F' Scott Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age

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F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age
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The Roaring 20s

• The 20s are also referred to as The Jazz Age,
  a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Jazz Age began with the end of WWI, at a time
  when, for the first time, the U.S. had emerged as
  a world power.
• The Jazz Age ended with the stock market crash of
  1929.
• This decade saw changes in lifestyle and
  technology that revolutionized American life in
  such a way that it has never been the same since.

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The Great Gatsby Era in America

• Model-T became a way of life and people could
  travel as never before
• Mail order catalogues, such as Sears, came out
  and Americans had access to worlds biggest
  stores
• Hollywood was becoming a factory of the worlds
  daydreams Wall Street the worlds money mart
• Americans became obsessed
• with the frivolous
• alcohol, music, dancing,
• and sex

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F. Scott Fitzgerald

• said to be representative of the American
  viewpoint because
• He was one of Americas greatest dreamers.
• He reflected Americas exaggerated hopes and
  dreams, especially The American Dream.
• He was self-indulgent.
• He was passionate and committed and he died with
  his boots on.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald Chronology

• Born Sept. 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Full
  name Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
• His early life is shaped by the fact that his
  mothers family is wealthy but his father is
  unsuccessful at business so money is always an
  issue. He is poor but he attends prep. schools
  which make him feel like an outsider.

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• Enters Princeton University in 1913. Tries,
  unsuccessfully, to play for the football team.
• Writes for the Princeton Tiger and begins to
  write and act in plays. Impresses peers this way.
• Falls in love with Genevra King, a wealthy young
  socialite but is rejected. He is not wealthy
  enough.
• 1915--drops out of Princeton
• 1916--returns to Princeton

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• 1917is placed on academic probation. Joins the
  army as
• a second lieutenant.
• First novel attempt, The Romantic Egoist, is
  rejected
• 1918--meets and falls in love with wealthy
  socialite Zelda Sayre. They become engaged.
  Theirs is one of the great love story of their
  time!
• 1919--End of WWI--Fitzgerald is discharged from
  the army. Zelda breaks off engagement due to
• Fitzgeralds lack of financial success.
• 1919--Working in advertising,
• Fitzgerald is living with his parents
• and writing
• 1919--Writes and submits novel
• This Side of Paradise. It is accepted
• by Scribners, and it is a huge success.
• 1920. Fitzgerald and Zelda marry!

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• This Side of Paradise captured the hopes of
  success of Americans but also the fears of
  failure and poverty.

• NOTE
• A reoccurring theme that runs throughout
  Fitzgeralds best works is that happiness and
  success are unattainable.

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• He could glamorize wealth and yet stand away
  from the people who had it and look at their
  values with utter detachment and sometimes with
  horror.

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• During the next 5-10 years, Zelda and F. Scott
  Fitzgerald are at the center of Jazz Age culture,
  and regularly appear in gossip magazines. They
  were the talk of the town! What was their life
  like?
• She was wild! Some would say CRAZY!
• He was an alcoholic!
• They partied hard!
• He worked hard also.
• They both had affairs but loved each other
  deeply!

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Works written by F. Scott Fitzgerald during this
period

• 1922--The Beautiful and the Damned
• 1922--Tales of the Jazz Age (short stories)
• 1923--The Vegetable (a play)
• 1925--The Great Gatsby the defining novel
• of the 20s
• 1934--Tender is the Night (last finished novel)
• is unpopular because it is published after the
  start of The Great Depression and it is about
  people with money.
• People didnt want to read about success
• and excess when they didnt have enough!
• His unfinished novel is The Last Tycoon
• about Hollywood

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• 1930--Suffering her first of many emotional
  breakdowns, Zelda is hospitalized in Paris. Later
  diagnosed with schizophrenia.
• 1932--As his popularity as a novelist declines,
  Fitzgerald begins to work on movie scripts for
  MGM to work himself out of debt. He despises
  Hollywood, and despises himself for having to
  write commercially.
• 1932-1940--As Zeldas mental state
• worsens, the Fitzgeralds gradually
• separate.
• 1940--F. Scott Fitzgerald dies
• of a heart attack.
• 1940 - 1948Zelda Fitzgerald spends
• next eight years in and out of
• institutions and dies in a fire
• at Highland Hospital
• in Ashland, NC in 1948.

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This quote describing Gatsby at the end of his
novel could just as easily describe Fitzgerald
himself.

• Gatsby believed in the green light, the
  orgiastic future that year by year recedes before
  us. It eluded us then, but thats no matter
  tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms
  farther . . . And one fine morning ------