[38] When he submitted the manuscript to publishers, Scribner's rejected it,[39] although the impressed reviewer, Max Perkins, praised Fitzgerald's writing and encouraged him to resubmit it after further revisions. "[329], In contrast to the discernible progression in literary quality and artistic maturity represented by his novels,[289] Fitzgerald's 164 short stories displayed the opposite tendency and attracted significant criticism. [236], Soon after, a lonely Fitzgerald began a relationship with nationally syndicated gossip columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. As an adult, Lanahan has read her grandfathers work extensively. "[258] Fitzgerald died of a heart attack due to occlusive coronary arteriosclerosis at 44 years old. What is it? Its some inside something. [413] Nearly every novel by Fitzgerald has been adapted for the screen. [369][370] As a young boy growing up in the eastern Midwest, he perpetually strained "to meet the standard of the rich people of St. Paul and Chicago among whom he had to grow up without ever having the money to compete with them". By then, Lanahan had learned to deflect the questions people often flung at her once they discovered she was related to Fitzgerald, exchanges she says she found deeply embarrassing. In college, she says, I was reading [Gatsby] in self-defense. This theme comes up again and again because I lived it. [357][358] This recurrent theme is ascribable to Fitzgerald's life experiences in which he was "a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton. But that was a one-time thing, she says. It sold well enough to warrant additional print runs reaching 50,000 copies. [229] The sudden death of Fitzgerald's mother and Zelda's mental deterioration led to his marriage further disintegrating. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us! Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken. Cartoonist Alison Bechdel Recalls Her Friendship With Ed Koren, 7. [e][163][164] "I always felt a story in the [Saturday Evening] Post was tops", Zelda later recalled, "But Scott couldn't stand to write them. [220] In the 1930s, as his health deteriorated, Fitzgerald had told Hemingway of his fear of dying from congested lungs. Beginning in the late 1920s, Zelda suffered from mental health issues, and the couple moved back and forth between Delaware and France. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. [250] In 1939, MGM terminated his contract, and Fitzgerald became a freelance screenwriter. [171] Zelda found condoms he had purchased before any encounter occurred, and a bitter quarrel ensued, resulting in lingering jealousy. [171] Soon after, Zelda threw herself down a flight of marble stairs at a party because Fitzgerald, engrossed in talking to Isadora Duncan, ignored her. [105] He described the era as racing "along under its own power, served by great filling stations full of money. [403] As a parting gift before their relationship ended, Ginevra Kingthe inspiration for Daisy Buchananwrote a story that she sent to Fitzgerald. [118] Although he hoped The Vegetable would inaugurate a lucrative career as a playwright, the play's November 1923 premiere was an unmitigated disaster. ', Astrological Sign: Libra, Fitzgeralds namesake (and second cousin three times removed on his father's side) was Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to the "Star-Spangled Banner.". "Scott Fitzgerald" and "Francis Fitzgerald" redirect here. Da Capo Publishing, Inc. [292] During these early attempts at writing fiction, he received over 122 rejection letters,[293] and the publishing house Scribner's rejected his first novel three times despite extensive rewrites. [104] At the peak of his commercial success and cultural salience, Fitzgerald recalled traveling in a taxi one afternoon in New York City and weeping when he realized that he would never be as happy again. . [184] In Spring 1929, the couple returned to Europe. [178] Fitzgerald was 31 years old and past his prime, but the smitten Moran regarded him as a sophisticated, handsome, and gifted writer. [403] In her story, she is trapped in a loveless marriage with a wealthy man, yet still pines for Fitzgerald, a former lover from her past. [191] In February 1932, she underwent hospitalization at the Phipps Clinic at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. [304] He argued that "the thing that chiefly interests the basic Fitzgerald is still the florid show of modern American lifeand especially the devil's dance and that goes on at the top. [214] When Ober ceased advancing money, an ashamed Fitzgerald severed ties with his agent believing Ober had lost faith in him due to his alcoholism. It has been the greatest credo in my life that I would rather be an artist than a careerist. [396] Fowler asked that certain passages be excised prior to publication. Thanks for reading. "[398], Fitzgerald continued this practice throughout his life. [169] A more serious rift soon occurred when Zelda belittled Fitzgerald with homophobic slurs and accused him of engaging in a homosexual relationship with Hemingway. Fitzgerald was a bright, handsome and ambitious boy, the pride and joy of his parents and especially his mother. [176] The Hollywood life's novelty quickly faded for the Fitzgeralds, and Zelda frequently complained of boredom. Fitzgerald spent a portion of his childhood in Buffalo, New York while his father worked for Procter & Gamble. [113], After his daughter's birth, Fitzgerald returned to drafting The Beautiful and Damned. [364] Although fundamental conflict occurs between entrenched sources of socio-economic power and upstarts who threaten their interests,[366] Fitzgerald's fiction shows that a class permanence persists despite the country's capitalist economy that prizes innovation and adaptability. Some of his most notable stories include "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Camel's Back" and "The Last of the Belles.". His friend H. L. Mencken wrote in a June 1934 diary entry that "the case of F. Scott Fitzgerald has become distressing. [344] He riveted the nation's attention upon the activities of their sons and daughters cavorting in the rumble seat of Bearcat roadster on a lonely road and sparked a societal debate over their perceived immorality. "[290] they nonetheless contended that his fiction lacked engagement with the salient socio-political issues of his time,[383] and he lacked a conscious awareness of how to use his considerable talent as an author. The pair had just one child, named Frances (or "Scottie"). "[o][400][402] Similarly, Fitzgerald borrowed biographical incidents from his friend, Ludlow Fowler, for his short story "The Rich Boy". [224] The article damaged Fitzgerald's reputation and prompted him to attempt suicide after reading it. During our lunchtime interview, she inelegantly dumped her to-go container of salad onto a plate and giggled as it spilled all over the table. [414] His third novel The Great Gatsby has been adapted numerous times for both film and television, most notably in 1926, 1949, 1958, 1974, 2000, and 2013. She had enough pressure coming from the outside. "[272] His New York Times obituary deemed his work forever tied to an era "when gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession". According to Graham, Fitzgerald "had begun drinking, as a young man, because in those days everyone drank. Born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to an upper-middle-class family, Fitzgerald was named after his famous second cousin, three times removed, Francis Scott Key, but was referred to as "Scott." He was also named after his deceased sister, Louise Scott, one of two sisters who died shortly before his birth. He had completed over half the manuscript when he died in 1940. Champlain St. Ste. [257] Watched by onlookers, he remarked in a strained voice to Graham, "I suppose people will think I'm drunk. There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired. [363], Following Fitzgerald's death, scholars focused on how Fitzgerald's fiction dissects the entrenched class disparities in American society. Zelda Fitzgerald (July 24, 1900 - March 10, 1948), known for her beauty and personality, made a name for herself as a socialite, novelist, dancer, and painter. He was named for Francis Scott Key, the lawyer and writer who penned the . But its hard to deliver.. [327], Due to this change, although Fitzgerald showed a mastery of "verbal nuance, flexible rhythm, dramatic construction and essential tragi-comedy" in Tender Is the Night,[289] many reviewers dismissed the work for its disengagement with the political issues of the era. In a real dark night of the soul, it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day. [112] As she emerged from the anesthesia, he recorded Zelda saying, "Oh, God, goofo [sic] I'm drunk. [76], Fitzgerald's debut novel appeared in bookstores on March26, 1920 and became an instant success. His earliest short stories were cinematically adapted as flapper comedies such as The Husband Hunter (1920), The Chorus Girl's Romance (1920), and The Off-Shore Pirate (1921). [371] His wealthier neighbors viewed the young author and his family to be lower-class, and his classmates at affluent institutions such as Newman and Princeton regarded him as a parvenu. [248] His work on Three Comrades (1938) became his sole screenplay credit. [312] Consequently, expectations arose that Fitzgerald would significantly improve with his third work. [31] Her imperious father Charles Garfield King purportedly told a young Fitzgerald that "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls. Scribner's prepared an initial print run of 20,000 copies. Yourcontribution will be matched! [227] His attempts to write and sell more short stories faltered. F. All Rights Reserved. THE story of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald has been of obsessive interest to the public for more than 70 years -- not . [330] Whereas he composed his novels with a conscious artistic mindset, money became his primary impetus for writing short stories. "[74] Despite mutual reservations,[87][88] they married in a simple ceremony on April3, 1920, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. [37] Hoping to have a novel published before his anticipated death in Europe,[35] Fitzgerald hastily wrote a 120,000-word manuscript entitled The Romantic Egotist in three months. [141] She spent afternoons swimming at the beach and evenings dancing at the casinos with him. [289] Summarizing Fitzgerald's artistic journey from apprentice novelist to magisterial author, Burke Van Allen observed that no other American novelist had shown such "a constantly growing mastery of his equipment, and a regularly increasing sensitivity to the esthetic values in life. [389][390], Fitzgerald partly justified the perceived lack of political and intellectual substance in his fiction by arguing that he was writing for a new, largely apolitical, generation "dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}11 Best Judy Blume Books of All-Time, Meet Stand-Up Comedy Pioneer Charles Farrar Browne. [78] Critics such as H. L. Mencken hailed the work as the best American novel of the year,[79] and newspaper columnists described the work as the first realistic American college novel. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 - December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. [117], Following Fitzgerald's adaptation of his story "The Vegetable" into a play, in October 1922, he and Zelda moved to Great Neck, Long Island, to be near Broadway. [234] During the next two years, Fitzgerald rented a cheap room at the Garden of Allah bungalow on Sunset Boulevard. [70] Unable to earn a successful living, Fitzgerald publicly threatened to jump to his death from a window ledge of the Yale Club,[d][72] and he carried a revolver daily while contemplating suicide. [153] By the end of the year, the book had sold fewer than 23,000 copies. [201] Scribner's published Zelda's novel in October 1932, but it was a commercial and critical failure. Ernest Hemingway on Fitzgerald's loss of talent in A Moveable Feast (1964)[208], Amid the Great Depression, Fitzgerald's works were deemed elitist and materialistic. [396], Perhaps the most striking example of this tendency lies at the core of The Great Gatsby. [248] To the studio's annoyance, Fitzgerald ignored scriptwriting rules and included descriptions more fitting for a novel. When his father lost his job, the Fitzgerald family returned to Minnesota. [374], Consequently, many of Fitzgerald's characters are defined by their sense of "otherness". [289], Remarking upon the cultural association between Fitzgerald and the flaming youth of the Jazz Age, Gertrude Stein wrote in her memoir The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas that the author's fiction essentially created this new generation in the public's mind. [297] He discarded the stodgy narrative technique of most novels and instead unspooled the plot in the form of textual fragments, letters, and poetry intermingled together. But she doesnt remember much about the first time she cracked the spine of his classic novel. In 1930, Zelda suffered a breakdown. During her youth, Zelda Sayre's wealthy Southern family employed half-a-dozen domestic servants, many of whom were African-American. After two years lost to alcohol and depression, in 1937 Fitzgerald attempted to revive his career as a screenwriter and freelance storywriter in Hollywood, and he achieved modest financial, if not critical, success for his efforts before his death in 1940. [126][127] Although Fitzgerald admired the rich, he possessed a smoldering resentment towards them. Still, Lanahan considers herself lucky. [254] Approaching the final year of life, Fitzgerald wrote regretfully to his daughter: "I wish now I'd never relaxed or looked backbut said at the end of The Great Gatsby: I've found my linefrom now on this comes first. [134], In May 1924, Fitzgerald and his family moved abroad to Europe. [7], One year after Fitzgerald's birth, his father's wicker-furniture manufacturing business failed, and the family moved to Buffalo, New York, where his father joined Procter & Gamble as a salesman. [n][343], With his debut novel, Fitzgerald became the first writer to turn the national spotlight upon this generation. "[391] [221], Fitzgerald's deteriorating health, chronic alcoholism, and financial woes made for difficult years in Baltimore. "[280], The Great Gatsby's popularity led to widespread interest in Fitzgerald himself. [94] Publicly, their alcohol intake meant little more than napping at parties, but privately it led to bitter quarrels. [419] Other theatrical productions of Fitzgerald's life include Frank Wildhorn's 2005 musical Waiting for the Moon,[420] and a musical produced by the Japanese Takarazuka Revue. 502 pp. [77] Within months of its publication, his debut novel became a cultural sensation in the United States, and F. Scott Fitzgerald became a household name. The Fitzgeralds' troubled family life has inspired numerous biographies, novels, movies, and TV series. [76] One evening in the fall of 1919, after an exhausted Fitzgerald had returned home from work, the postman rang and delivered a telegram from Scribner's announcing that his revised manuscript had been accepted for publication. Free; RSVP required. [257] As the couple left the Pantages Theatre, a sober Fitzgerald experienced a dizzy spell and had difficulty walking to his vehicle. Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934). [372][373] His later life as an expatriate in Europe and as a writer in Hollywood reinforced this lifelong sense of being an outsider. Two years later she was treated at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. My mother didnt talk about him, says Lanahan. He eagerly embraced his newly minted celebrity status and embarked on an extravagant lifestyle that earned him a reputation as a playboy and hindered his reputation as a serious literary writer. That woman was Bobbie Lanahan, an artist, animator and filmmaker, and the daughter of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgeralds only child, Scottie. Which is, of course, for sale, says Lanahan. [304], When composing The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald chose to depart from the writing process of his previous novels and to fashion a conscious artistic achievement. [121] Fitzgerald viewed his stories as worthless except for "Winter Dreams", which he described as his first attempt at the Gatsby idea. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. I Worry About What Would Happen If I Choke on Food When Im Alone, 4. It was in an English course at Sarah Lawrence College. Fitzgerald had to climb two flights of stairs to his apartment, while Graham lived on the ground floor. [12] Although his alcoholic father was now destitute, his mother's inheritance supplemented the family income and allowed them to continue living a middle-class lifestyle. [380] Consequently, Gatsby's ascent is deemed a threat not only due to his status as nouveau riche, but because he is perceived as an outsider. While he was at Princeton . When he was 13, he saw his first piece of writing appear in print: a detective story published in the school newspaper. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [185] That winter, Zelda's behavior grew increasingly erratic and violent. His mother was from a wealthy family, and his father, Edward, was a . [281] By the 1950s, he had become a cult figure in American culture and was more widely known than at any period during his lifetime. F. Scott Fitzgerald stayed there in the summers of 1935 and 1936. Fitzgerald died believing himself a failure, since none of his works received more than modest commercial or critical success during his lifetime. [411] Other Fitzgerald short stories have been adapted into episodes of anthology television series,[412] as well as the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Death Year: 1940, Death date: December 21, 1940, Death State: California, Death City: Hollywood, Death Country: United States, Article Title: F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/f-scott-fitzgerald, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: July 9, 2020, Original Published Date: April 3, 2014, What little I've accomplished has been by the most laborious and uphill work, and I wish now I'd never relaxed or looked backbut said at the end of The Great Gatsby: 'I've found my linefrom now on this comes first.'. He had written all but two of the stories before 1920. [24] She would become his literary model for the characters of Isabelle Borg in This Side of Paradise, Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, and many others. And she really resented it if we brought it up. [m][263] Among the attendees were his only child, Scottie, his agent Harold Ober, and his lifelong editor Maxwell Perkins. I didn't know till 15 that there was anyone in the world except me, and it cost me plenty. [314] To this end, he consciously emulated the literary styles of Joseph Conrad and Willa Cather. They are different from you and me. [238] After having a heart-attack at Schwab's Pharmacy, Fitzgerald was advised by his doctor to avoid strenuous exertion. In 1925 the already legendary, 29-year-old F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda moved into a picturesque Art Deco villa in Cap d'Antibes, France. F. Scott Fitzgerald. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a short story writer and novelist considered one of the pre-eminent authors in the history of American . Oftentimes the family trees listed as still in progress have derived from research into famous people who have a kinship to this person. [366][376] Since Americans living in the 1920s to the present must navigate a society with entrenched prejudices, Fitzgerald's depiction of resultant status anxieties and social conflict in his fiction has been highlighted by scholars as still enduringly relevant nearly a hundred years later. Fitzgerald met 18-year-old Zelda, the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge, during his time in the infantry. Fitzgerald died of a heart attack on December 21, 1940, at the age of 44, in Hollywood, California. [180], Jealous of Fitzgerald and Moran, an irate Zelda set fire to her own expensive clothing in a bathtub as a self-destructive act. [258] Upon entering the apartment, Culver stated, "I'm afraid he's dead. [76] Upon reading the telegram, an ecstatic Fitzgerald ran down the streets of St. Paul and flagged down random automobiles to share the news. Need more info? F. Scott Fitzgerald. [217] His alcoholism resulted in cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease, angina, dyspnea, and syncopal spells. "I told [Luhrmann] that I really liked it, and he was . [123], Despite enjoying the Long Island milieu, Fitzgerald disapproved of the extravagant parties,[124] and the wealthy people he encountered often disappointed him. [282], Seven years later, Fitzgerald's friend Edmund Wilson remarked that he now received copious letters from female admirers of Fitzgerald's works and that his flawed alcoholic friend had posthumously become "a semi-divine personage" in the popular imagination. Her daughter, Blake Hazard of the indie-pop group the Submarines, appears in some of the movies party scenes as a dancer. One week after the publication of Fitzgeralds first novel, This Side of Paradise, the couple married. Let me tell you about the very rich. He was named after the lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to the national anthem of the United States, "The Star-Spangled Banner". In 1922, Fitzgerald published his second novel, The Beautiful and Damned, the story of the troubled marriage of Anthony and Gloria Patch. "[193] Throughout the luncheon, she manifested signs of mental distress. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. [307][308] Whereas This Side of Paradise had featured workmanlike prose and chaotic organization, The Beautiful and Damned displayed the superior form and construction of an awakened literary consciousness. Scribner's later reissued the book under Fitzgerald's preferred title, Adaptations and portrayals of F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Jay Gatsby, Failed Intellectual: F. Scott Fitzgerald's Trope for Social Stratification", "F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lois Moran, and the Mystery of Mariposa Street", "Fitzgerald and Leacock Write Two Funny Books", "New Fitzgerald Book Proves He's Really a Writer", "Review of 'Redefining the American Dream: The Novels of Willa Cather', "The Younger Generation: Its Young Novelists", "The Real Jay Gatsby: Max von Gerlach, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the Compositional History of 'The Great Gatsby', "Short Stories From the Maturing Pen of Scott Fitzgerald", "Exile and the City: F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Lost Decade', "Fitzgerald, the Stylist, Challenges Fitzgerald, the Social Historian", "The Passing of Jay Gatsby: Class and Anti-Semitism in Fitzgerald's 1920s America", "Fitzgerald and Cather: The Great Gatsby", "The Structure Of The Outsider In The Short Fiction Of Richard Wright And F. Scott Fitzgerald", "Willa Cather's 'A Lost Lady': The Paradoxes of Change", "Mastering the Story Market: F. Scott Fitzgerald's Revision of 'The Night before Chancellorsville', "Scott Fitzgerald's Latest Novel is Heralded As His Best", "Almost a Masterpiece: Scott Fitzgerald Produces a Brilliant Successor to 'The Great Gatsby', "Why 'The Great Gatsby' is the Great American Novel", "Theatre: Study of 'The Disenchanted'; Writer on Downgrade Shown at Coronet", "Decoding Woody Allen's 'Midnight in Paris', "Garrison Keillor Hospitalized for Minor Stroke", "Takarazuka: Japan's Newest 'Traditional' Theater Turns 100", "F. Scott Fitzgerald Thought This Book Would Be the Best American Novel of His Time", "Tracing F. Scott Fitzgerald's Minnesota Roots", "Scott Fitzgerald and L.I. His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. health/wellness Perhaps the quintessential American novel, as well as a definitive social history of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby has become required reading for virtually every American high school student and has had a transportive effect on generation after generation of readers. Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless. On September 24, 1896, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born into an Irish Catholic family in St. Paul, Minnesota. Were all very shy. [217] Beginning that year, Fitzgerald mocked himself as a Hollywood hack through the character of Pat Hobby in a sequence of 17 short stories. He quit his job after only a few months, however, and returned to St. Paul to rewrite his novel. "Well, three months before I was born," he wrote as an adult, "my mother lost her . He is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Till the age of 12, Fitzgerald lived in Buffalo, New . The Great Gatsby is considered Fitzgerald's finest work, with its beautiful lyricism, pitch-perfect portrayal of the Jazz Age, and searching critiques of materialism, love and the American Dream. [333][334] In this fashion, he quickly became one of the highest-paid magazine writers of his era and he earned $4,000 per story from the Saturday Evening Post at the apex of his fame. Now were pen pals. I think I started then to be a writer." And a lot of his life was often busy with the problems of making money. [157], By the 21st century, The Great Gatsby had sold millions of copies, and the novel is required reading in many high school and college classes. [315] He was particularly influenced by Cather's 1923 work, A Lost Lady,[316] which features a wealthy married socialite pursued by a number of romantic suitors and who symbolically embodies the American dream. [213] The cost of his opulent lifestyle and Zelda's medical bills quickly caught up, placing him in constant debt. The map below shows the places where the ancestors of the famous person lived. F. Scott Fitzgerald was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald on September 24, 1896, in the city of Saint Paul in Minnesota, USA, to Edward Fitzgerald and Molly Fitzgerald. F. Scott Fitzgerald's great-granddaughter Blake Hazard sings at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, MN. He is best known for his novel "The Great Gatsby" (1925), considered a masterpiece. William Maxwell Evarts " Max " Perkins (September 20, 1884 - June 17, 1947) was an American book editor, best remembered for discovering authors Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Thomas Wolfe . [235], Estranged from Zelda, Fitzgerald attempted to reunite with his first love Ginevra King when the wealthy Chicago heiress visited Hollywood in 1938. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. [136] Fitzgerald had been planning the novel since 1923, when he told his publisher Maxwell Perkins of his plans to embark upon a work of art that would be beautiful and intricately patterned. [138] Initially titled Trimalchioan allusion to the Latin work Satyriconthe plot followed the rise of a parvenu who seeks wealth to win the woman he loves.
