Gaby
He became an iconic figure of the Interbellum (from the Latin inter — “between” and bellum — “war”), the roughly twenty-year span between the two world wars. For history it was a fleeting moment, but for someone born at the turn of the 20th century it felt like a lifetime: vibrant and urgent, like the pursuit of the American Dream — bought with hard work, talent, luck, shattered illusions, and a premature end after two heart attacks. The drive to be first brought the author of “The Great Gatsby” literary success, along with a bitter lesson: ambition can bring you fame and, sometimes, ruin.
“Suppressed Hatred”
Francis Scott Fitzgerald lived only 44 years. His life began in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. The long-awaited child, born after his Irish immigrant parents had lost their first two children, was named for Francis Scott Key, the lyricist of “The Star-Spangled Banner” — a distant relative. The first American in that branch of the family was his maternal grandfather, Philip McQuillan — a successful Irish immigrant who owned a large business by the age of 30.
When the wealthy Molly McQuillan married the then-impoverished army officer Edward Fitzgerald, it proved a lucky break: the marriage gave Edward financial stability, and it offered young Francis a model of the life he wanted to emulate.
His mother’s money paid for a privileged education. At Princeton, Fitzgerald was a solid student, a star on the football team, and a winner of literary contests. He made an important discovery there: while some people had to work hard to get ahead, others benefited from their social standing. During his college years he developed a distrust of the “idle class.” He later described his disdain for parasitic lifestyles and his anger at social injustice as a “suppressed hatred of the poor.” Still, a deep fear of poverty pushed him toward a “world for the chosen,” where ostentatious luxury felt like the natural mark of success.
Student Years
A Creative Stimulus
While serving in the army as a general’s aide-de-camp, Fitzgerald met Zelda Sayre, a socialite who embodied the “idle class” he resented. The wealthy daughter of an Alabama judge lived for pleasure and tempted Fitzgerald with the appeal of “unearned leisure.” Following his father’s example, Fitzgerald proposed to the unattainable Zelda, but her family initially rejected him because he lacked sufficient income.
After the broken engagement, Fitzgerald turned everything toward literary success. Only writing could bring the fame and money he needed to raise his status and win Zelda back. His early work met with rejections, but he kept revising manuscripts until publishers accepted them. That persistence paid off: his very first published novel made him famous.
Just a week after the release of the bestseller This Side of Paradise (originally titled The Romantic Egoist), on April 3, 1920, Fitzgerald married Zelda, the real-life inspiration for the character Rosalind. The couple became known as the “king and queen of their generation,” and Fitzgerald later wrote that he sometimes wondered whether they were real people or characters in a book.
Francis and Zelda
“The Beautiful and Damned”
His second novel, published two years later, carried that title: The Beautiful and Damned. The book traces the painful marriage of glamorous members of the creative bohemia. Fitzgerald’s own family life was inseparable from loud parties with the woman who was both his dream and his curse. Zelda, his drinking and adventure partner, dragged him into a whirlwind of extravagant antics.
With Zelda, Fitzgerald became a fixture of the contemporary social scene. Their wild parties and eccentric behavior made them the talk of the town: while drunk, they rode on taxi roofs, swam in fountains, and sometimes showed up at the theater naked. Drinking, jealousy, and scandals were part of their “rich” life. That dubious publicity, however, worked in Fitzgerald’s favor, making him one of the highest-paid authors in the popular press of the time.
“It’s so nice to be young and successful!” Fitzgerald reveled in his personal paradise. His life included fashionable resorts, a Manhattan mansion, and expensive travels.
The atmosphere of this life carnival fed his Tales of the Jazz Age (a term he coined for the brief era of carefree joy between World War I and the Great Depression). The symbol of the Jazz Age became his 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, completed and published in Paris. There Fitzgerald met his fellow American and literary rival Ernest Hemingway, with whom he formed a friendship that later soured. Hemingway described their time together in his memoir A Moveable Feast.
Fitzgerald and Hemingway
A Shattered Plate
The youthful illusion of an endless party soon turned dark. As the voice of the 1920s generation, Fitzgerald also earned another label: critics called him “the trumpet of post-war neurasthenics.” Just as Gatsby’s pursuit of success ended in catastrophe, Fitzgerald’s life drifted toward personal tragedy.
His growing professional success brought less joy to Zelda, who began to feel insignificant. While she searched for meaning, she was losing touch with reality. People mocked her clumsy attempts to find herself as she flitted between painting and writing and even took up ballet at 27. The final note of the carnival came with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
The Fitzgerald Family with Their Daughter
Fitzgerald explored his struggles in Tender Is the Night, calling his personal drama “shattered.” Zelda had to be regularly sent to psychiatric hospitals, and their daughter was placed in a boarding school. In one letter to his daughter, Fitzgerald confessed his disdain for “women raised for idleness.”
At times he contemplated ending his life and compared himself to a shattered plate. But his days were numbered regardless: on December 21, 1940, the “singer of the Jazz Age” died after a second heart attack at 44. An unfinished manuscript titled The Last Tycoon — about Hollywood — sat on his desk. In his final years the writer tried to collaborate with film studios, and death found him in what he called the “capital of dreams.”
