1920 and became an instant success, It launched Fitzgerald's career as a writer and provided a steady income. Fitzgerald and Zelda were married at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. Their daughter and only child, Frances Scott "Scottie" Fitzgerald, was born on October 26, 1921.

Paris in the 1920s proved the most influential decade of Fitzgerald's development. Fitzgerald made several excursions to Europe, mostly Paris and the French Riviera, and became friends with many members of the American expatriate community in Paris, notably Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway, however, did not get on well with Zelda,





Fitzgerald, an alcoholic since college, became notorious during the 1920s for his extraordinarily heavy drinking, undermining his health by the late 1930s. He did have recurring tuberculosis, and suffered a mild attack of tuberculosis in 1919, and in 1929 he had "what proved to be a tubercular hemorrhage."

The last years of Fitzgerald's life and his affair with Sheilah Graham, the Hollywood gossip columnist, was the theme of the movie Beloved Infidel (1959) based on Graham's 1958 memoir by the same name. 


Portrayals of Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald and Zelda in Woody Allen's film Midnight in Paris.

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald appear alongside Ernest Hemingway, Hadley Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound in the novel The Paris Wife by Paula McLain 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons was the basis for a 2008 film.

Fitzgerald's own life from 1937 to 1940 was dramatized in Beloved Infidel.

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The books I have read and reviewed: Tender is the Night, The Last Tycoon, This Side of Paradise.

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Have you read any of the books mentioned here by Fitzgerald or any books about him? 

Please leave a comment so I know you were here, and I'll respond. Thanks for dropping by!

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A to Z Challenge

It's April again and time for the 2016 Blogging from A to Z challenge  This is my 4th year participating in the challenge! (Previous A to Z  posts at the top of my blog page tabs are: Art A-Z, French Faves, Paris, Etc. 

Thanks to originator Lee (Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out), and the co-hosts and co-host teams who make the challenge run smoothly. See the list of participants, and other important information at the A to Z Blog site.  The basic idea is to blog every day in April except Sundays (26 days). On April 1st, you begin with the letter A, April 2 is the letter B, and so on. Posts can be random or use a theme.

The Badge

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References

Photograph of F. Scott Fitzgerald c. 1921
This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923. "The World's Work",

PD = Public Domain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald Wiki on Fitzgerald.

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Friday, August 30, 2013

F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned, A Review

What was it like to live in the Jazz Age, in particular 1913-1920? Fitzgerald wrote a story about a young couple that answers that question.


The Beautiful and Damned, F.S. Fitzgerald, PD*-WC


The Beautiful and Damned


F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned was published in 1922, soon after This Side of Paradise. Capitalizing on the momentum of his novel about college life, he followed with a book on the social mores and lives of the same social strata. Anthony Patch, grandson of a wealthy and aging tycoon, lives a life of leisure and parties during the Jazz Age.

At the beginning of the story, Anthony is 25 years old. He lives on a grand scale with his allowance, while he courts and marries Gloria, his desired Beauty. He promises her a life of ease, when he receives his inheritance. Anthony, Gloria, and their friends are the elite young adults of New York Café Society.

In Europe, war is brewing. Anthony and Gloria seem unable to function without a supporting cast of friends around them every weekend. Left alone, they have very little to say to each other. Each has their moments of infidelity. Yet, they keep returning to the other. Alcohol is a constant factor.

The first part of the novel takes place prior to Prohibition. War interferes, but Anthony is never deployed. Thirty looms on the horizon, but Anthony is still waiting for his inheritance. What happens next and how he copes forms the rest of the novel. Recommended.

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Interesting Notes:

The first edition covers of The Beautiful and Damned are illustrated with characters drawn to resemble F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda.

The Beautiful and Damned was serialized in Metropolitan Magazine in 1921 prior to it being published by Scribner's in 1922. This is the second novel by Fitzgerald.

'Bilphism', a term which was concerned with the 'reincarnation of the human soul' was created by Fitzgerald and used in this novel. It was expressed as a belief and was called 'the science of all religions'.

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Other novels by F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, The Last Tycoon (second favorite), and Tender is the Night (my favorite). Please check the other Fitzgerald reviews if you would like to know more.

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Have you read The Beautiful and Damned by Fitzgerald? Any favorites by the author? Did you know this story was serialized prior to its being published? Please share in the comments, and thanks for stopping by!

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References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beautiful_and_Damned The Beautiful and Damned, wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald F. Scott Fitzgerald, wiki


*Photo cover of The Beautiful and Damned. (PD-WC)

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923.

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Friday, January 11, 2013

Tender is the Night by F. S. Fitzgerald - a Review

The Jazz Age was in full swing in 1920s Paris.  American expatriates met in the cafes, formed writer groups and wrote about life in Europe between the wars. Francis Scott Fitzgerald, author of Tender is the Night, was part of this literary gathering in Paris, along with Hemingway and a few others. They were dubbed part of the 'Lost Generation' by Gertrude Stein. 



Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night,
Scribner Paperback 2003


Tender is the Night is the story of Dick Diver, a brilliant young psychiatrist who falls in love with one of his patients, Nicole Warren. They travel in Europe, and have their own villa in France, near Cannes. The cover photo shown above is my copy of the book, the original version of the story.

In Part I, the Divers are the sophicated, elegant couple on the Riviera, the shining stars of their own parties. Into this setting are invited those who amuse the couple, and a few regulars who know the rules.  Dick and Nicole seem to be the idyllic couple, but hiding behind this illusion are the secret lovers, the hushed whispers, the illness not-to-be-discussed.

Part II, the backstory in this edition, shows how Dick and Nicole met and how Dick is absorbed into the bullish Warren family. The relationship is fraught with problems which are never addressed, steeping resentment on both sides.

Part III, accustomed to the high lifestyle and unhealthy habits he has acquired, Dick looks for something to reaffirm his faith in life. His health begins to suffer. Nicole is also looking for something more.

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Fitzgerald's prose is rich, like chocolate.  I liked the insider's view of high society in a time when adults in their twenties and thirties were unsure of what the future held for them. In this version of Tender is the Night, the backstory in Part 2 was a risk. This format wasn't popular with the readers of the day. In response, a new edition was published in the 1950s, changing the sections to a chronological order.

Considered one of the great writers of the 20th century, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940) died at home of a massive heart attack at the relatively young age of 44.  Poor health and lifelong alcoholism were the main reasons given for his death.

Other novels:  This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and the posthumously, The Love of the Last Tycoon.  Publisher: Scribner Paperback, 2003.

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Are you a fan of the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald?  Have you read any of his other works? The Great Gatsby? Did you know that many compared Fitzgerald to Dick Diver, the character in Tender is the Night? Please share in the comments.

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References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald - F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, early background, the Jazz Age.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tender_Is_the_Night - The Novel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation - the Lost Generation

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