Biography
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was one of the most important American writers of the 20th century. He was born on September 24, 1896, in Minnesota to a wealthy family of Irish merchants. He went to Princeton University but he dropped out without a degree; in 1917 he was enlisted and he was about to take part in World War I, eventually the war ended and he never traveled to Europe.In June 1918 he fell in love with Zelda Sear, the daughter of a judge, with whom he went to New York and got engaged. The engagement broke up as Fransis had no money nor a steady job. Three years later he published his first novel ("This Side of Paradise") which was a great success and the wedding took place. Since then, Fitzgerald became a professional writer; he began collaborating with various magazines, making a lot of money which, however, was never enough due to their wasteful living. They became known as the embodiments of the excesses and extremes of the time, spending their time with constant partying and drunkenness.
Fitzgerald's second novel, "The Beautiful and the Damned", describes the life of a couple surrendered to rage and pleasure. Shortly after the birth of their only child, his most important novel, The Great Gatsby, will be released, which also deals with the same subject. Fitzgerald described an atmosphere of spree, with parties and jazz and alcohol and ultimately with tragic endings for the lives of his heroes; he managed to show in a unique way how the American dream and the constant pursuit of pleasure becomes emptiness and frustration. As in the novel, so in real life, Francis and Zilda had a tragic ending. He developed an ever-increasing problem of alcoholism while his wife was diagnosed with schizophrenia after a series of nervous breakdowns. Fitzgerald managed to finish and publish in 1934 his fourth novel, "Tender is the Night", also with many autobiographical elements. From 1935 he faced serious health problems and he lived for two years in constant exhaustion. He died on December 21, 1940 of a heart attack. In 1947, Zelda was burned alive in a psychiatric institution where she was locked up.