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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American novelist, screenwriter, and short-story writer. He was primarily known as F. Scott Fitzgerald. He was born on 4th September 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. Born into an upper-middle-class family, he was primarily raised in Buffalo, New York. As a child, Fitzgerald attended the Holy Angels Convent and Nardin Academy. Both are Catholic schools on the West Side of Buffalo. He dropped out of Princeton University due to a failed relationship and his obsession with writing.
Fitzgerald published four novels, four collections of short stories, and 164 short stories during his lifetime. He was best known for his novels depicting the Jazz Age’s grandiosity and excess. It was a period in the 1920s and 1930s when jazz music and dance styles became popular in the United States. Fitzgerald got recognition and critical acclaim only after his death.
Top 10 F Scott Fitzgerald Best Books
F Scott Fitzgerald is a renewed writer who has nearly two hundred publications. Within this writing ten popular books are mentioned here.
1. The Great Gatsby
Fitzgerald scholar James L.W. West III has updated this edition of the classic book. The Great Gatsby is one of the many achievements of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was first published in 1925 and got critically acclaimed by many readers.
The book is based on the Jazz Age, when jazz became popular in the U.S.; It depicts the story of wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. It also describes the lavish parties of Long Island when gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession. This book explores every corner of America in the 1920s. It is one of F Scott Fitzgerald’s best books.
2. This Side of Paradise
Scott Fitzgerald wrote this romantic and witty novel when he was only 23. This Side of Paradise is a semi-autobiographical story of the handsome Amory Blaine. He is an idealistic student at Princeton University. This character paved the way for Fitzgerald’s instant fame. Amory falls in love with beautiful society girls while trying to find himself.
The story’s context is in the “Lost Generation,” just before the 1929 stock market crash. Based on the original manuscript, the book perfectly captures the life and romance of young Fitzgerald.
3. The Beautiful and Damned
The Beautiful and Damned is the second novel and one of F Scott Fitzgerald’s best books. It depicts the story of Anthony Patch and his gorgeous wife, Gloria. Anthony is a young socialite of the 1920s and heir to an industrialist’s fortune. He used to serve in the army and was addicted to alcohol. Both Anthony and Gloria are rich and bestow their life for happiness.
The book draws the readers to their marriage and its termination because of jealousy and overindulgence. The author portrays the Eastern elite and shows how the Jazz Age engulfs everyone under the Café Society. The story primarily focuses on Fitzgerald’s relationship and marriage with Zelda Fitzgerald.
4. Tender is the Night
James L. W. West III, a scholar of Fitzgerald, restored this edition of the book. It also features a personal preface by his granddaughter Blake Hazard. The story’s plot is set in southern France in the late 1920s. Tender is the Night is the tragic story of Rosemary Hoyt, a young actress. The book tells the reader about her complicated relationship with the American couple, Dick and Nicole Diver.
Dick is an excellent psychiatrist, and Nicole is a rich woman. Dick is forced to choose a glamorous lifestyle due to Nicole’s wealth. But at the same time, her growing strength brought Dick down. The book became among the most-talked books after its first publication in 1934.
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of F Scott Fitzgerald’s best books. The story depicts a baby who was born in 1860. Surprisingly, the baby starts life as an older man and continues to age backward.
Fitzgerald hinted at this inversion in the era where all Gods are dead, all wars have been fought, and human faith is shaken. The “Lost Generation” has been brilliantly portrayed in the author’s short fiction.
This book captivates the enchantment and disillusionment of America during the Jazz Age. The book was later adapted into a romance-fantasy movie of the same name in 2008.
6. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald
Scott Fitzgerald is mainly known for his novels in this present age. But in his time, he succeeded as a short story writer and for his novellas. Mathew J. Bruccoli, a scholar and a biographer, combined Fitzgerald’s best short fiction in this volume. The book consists of forty-three of his masterpieces, including “The Rich Boy,” “May Day, and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.” The book also contains his viable work for the Saturday Evening Post and its sister “Slicks.” These short fictions are a testament to the literary talent of Fitzgerald. Most of this volume’s short stories portray the American Jazz Age society.
7. The Crack-Up
The Crack-Up is one of F Scott Fitzgerald’s best books and a self-portrait of his rise and fall. The book tells the readers about the sudden fall of Fitzgerald at the age of thirty-nine. It covers how he descended from a glamorous life to hopelessness and recovery.
After Fitzgerald’s death, Edmund Wilson compiled his essays and letters and edited this book. The letters were to and from personalities like Gertrude Stein, Edith Wharton, T.S. Eliot, John Dos Passos, and many others.
The book depicts the story of Fitzgerald’s talent and charm, making him a living legend of the Jazz Age. But his disobedience resulted in his anguish and forfeiture. The New York Review of Books says that the book describes Fitzgerald’s physical and spiritual exhaustion excellently.
8. All the Sad Young Men
All the Sad Young Men is a collection of Fitzgerald’s nine short stories, including “The Rich Boy” and “Winter Dreams.” It was first published in 1926, the year of “The Great Gatsby.” These two stories describe wealthy protagonists – Anson Hunter and Dexter Green. They both struggle in their love life. The book also contains the short story “Absolution,” initially written as Gatsby’s plot.
There are also stories like “The Sensible Thing,” “The Baby Party,” “The Adjuster,” “Hot and Cold Blood,” and others. All these short fictions describe the 1920s Jazz Age society where Fitzgerald used to live. Many critics have considered this book a masterpiece of twentieth-century American fiction.
9. The Last Tycoon
The Last Tycoon is an unfinished work of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1941, a friend of Fitzgerald, Edmund Wilson, prepared and published the novel. Set in the 1930s, the protagonist, Monroe Stahr, is a Hollywood studio manager. This character is based on the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Irving Thalberg.
The story displays Stahr’s rise to power in Hollywood and his conflicts with Pat Brady. Pat Brady is based on Louis B. Mayer, an associate film producer at MGM.
The novel was adapted as a television play in 1957 and a film in 1976. In 2016, Sony Pictures released a television series of the same name on Amazon Studios.
10. The Rich Boy
The Rich Boy is a short story and one of F Scott Fitzgerald’s best books. It was written in 1924 and later included in his 1926 collection “All the Sad Young Men.” According to Matthew Bruccoli, this story is an extension of “The Great Gatsby.” The book centers on the level of Anson Hunter and his love for Paula Legendre.
The character of Anson is based on Fitzgerald’s Princeton classmate, Ludlow Fowler. He stood as the best man at Fitzgerald’s wedding. Fitzgerald wrote this book on the real-life of Fowler and asked his permission before the publication.
Conclusion:
Scott Fitzgerald was only active briefly, from 1920 to 1940. He struggled to live by his works after the arrival of the Great Depression, which led him to alcoholism. Fitzgerald died of a heart attack at age 44, on 21st December 1940. He is rested in Saint Mary’s Cemetery, Maryland, U.S.
| # | Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
| The F. Scott Fitzgerald Collection: Deluxe 5-Book Hardcover... |
$59.99
$26.99 | Buy on Amazon | |
| 2 |
| The Classic F. Scott Fitzgerald Collection: 5-Book Paperback... | $39.99 $25.97 | Buy on Amazon | |
| 3 |
| The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott... |
$5.00 | Buy on Amazon | |
| 4 |
| The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection |
$24.00
$13.69 | Buy on Amazon | |
| 5 |
| Tender Is the Night |
$30.00
$18.39 | Buy on Amazon |
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Where was F. Scott Fitzgerald born?
Scott Fitzgerald was born on 24th September 1896 to an upper-middle-class family in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. He was named after his second cousin, Francis Scott Key, and his deceased sister, Louise Scott Fitzgerald.
2. Where was F. Scott Fitzgerald educated?
Scott Fitzgerald spent his childhood primarily in Buffalo, New York. Both of his parents were Catholic, so they decided to send him to Catholic schools. He studied at Holy Angels Convent from 1903 to 1904.
Later he went to Nardin Academy from 1905 to 1908. After his father got fired, his family returned to Minnesota. And Fitzgerald attended St. Paul Academy from 1908 to 1911. He was then sent to Newman School in New Jersey. After graduating from Newman, he enrolled at Princeton University. But he dropped out after a failed relationship and his obsession with writing.
3. What are the notable works of F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Scott Fitzgerald is best known for his short stories and novels. Some of his notable works are:
- This Side of Paradise (1920)
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (1921)
- The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
- The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (1922)
- Winter Dreams (1922)
- The Great Gatsby (1925)
- Babylon Revisited (1931)
- Tender is the Night (1934).
4. What is the Jazz Age?
The Jazz Age was between the 1920s and 1930s when jazz music and dance styles became popular in the United States. Jazz is a fusion of African and European music that originated in New Orleans.
Jazz brought significant cultural change during this period. The movement was influenced by the introduction of radios nationwide. Young people were primarily involved in jazz music. This movement also led to the initiation of the European Jazz Movement. F. Scott Fitzgerald first coined the term and used it in his short story collection “Tales of the Jazz Age” in 1920.
5. Who is Zelda Sayre?
Zelda Sayre, mostly known as Zelda Fitzgerald, was the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. They married in 1920, although Zelda broke her initial engagement due to Fitzgerald’s poor economic condition. They had a daughter called Frances Scott Fitzgerald.
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