F. Scott Fitzgerald - Biography. American novelist and short-story writer Birth September

F. Scott Fitzgerald - Biography. American novelist and short-story writer Birth September 24, 1896 Death December 21, 1940 Place of Saint Paul, Minnesota Birth Known for Portraying the excesses of the 1920s and the attainment of the American dream during the era he called 'The Jazz Age' Mirroring events from his life in his novels and short stories Milestone 1917 Dropped out of Princeton University and enrolled in the U.S. Army, which was then entering World War I 1919 Worked for Barron Collier, a New York advertising agency 1920 Published his first novel, The Other Side of Paradise, shortly before marrying Zelda Sayre, the inspiration for several of his female characters 1922 Published the novel The Beautiful and Damned and a collection of short stories called Tales of the Jazz Age 1924 Moved to the French Riviera and befriended influential expatriate American writers such as Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway 1925 Published his most celebrated novel, The Great Gatsby, which tells the story of a man who pursues the American dream but in the end is destroyed by it 1934 Published his last novel, the semiautobiographical Tender is the Night 1937 Moved to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter 1941 Fitzgerald's unfinished novel The Last Tycoon is posthumously published. 1945 The Crack-Up, a collection of Fitzgerald's short stories, essays, and letters, is posthumously published. Quote 'Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.' All the Sad Young Men (1926). (Fitzgerald's friend, American writer Ernest Hemingway, incorporated this line into his short story 'The Snows of Kilmanjaro,' adding the reply 'Yes, they have more money.') Did You As a young boy, Fitzgerald aspired to become a football hero and wrote a poem titled 'Football,' which appeared in his prep-school Know? magazine. During his stint as a screenwriter, Fitzgerald's name appeared only once in film credits for cowriting the 1938 adaptation of Three Comrades. Zelda suffered numerous mental breakdowns, and Fitzgerald paid her mounting medical bills with money made from writing short stories for magazines. Fitzgerald used Zelda's actual legal and medical records in his novel Tender is the Night. Francis Scott Key, the composer of 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' was Fitzgerald's namesake and distant relative. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.