Facts About F. Scott Fitzgerald
The 1920s are often called the "Jazz Age." They were years when many Americans cared mainly about having a good time. They danced, drank, and partied, giving little thought to their responsibilities. The writer who best captured the flavor of those fast-paced times was F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald's first novel was published when he was just 24. A month later, he married free-spirited Zelda Sayre. They divided their time between New York and Europe, where they led a life of pleasure. But wild living, hard drinking, and big spending soon took their toll. Zelda suffered a nervous breakdown in 1930. She was in and out of hospitals the rest of her life. Drowning in debts, Fitzgerald himself nearly collapsed, and the quality of his work declined. Many of Fitzgerald's books were based on his life. This Side of Paradise is about a young man who drops out of Princeton University—as Fitzgerald did in 1917. The Beautiful and the Damned was based on his marriage. The