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The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Why read The Great Gatsby ? An Intertwining of Life and Work. Why get to know Fitzgerald?. During the 1920s, Fitzgerald was a very public figure.
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The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald Why read The Great Gatsby? An Intertwining of Life and Work
Why get to know Fitzgerald? • During the 1920s, Fitzgerald was a very public figure. • It was not always easy to tell when his life provided inspiration for his fiction and when his fiction inspired inspiration for his life. • His life was so intertwined with his writing that it makes sense to know some biographical information so that we can better understand The Great Gatsby
First, some basics • Fitzgerald was a prominent American novelist and short story writer who wrote between the 1920s and 1940s • Many of his texts feature the Jazz Age of the Roaring 20s • Fitzgerald is considered a member of “The Lost Generation.” (remember what this is?) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation
$$$ • Fitzgerald’s father’s relatives had high culture and tradition • Fitzgerald’s mother’s relatives had money but no high culture and tradition • Fitzgerald became highly conscious of both money and social standing • Throughout his life, Fitzgerald held conflcting views of money and conventional status symbols • This understanding will help us when we encounter the interactions of Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, and Nick Carraway.
♥ ♥ ♥ • Throughout high school and college, Fitzgerald had his heart broken many times. • While stationed in Montgomery, Alabama as an army officer, he fell in love with Zelda Sayre. • Zelda Sayre was the daughter of a prominent but emotionally unstable family. • She was selfish, whimsical, and irresistible. • Zelda and Scott were married in 1920. • This will help our understandings when we encounter the female characters of the novel, particularly Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker. In a sense, Zelda became the model for many of Fitzgerald’s heroines.
♪ ♪ ♪ • Zelda and Fitzgerald maintained very public lives. • They often threw parties featuring illegal alcohol and frequented speakeasies. • The are known to have wrecked many cars and in general doing what they wanted regardless of social concern. • Keep this in mind when we encounter parties, cars, and scandals in the novel.
• While Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, Zelda had an affair with Edourd Jozan, a young French military officer. • After much drama, she attempted suicide and Fitzgerald desperately saved her life. • Their marriage was never the same. • Consider this when reading about certain plot events in the novel. • In a sense, The Great Gatsby is a story of adultery.
After learning a little bit about the life and work of Fitzgerald, what can we guess? • What do you think some of the themes in The Great Gatsby might be? • Who do you think are some of the main characters? What do you think they are like?
Sources: • www.englandattraction.com (party picture) • www.students.umf.maine.edu (Cover art) • www.princeton.edu/.../fitzgerald-med.jpg (Fitzgerald) • www.wikipedia.com • Understanding The Great Gatsby: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents
