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F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age

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Title: F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age


1
F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age
2
The Roaring 20s
  • The 20s are also referred to as The Jazz Age,
    a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • The Jazz Age began with the end of WWI, at a time
    when, for the first time, the U.S. had emerged as
    a world power.
  • The Jazz Age ended with the stock market crash of
    1929.
  • This decade saw changes in lifestyle and
    technology that revolutionized American life in
    such a way that it has never been the same since.

3
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4
The Great Gatsby Era in America
  • Model-T became a way of life and people could
    travel as never before
  • Mail order catalogues, such as Sears, came out
    and Americans had access to worlds biggest
    stores
  • Hollywood was becoming a factory of the worlds
    daydreams Wall Street the worlds money mart
  • Americans became obsessed
  • with the frivolous
  • alcohol, music, dancing,
  • and sex

5
F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • said to be representative of the American
    viewpoint because
  • He was one of Americas greatest dreamers.
  • He reflected Americas exaggerated hopes and
    dreams, especially The American Dream.
  • He was self-indulgent.
  • He was passionate and committed and he died with
    his boots on.

6
F. Scott Fitzgerald Chronology
  • Born Sept. 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Full
    name Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
  • His early life is shaped by the fact that his
    mothers family is wealthy but his father is
    unsuccessful at business so money is always an
    issue. He is poor but he attends prep. schools
    which make him feel like an outsider.

7
  • Enters Princeton University in 1913. Tries,
    unsuccessfully, to play for the football team.
  • Writes for the Princeton Tiger and begins to
    write and act in plays. Impresses peers this way.
  • Falls in love with Genevra King, a wealthy young
    socialite but is rejected. He is not wealthy
    enough.
  • 1915--drops out of Princeton
  • 1916--returns to Princeton

8
  • 1917is placed on academic probation. Joins the
    army as
  • a second lieutenant.
  • First novel attempt, The Romantic Egoist, is
    rejected
  • 1918--meets and falls in love with wealthy
    socialite Zelda Sayre. They become engaged.
    Theirs is one of the great love story of their
    time!
  • 1919--End of WWI--Fitzgerald is discharged from
    the army. Zelda breaks off engagement due to
    Fitzgeralds lack of financial success.
  • 1919--Working in advertising,
  • Fitzgerald is living with his parents
  • and writing
  • 1919--Writes and submits novel
  • This Side of Paradise. It is accepted
  • by Scribners, and it is a huge success.
  • 1920. Fitzgerald and Zelda marry!

9
  • This Side of Paradise captured the hopes of
    success of Americans but also the fears of
    failure and poverty.
  • NOTE
  • A reoccurring theme that runs throughout
    Fitzgeralds best works is that happiness and
    success are unattainable.

10
  • He could glamorize wealth and yet stand away
    from the people who had it and look at their
    values with utter detachment and sometimes with
    horror.

11
  • During the next 5-10 years, Zelda and F. Scott
    Fitzgerald are at the center of Jazz Age culture,
    and regularly appear in gossip magazines. They
    were the talk of the town! What was their life
    like?
  • She was wild! Some would say CRAZY!
  • He was an alcoholic!
  • They partied hard!
  • He worked hard also.
  • They both had affairs but loved each other
    deeply!

12
Works written by F. Scott Fitzgerald during this
period
  • 1922--The Beautiful and the Damned
  • 1922--Tales of the Jazz Age (short stories)
  • 1923--The Vegetable (a play)
  • 1925--The Great Gatsby the defining novel
  • of the 20s
  • 1934--Tender is the Night (last finished novel)
  • is unpopular because it is published after the
    start of The Great Depression and it is about
    people with money.
  • People didnt want to read about success
  • and excess when they didnt have enough!
  • His unfinished novel is The Last Tycoon
  • about Hollywood

13
  • 1930--Suffering her first of many emotional
    breakdowns, Zelda is hospitalized in Paris. Later
    diagnosed with schizophrenia.
  • 1932--As his popularity as a novelist declines,
    Fitzgerald begins to work on movie scripts for
    MGM to work himself out of debt. He despises
    Hollywood, and despises himself for having to
    write commercially.
  • 1932-1940--As Zeldas mental state
  • worsens, the Fitzgeralds gradually
  • separate.
  • 1940--F. Scott Fitzgerald dies
  • of a heart attack.
  • 1940 - 1948Zelda Fitzgerald spends
  • next eight years in and out of
  • institutions and dies in a fire
  • at Highland Hospital
  • in Ashland, NC in 1948.

14
  • Gatsby believed in the green light, the
    orgiastic future that year by year recedes before
    us. It eluded us then, but thats no matter
    tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms
    farther . . . And one fine morning ------

This quote describing Gatsby at the end of his
novel could just as easily describe Fitzgerald
himself.
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