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Rare Book Monthly

Articles - June - 2013 Issue

Forget the Movie – Here is a Revealing Look at Gatsby Author F. Scott Fitzgerald's Real Life

Scott's earnings were still small in 1919.

As the years roll on, the entries become more cryptic. There are often just a few words, evidently to jog his memory for a more detailed biography. “Intimacy with Sap,” he writes at age 16, with no further explanation. A one-word comment in 1913 says, “Writing,” probably something significant considering his later career. During the war years, many of his friends die, Scott has relationships with various women, though we cannot tell how seriously. Then, among the listing of events for July 1918, we have the one-word entry, “Zelda.” She came right after the name of May Steiner. She stayed longer.

On September 7, Scott tells us he “fell in love,” without bothering to say to whom. We will guess Zelda. He does note she was voted prettiest in her class. In December, for the first time the word “drinking” appears, his other vice besides his relationship with Zelda. “Drinking” will appear many more times before this journal is complete. By January he mentions both “quarrels” (without specifying with whom though we may guess), and “Disastrous drunk.” One wonders about the meaning of his April comment, “I used to wonder why they locked Princesses in towers.”

In 1919, he writes, “Novel accepted,” meaning This Side of Paradise, and he begins to sell stories for cash. By the 10th of January, 1920, he mas made $1,700 and the following month he sells his first movie. Come March, we hear “Book published in 26th,” and in April, “Married the 3d Biltmore. Parties.” The coming years are now very different, with more references to parties, drinking, and living the high life, with trips to Europe and names of celebrities bandied about. This should be a great time, and yet for all the success, Scott sounds less and less happy, describing the year after his 26th birthday as “comfortable but dangerous and deteriorating.” The year after birthday 27 is “full of terrible failures and acute miseries.” At age 29 his comment is “Futile, shameful useless but the $30,000 rewards of 1924 work. Self disgust. Health gone.”

As the years go forward and his marriage deteriorates, Scott surprisingly has little negative to say about Zelda. It is mostly references to her being sick, improving, seeking help and the like, but non-judgmental. He begins his 35th year with the comment, “Zelda Well, Worse, Better.” In January 1932 he writes of her becoming sick and in February, “Zelda in Hopkins,” and “preliminary warnings to family.” That was Johns Hopkins hospital, Zelda being diagnosed with schizophrenia. In March, “everything worser & worser,” “strained situation,” and in April “Zelda strange.” In January 1933, Scott refers to “Constant visits to Hopkins.” She gets out but by January 1934, she is back in Hopkins and Scott is writing about his own “ill health.”

The time line ends in early 1935. Scott is now 38 years old. Much is depressing. Scott writes, “Debt bad,” “Sickness and debt. Zelda seems less well,” and in March, the last month covered, “Zelda very bad on return. Terrible worry.” It is just as well it ends here. Neither Scott nor Zelda's life would get better from here on. Scott would have just five more years of an increasingly frustrating life, while Zelda would be mostly institutionalized. A life that started with the excitement of youth, and reaches great success in his 20s, falls apart just when everything should be a fairy tale. The dichotomy is clear in the time line. The first half is full of fun and humor, the second trouble and depression. It is the reverse of what you would expect. This is a story fit for a novel.

You can learn about and search the ledger at library.sc.edu/digital/collections/fitzledger.html or go directly to it at library.sc.edu/digital/collections/Fitzgerald_Ledger_-_USC_Transcription_2013.pdf


Posted On: 2023-02-15 23:05
User Name: raymondscott

In real life F. Scott Fitzgerald differed as he decribed the life of people that were rich and enjoyed life,
and of people that were happy but that want to become rich to do the same.
Some people want to be rich, some want to be happy, most want to be both.
On seeing Francis Cugat's cover design F. Scott Fitzgerald decided to write the
cover into the book i.e. he adapted the storyline to the design for the cover.
I have read several editions of The Great Gatsby including the first edition
published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1925, I watched the full movie
but every time I thought, that this is not what the author intended.

These scenes were left out of the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsbBl3R2fW4

All scenes of the music video Young and Beautiful were included in the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVHU_YWV3e4

The glamourous life of the social class he wanted to belong to is what he had in mind.
On reading the edition ISBN 9789464438871 that I snapped up on
https://www.boekenbestellen.nl/boek/gatsby
in which the cover was literally printed onto the book,
I thought to myself: This is what F. Scott Fitzgerald had in mind.
Hey, the twenties are back, read this book and let the good times roll!
F. Scott Fitzgerald would have done the same.


Rare Book Monthly

  • Potter & Potter Auctions
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    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.

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