F. Scott Fitzgerald
1896–1940 · American (St. Paul / New York / Hollywood) · Jazz Age / Lost Generation
Known for: Author of The Great Gatsby—the quintessential American novel about wealth and disillusionment
F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda were the golden couple of the Jazz Age—beautiful, glamorous, and self-destructive. He coined the term 'Jazz Age' and lived it to excess. The Great Gatsby was a commercial disappointment in his lifetime, selling only 25,000 copies. He drank himself into creative paralysis.
Zelda suffered a breakdown, and Fitzgerald ended up writing screenplays in Hollywood, dying of a heart attack at 44, believing himself a failure. His reputation exploded posthumously when Gatsby was adopted by the military book program in WWII and became a classroom staple—now the most taught American novel.
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