F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Story of My Life
Dear Reader
The date is December 24, 1940. I am writing this page to give the world a basic understanding of my entire life. I know I might be in a rough spot in my career, but there was a time when I felt like I was on top of the world. Hopefully I will pull out of this rough patch and rise to success once again.
September 24, 1896
I was born the son of Edward Fitzgerald and Mary (Mollie) McQuillan. I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota.
1908-1911
I attended St. Paul Academy. My first published work was a story in the school newspaper. I was 13 years old.
1911-1913
I attended the Newman School in New Jersey. Here, Father Sigourney Fay encouraged me to write.
1913-1917
I attended Princeton. Although I neglected my studies, I wrote the lyrics and scripts for the Princeton Triangle Club musicals and wrote for a couple magazines. However, I was put on academic probation.
1917
Unlikely to graduate from Princeton, I joined the army. There, fearing death, I rapidly wrote "The Romantic Egotist." This novel was rejected twice, but later accepted by editor Maxwell Perkins of Scribners in 1919. This was only after revising the novel and renaming it "This Side of Paradise."
1918
While in the army, I fell in love with eighteen-year-old Zelda Sayre.
1919
Zelda Sayre broke our engagement, unwilling to wait for my business success and to live on such a small salary. In July, I quit my job and returned to St. Paul. In the fall, I began my career as a writer of short stories for Mass-circulation magazines. I even wrote for the Saturday Evening Post.
1920
This Side of Paradise was published. This made me instantly famous. I married Zelda Sayre a week after the publication of my novel. Later that summer I wrote my second novel, The Beautiful and Damned.
1921
My only child, Frances Scott Fitzgerald, was born.
1923
I became an alcoholic.
1924
I wrote The Great Gatsby.
1925
The Great Gatsby was published.
1934
My fourth novel was published. It was titled Tender is the Night. This novel was a commercial failure.
1936-1937
Known as "the crack-up" period. I was ill, an alcoholic, in debt, and unable to write commercial stories.
1937
I went to Hollywood alone where I worked several small jobs. There, I fell in love with Sheilah Graham, a movie columnist.
December 24, 1940
Hi, my name is Frances Scott Fitzgerald. I'm writing this for my father, who has just died of a heart attack today. I don't have much to say, I just thought I'd write an end to the story of Francis Scott Fitzgerald, one of the greatest writers in American literature.
Mini BIO - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Scott Fitzgerald- American Dreamer