American Literature Web Resources: F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald 

The dominant influences on the life and work of F. Scott Fitzgerald were

Princeton, Zelda, and booze.

compiled by Sarah Alexander, Millikin University, 1999

A Brief Chronology

1896. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is born in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 24.

1911. Fitzgerald is sent to Newman Academy in New Jersey, where he is unpopular.
1912. Fitzgerald enters Princeton and falls into academic difficulties.
1913. While in St. Paul, Fitzgerald meets Ginevra King, the generation's most celebrated debutante. She becomes the model for Isabelle in This Side of Paradise.
1914. Fitzgerald's grades fall, and he leaves the university.
1915. Fitzgerald returns to Princeton to repeat his junior year. There, he finishes the first version of This Side of Paradise.
1916. Fitzgerald leaves Princeton to join the army as a second lieutenant. Publishers reject a rewrite of This Side of Paradise.
1917. While stationed near Camp Sheridan near Montgomery, Alabama, Fitzgerald meets and falls in love with Zelda Sayre.

1919. Zelda breaks the engagement. Fitzgerald returns to St. Paul to rewrite the novel once more. It is accepted by Scribner's in September. The engagement is renewed.
1920. This Side of Paradise is published in March, and the couple marries in April.
1921. Flappers and Philosophers is published. Frances Fitzgerald is born in St. Paul on October 26.
1922. The Beautiful and the Damned is published in March, Tales of the Jazz Age in September.
1923. Fitzgerald's play, The Vegetable, flops in Atlantic City. He produces popular stories to pay his debts.
1924. The Fitzgeralds move to France for financial reasons. Zelda has a brief affair with a French aviator.
1925. The Great Gatsby is published in April and meets with critical but not financial success.
1926. The Fitzgeralds visit Paris to enjoy a summer of "1000 parties and no work." They return to America.
1927. Fitzgerald tries his luck in Hollywood; his script is not produced.
1928. Zelda takes up ballet dancing with a passion. The Fitzgeralds, both drinking heavily, visit Paris again.
1929. The couple parties on the Riviera throughout the summer.
1930. Zelda, frustrated by the failure of her ballet career, breaks down in April and is hospitalized in Switzerland
1931. Zelda recovers and returns to Montgomery, while Fitzgerald writes Red-Headed Woman for Hollywood.
1932. Zelda's father dies, precipitating her second mental collapse. She goes to Johns Hopkins for treatment.
1933. The couple struggles with Zelda's illness and Fitzgerald's alcoholism. Tender Is the Night is finished.
1934. Zelda breaks down for the third time and never recovers her health. Fitzgerald, in despair, drinks heavily.
1935. Taps at Reveille is published in the spring. Fitzgerald retreats to North Carolina to "cure himself."
1936. The "Crack-Up" articles, which recount Fitzgerald's collapse, are published.
1937. In July, Fitzgerald returns to Hollywood as a script writer. There, he falls in love with Sheila Graham.
1938. Three Comrades is lambasted by a producer; Fitzgerald abandons his career in Hollywood.
1939. Fitzgerald writes some stories for Esquire and begins work on The Last Tycoon.
1940. A script for "Babylon Revisited" is finished but not produced. While working on Tycoon, Fitzgerald suffers a heart attack on December 21. On December 27, he is buried in the Rockville, Maryland, Union Cemetery. Zelda is buried beside him in 1948.