F Scott Fitzgerald – Bio, Wife and Everything You Need to Know About the American Author

F Scott Fitzgerald was a renowned American fiction writer who lived from the Progressive Era into the Jazz Age. His epic works perfectly illustrate the excessive and flamboyant lifestyle typical of the Jazz Age. During his lifetime, he was not as famous as he became after his death. That’s not to say he wasn’t successful as he achieved a fair amount of fame and fortune during his lifetime.

F Scott Fitzgerald is considered today as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. During his lifetime, he wrote and completed four novels. This Side of Heaven, The Beautiful and the Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night. He started the fifth, The Last Tycoon, but couldn’t finish it. The novel was later published after his death. He also wrote and published four short stories during his lifetime.

F Scott Fitzgerald’s Bio

F Scott Fitzgerald was born on November 24, 1896 as Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. Her father was a salesman and her mother was an Irish Catholic woman who had inherited a successful grocery store in Minnesota. Her parents named her after her cousin who wrote the poem that matches the words of the US national anthem. The family moved around a lot and only settled in St. Paul, Minnesota after the loss of her father.

F Scott Fitzgerald’s writing skills manifested quite early in life. At the age of 13, he wrote his first article which focused on a detective’s escapades and was published in his school newspaper.

Scott Fitzgerald could tell and write his stories, he doesn’t really excel academically. Due to his poor academic performance, he was expelled from school. Despite this, his parents did not want him to attend classes, so they admitted him to Newman School, a Catholic school in New Jersey. He was a boarding student and graduated in 1913.

He then moved to Princeton to gain a tertiary education. His passion for literary works was so strong that he involuntarily traded for a degree from Princeton. He has written articles for the University’s humor magazine and articles for the literary magazine. He even wrote scripts for the Triangle Club musicals. In pursuit of his literary passion, F Scott Fitzgerald paid little heed to his academics. The University placed him on academic probation in 1917 for poor performance, but he eventually left Princeton to join the army.

In the lead up to his entry into the military, Scott Fitzgerald wrote his first novel, The Romantic Egoist. He submitted it for publication but the publisher rejected the manuscript. This, however, did not deter him from writing some of the most critically acclaimed books.

Who is F Scott Fitzgerald’s wife?

Writers have been touted for having their way words. F Scott Fitzgerald is no different. While serving his country in the military, he met Zelda Sayre. Their parts crossed at Camp Sheridan in Alabama. Zelda was the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court Justice.

F Scott Fitzgerald proposed to Zelda afterwards, and all seemed to be going well for the young lovers. However, after the Great War of 1918, Scott Fitzgerald was relieved of his duties and Zelda, who feared she could not care for her, called off the engagement. Although Scott Fitzgerald later found a job writing articles for an advertising agency in New York, Zelda was still hesitant.

Devastated by the breakup, Scott Fitzgerald returned home to live with his parents. There he worked on one of his novels, The Romantic Egoist. The novel was accepted for publication and F. Scott Fitzgerald began to have rays of light again. Shortly after, the couple reunited again. A week after the publication of The Romantic Egoist, they were married in 1920. A year later, the union was adorned with a son.

Everything you need to know about the American writer

The last part of F. Fitzgerald’s life was nothing to write home apart. He became a chronic alcoholic which led to writer’s block. His wife was diagnosed with schizophrenia after her mental health deteriorated. He tried to write a novel about an American psychiatrist married to a schizophrenic. Well, the novel failed to gain traction and ended in commercial disaster.

Scott Fitzgerald’s condition worsened with many financial problems and he succumbed to depression. When Zelda was placed in a mental hospital in North Carolina in 1937, he abandoned her there and moved to Hollywood. He later died of a heart attack at age 44.