Scott Fitzgerald - Jeffrey Meyers

Overview: This text provides an account of the life and work of one of American most important novelists, Scott Fitzgerald, a romantic and tragic figure who embodies the "Jazz Age" between the two world wars. It describes how Fitzgerald took his material almost entirely from his own life. Despite early success with "The Great Gatsby", his life became a struggle against failure and lack of confidence. Fitzgerald humbly accepted the harsh criticism meted out by friends Ernest Hemingway and Edmund Wilson, but also compromised his talent to support an extravagant lifestyle and later, his mentally-ill wife's hospital fees. Meyers emphasizes Fitzgerald's alcoholism, Zelda's illnesses and Fitzgerald's relationships and love affairs before and after her breakdown. His tragic marriage with Zelda paradoxically both blighted him and helped him mature as man and writer: out of that tortured union blossomed the masterpiece, "Tender is the Night".