The Roaring 20s and F. Scott Fitzgerald

Background Notes

• What do you already know about the 20s?• Prohibition• Flappers• Organized Crime• Jazz• Post WWI• Post Industrialism• Others…?

F. Scott Fitzgerald

General Information

• BORN IN ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA (1896) AND DIED OF HEART FAILURE IN 1940.

• NAMED FOR HIS RELATIVE, FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, COMPOSER OF "THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER".

The Early Years…

• DID POORLY IN SCHOOL AND ATHLETICS. EXCELLED AT WRITING AND WAS A DAYDREAMER.

• IN 1916, HE ENROLLED IN OFFICER'S TRAINING SCHOOL, IN HOPES TO JOIN WWI. HE WAS NEVER SENT OVERSEAS.

Love and Marriage…

• PUBLISHED HIS FIRST NOVEL THIS SIDE OF PARADISE IN 1919. HE ALSO MARRIED HIS WIFE, ZELDA.

• HE AND ZELDA WERE CELEBRITIES AND IT TOOK A TOLL ON THEIR MARRIAGE.

The Great Gatsby…

• THE GREAT GATSBY WAS PUBLISHED IN 1925.

• GATSBY SPEAKS ABOUT WEALTH- "THAT IT IS A DEHUMANIZING FORCE THAT CAN DESTROY THE HEART.” - F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

More Gatsby…

• THE NARRATION IS ENGAGED, YET OBJECTIVE.

• CHARACTERS IN HIS NOVELS CLOSELY MIRROR PEOPLE IN HIS LIFE AND IN SOCIETY.

Trouble in Paradise…

• IN 1929, ZELDA HAD A MENTAL BREAKDOWN AND SHE WAS INSTITUTIONALIZED. SHE WROTE SAVE ME THE WALTZ AS A COMMENTARY ON HER MARRIAGE TO FITZGERALD.

Back at Ya…

• IN 1934, FITZGERALD WROTE TENDER IS THE NIGHT AS A "REBUTTAL" TO ZELDA'S NOVEL. IT IS ABOUT A CHARACTER (DICK DIVER) WHO MUST TAKE CARE OF NICOLE, THE MAD (CRAZY) HEROINE.