The

Legend
and Zelda
The life and times of F.
Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

🤝
• Second cousins three
times removed
• Legacy shaped after
observing war
• Creator of enduring
piece of American
culture
Biography

•Born 9/24/1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota

•Attended prep school in Hackensack,
New Jersey (near NYC)
•First cousin once removed was executed
for conspiracy to kill Lincoln
1913-1917:
Princeton
• Wrote for university’s
literary magazine, humor
magazine, and musical
theater group
• Participated in debating
society
• Grades suffered due to
preoccupation with writing
1915: Ginevra King
•Popular socialite from wealthy family in
Chicago area (born 11/30/1898)
•Met in St. Paul during winter break
•Instant mutual crush between the two
Ginevra King, continued

• Frequently exchanged love letters

• King flirted with/saw other boys on the side
• King’s father, 1916: “Poor boys shouldn’t
think of marrying rich girls”
• Serves as inspiration for Daisy Buchanan
1917: Army
•Drops out of Princeton due to
poor grades
•Hurriedly writes The Romantic
Egoist before leaving, is
rejected
•Stationed in Kansas under
Eisenhower, never actually
ends up in combat
1918: Zelda Sayre
• Born 7/24/1900 to powerful
family in Montgomery, Alabama
• Active socialite and wild child;
often engaged in “’scandalous”
behavior”
• Fitzgerald meets her while
stationed at Camp Sheridan, falls
in love
1919: The Lean Year

• Gets engaged to Zelda, moves to NYC to

work in advertising
• Writes stories on side, rejected over 100
times
• Zelda breaks off engagement due to low
income
1920: Stardom
• Rewrites The Romantic Egoist as new semi-
autobiographical novel This Side of Paradise
• Book becomes instant-hit bestseller
• Fitzgerald becomes literary celebrity
• Zelda agrees to marry him
1924: Lost
Generation
• American writers who
moved to France after
WWI; also generally refers
to people born 1883-1900
• Characterized by attitudes
of disillusionment,
aimlessness,
rebelliousness, hedonism
• Includes Fitzgerald, Ernest
Hemingway, T.S Eliot, John
Steinbeck, Gertrude Stein
1925: Gatsby
•Written from point of view of fictional narrator’s memoir
•Initially had mediocre sales and lukewarm reviews
•Relationship with Zelda begins to sour
1926-1940: Decline

•Career started going downhill after

publication of Gatsby
•Experienced downward spiral into
depression and alcoholism
•Zelda succumbed to mental illness
•Attempted comeback as screenwriter
•Dies of heart attack in 1940
1941-present: Revival
•Gatsby becomes popular during World War II
•Seen as timeless American classic today
•Fitzgerald perceived in death as larger-than-life