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F. Scott Fitzgerald
1896-1940
Fitzgerald on Writing
“Mostly, we authors repeat
ourselves…We have two or three great
and moving experiences in our
lives…and we tell our two or three
stories – each time in a new disguise.”
Early years
• Birthplace – St. Paul,
Minnesota
• Named for an ancestor –
Frances Scott Key, the
composer of “The StarSpangled Banner”
• Spoiled as a boy; failed at
schoolwork and sports
• Began writing stories and
plays in his teens
Early years
• Attended Princeton
University
• Enlisted in officers’
training during World War
I but was never sent
overseas
• Fell in love with Zelda
Sayre, a rich socialite from
Montgomery, while
stationed at Camp Sheridan
in Alabama
Adult Life
• Married Zelda in April
1920
• Became disillusioned with
life in America – became
an expatriate in Paris
(along with Hemingway
and many other writers)
• One daughter – Frances,
born in St. Paul (nickname
-- Scottie)
St. Mary’s Catholic Church
Rockville, Maryland
• 1929 – Stock market
crashed – with it so did
Fitzgerald’s private life
and career
• 1930 – Zelda suffered a
mental breakdown and
spent the rest of her life in
and out of asylums
• Fitzgerald had problems
with alcohol, failing
health, debts, and
depression for the rest of
his life.
Problems
First Novel
• This Side of Paradise
• Published in 1920
• Novel was an instant
sensation
• Helped name the
1920s “The Jazz
Age” (new music,
rebellion against
social rules, reckless
actions and spending)
The Great Gatsby
• Published in 1925
• Considered
Fitzgerald’s
greatest work
The 1920s
• World War I ends in 1918
• Life after WWI:
Prosperity – new money
Prohibition – bootleggers
People flocking to large cities
“Manufactured personalities”
Disillusionment with American Dream
Decline of moral values
• 1929 – Stock Market Crash leads to the
Great Depression
Characteristics of Modernism (1900-1950)
•Rejection of Realism’s view of a firm
“reality.”
•Emphasis on the “broken” quality of lives
after WWI.
•Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith
in the American Dream
•Rejection of the traditional hero in favor
of flawed characters
•Interest in inner workings of the human
mind
Major Characters
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Nick Carraway (narrator)
Daisy Buchanan
Tom Buchanan
Jay Gatsby (James Gatz)
Myrtle Wilson
George Wilson
Jordan Baker
Setting
Long Island, New York
• East Egg [location of the Buchanan’s mansion]
• West Egg [location of Gatsby’s mansion and
Nick’s cottage]
Between Long Island and New York City
• Valley of Ashes [location of the Wilson’s garage]
New York City
• Tom Buchanan’s apartment
Long Island, New York
Links
• The Great Gatsby 2013 – a trailer of the
most recent film adaptation of the novel
• Jazz age
– Dance
– Music