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F. Scott Fitzgerald Background Research

  • Birth of F. Scott Fitzgerald

    Birth of F. Scott Fitzgerald
    Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul Minnesota on September 24, 1896.
  • First Publish

    First Publish
    When Fitzgerald turned 13, he published his first story in his school newspaper at St. Paul Academy.
  • Father Sigourney Fay

    Fitzgerald decides to attend a the Newman School, a Catholic prep school located in Hackensack, New Jersey. It is here where he meets Father Sigourney Fay, who is the one who recognized Fitzgerald’s talent for writing and pushes him to pursue it as a career.
  • Princeton

    Princeton
    Fitzgerald entered Princeton University as an undergraduate. During his time there, he published several more pieces of writing in his school’s Tiger Humor Magazine.
  • Joining the Army

    Because of Fitzgerald’s devotion to his writing, his grades in his other classes flunked. He then joined the army where eventually, he met his wife
  • New York City

    New York City
    After two years in the Army, Fitzgerald was discharged and moved to New York City.
  • First Novel

    First Novel
    A year later after moving to New York City, Fitzgerald publishes his first novel; “This Side of Paradise” which immediately becomes a bestseller.
  • Marriage

    A week after his first novel becomes a hit, he marries his wife Zelda.
  • First Child

    A year later after marriage, Fitzgerald and his wife have their first child together, a daughter named Scottie.
  • France

    France
    In 1924, Fitzgerald decides to move to France in hopes of sparking his creativity
  • The Great Gatsby

    The Great Gatsby
    A year later, Fitzgerald publishes the pinnacle of his career work: The Great Gatsby
  • Save Me The Waltz

    Save Me The Waltz
    After publishing the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s drinking problem becomes excessive. Zelda suffers a mental breakdown and is hospitalized in European clinics. In 1931, she is released and they move back to the states. Until in 1932, Zelda suffers another breakdown, which in this case she never fully recovered from. She decides to publish her first and only novel, “Save Me The Waltz” which highlights the Fitzgerald’s troubled marriage.
  • Last Novel

    Last Novel
    Taking a leap of faith, Fitzgerald writes his last complete novel; Tender Is the Night. It is one of his most moving novels, but it couldn’t commercially match the success of The Great Gatsby.
  • Hollywood

    Hollywood
    Ever since writing The Great Gatsby, nothing else has ever matched that success. Fitzgerald was running out of money and becoming financially in trouble. So he decided to make a trip to Hollywood to write screenplays to make quick money, and leave town to continue to do what he really loved.
  • The Death of Francis Scott Fitzgerald

    As a result of a heart attack, Fitzgerald passes away in Hollywood. His last novel, The Last Tycoon is published a year after his death.