Best known for his 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, died in 1940 at only 44 years of age. Although Fitzgerald never wrote an autobiography, more has been written about him than just any author this side of the Atlantic.
For students or anyone interested in learning more about the writer who coined the term “Jazz Age”, the following is a compilation of biographical books and websites pertaining to the life and works of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
F. Scott Fitzgerald Biographies
While there are numerous books that can be considered biographies of F. Scott Fitzgerald, two stand apart from the rest in both their authority and accuracy.
Matthew J. Bruccoli’s Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of FSF (Da Capo Press 1993, 600 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0881849073) is considered the foremost authoritative text on the Minnesota-born author’s short but intense life. Bruccoli was the acknowledged expert on Fitzgerald, and the book is not only comprehensive and truthful, but very well-written. This is generally considered the single best book on Fitzgerald.
Andrew Turnbull’s Scott Fitzgerald (Grove Press; 1st Grove Press ed., 2001. 376 pages ISBN-13: 978-0802138507) has been lauded for its more personal presentation of the author. Turnbull was a friend of the author, and uses well the correspondence between Scott and family members and editors/agents to help reveal that side of him that simple facts cannot. In fact, Turnbull went on to publish two collections of Fitzgerald letters that are valuable resources themselves.
Topical Books on F. Scott Fitzgerald
These are books that look at a specific aspect of Fitzgerald’s life and/or work. The above-mentioned collections of letters, edited by Turnbull, along with Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, (ed. Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks. New York: St. Martin's P, 2002) provide invaluable insight into the author’s life and mindset.
Bryant Mangum’s A Fortune Yet: Money in The Art of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Short Stories (New York: Garland, 1991) , while it tends to be a bit more academic, is a deep look at each of Fitzgerald’s many short stories and how the overarching theme of money pervades all of his work.
As the title suggests, Scott Donaldson’s Fool for Love: F. Scott Fitzgerald (New York: Congdon & Weed, 1983 ISBN-13: 978-0595181704) looks at Fitzgerald’s unending quest for attention from the opposite sex, and how it affected every aspect of his life and writing.
Crazy Sundays: F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood by John Aaron Latham (New York: Viking Press,1971.) details final, heartbreaking days as a relatively unsuccessful movie scriptwriter. It provides a nice, if sad, balance to some of the others listed here.
Websites Specializing in Fitzgerald
Like the mass of books about Fitzgerald, there is no shortage of online resources, but again, a few stand out. On the occasion of Fitzgerald’s 100th birthday in 1996, the University of South Carolina launched a centenary website in memoriam of the author’s life. The site contains a wide variety of information, images and even some rare voice recordings.
Finally, The F. Scott Fitzgerald Society has a web presence that contains probably the most extensive bibliography of Fitzgerald’s own work, and books, articles, and everything else written about him.
Dale Van Every - Dale Van Every is a freelance and fiction writer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He earned his Masters Degree in English Literature from ...
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