With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fiction
1896 – 1940
Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term Jazz Age for the era of Prohibition, also known as the Roaring Twenties. Author of four novels, including one partially written while staying in Westport, he is now considered one of America’s great Modernist writers.
- Biography/Description of Work
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, published his first story in his school paper when he was 13. At Princeton University he wrote scripts for Princeton’s Triangle Club musicals, ‘Princeton Tiger’ humor magazine, and ‘Nassau Literary Magazine.’ In 1917, he was put on academic probation, and left to join the army. He was stationed in Alabama where he met and fell in love with Zelda Sayre. In 1919, he began rewriting a novel he had submitted to Charles Scribner’s Sons before going into the Army. The new novel, “This Side of Paradise”—autobiographical about a Midwestern man who falls in love but is rejected—was published in 1920 and was a success. A week later he and Zelda were married in New York, and subsequently spent the summer in Westport, CT, working on his second novel, “The Beautiful and Damned” published in 1922. In 1924, Fitzgerald moved to France and “The Great Gatsby” followed in 1925. An alcoholic, Fitzgerald began to suffer from writer’s block while Sadie was having mental health issues. It wasn’t until 1934 that his fourth novel, “Tender is the Night,” was published. He moved to Hollywood and tried his hand at screenwriting in 1937, and began another novel in 1939 but died of a heart attack in 1940 before it was completed.
- Sources view
- Rachel Carley, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald, http://www.fscottfitzgeraldsociety.org/biography/, http://www.biography.com/people/f-scott-fitzgerald-9296261, http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html, http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/fitzgeraldbio.html, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0280234/, http://www.ctpost.com/default/article/On-the-market-Westport-colonial-echoes-with-5438145.php#photo-6230907, http://www.ctoldhouse.com/AntiqueAbandon.html
F. Scott Fitzgerald Article - New York Times - 1933-6-17, F. Scott Fitzgerald Article - New York Times - 1976-5-16, F. Scott Fitzgerald Article - New York Times - 1984-11-4, F. Scott Fitzgerald Article - New York Times - 1987-7-26, F. Scott Fitzgerald Article - New York Times - 1992-3-6, F. Scott Fitzgerald Article - New York Times - 2000-12-24, F. Scott Fitzgerald Article - New York Times - 2005-8-21, F. Scott Fitzgerald Article - The Hartford Courant - 1940-12-24, F. Scott Fitzgerald Article - The Hartford Courant - 1979- - Associated Resource(s)