F. Scott Fitzgerald

Exegi monumentum aere perennius
=
I have erected a monument more lasting than bronze.

(it's latin.)

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in Minnesota on September 24, 1896. (Related to Francis Scott Key!!) His father was from Maryland, mother from St. Paul. Lived in upstate New York till he was 12, then they moved back to Minnesota. Went to Princeton and graduated in 1917. Joined the army in 1918 and returned in 1919. Was engaged to Zelda Sayre, but she broke it off because he wasn't the richest man. His book This Side of Paradise sounds like he wrote all about his feelings at this time. When it was published, he got instant fame and Zelda and Francis married a week after it was published. Both were alcoholics after having their child Frances, and Fitzgerald had to write short stories to not be in debt. Lived in Long Island at this time. Went to France in 1924 where he wrote The Great Gatsby. Zelda had a lot of affairs and The Great Gatsby didn't sell as well as it could of because of both of their actions. Zelda wanted to become a ballet dancer, but she had a breakdown and Francis ended up writing short stories again so they wouldn't become bankrupt. He went to Hollywood alone when he couldn't fund for their daughter Frances while Zelda was in a mental hospital. Fitzgerald ended up dying of a heart attack in 1940 and Zelda died in a hospital fire in 1948.

"An author ought to write for the youth of his generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward."

I think Fitzgerald means that the elder authors of each generation should be trying to teach the younger people and lead them in the right direction. An author should also want the people of literature in the future to remember their works and even later have people teach their stories.

1920s

1920:
*Prohibition starts
*19th Amendment passed
1921:
*World War I ended
*Ku Klux Klan started their terror
1922:
*Jazz began to become popular
*Insulin first used for diabetes
1923:
*Charleston dance wave
*Equal Rights Amendment first introduced
1924:
*Kleenex, the first throw-away tissue invented
*Little Orphan Annie first aired
1925:
*The Great Gatsby published
*Al Capone starts his career as a Grade-A criminal
1926:
*First liquid fueled rocket launched
*Houdini dies
1927:
*Iron lung invented
*Mount Rushmore was beginning to take shape
1928:
*Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic
*Penicillin invented
*Bubblegum perfected
1929:
*Stock Market crashes
*Empire State Building construction begins


http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html
http://www.online-literature.com/fitzgerald/
http://www.pocanticohills.org/century/1920s.htm