F. Scott Fitzgerald was a short story writer and novelist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest authors in American literary history, owing almost solely to the tremendous posthumous popularity of his third book The Great Gatsby in 1925 — a book that is very difficult to mention without summoning the image of the literary icon behind it. Along with his writings and his marriage to southern belle socialite Zelda Sayre, F. Scott Fitzgerald embodies the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age in the Roarin’ 1920s.

Continuing the Content Bash series on literary superstars like Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Bram Stoker, here are some facts about the turbulent and vibrant life of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

F. Scott Fitzgerald: Early Life, Parents, Childhood & Education

1. When and where was F. Scott Fitzgerald born?

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on September 24, 1896.

2. F. Scott Fitzgerald was named after a distant cousin….

F. Scott Fitzgerald was named after distant cousin Francis Scott Key, the famous writer of the United States national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

3. …whom he happened to greatly admire

F. Scott Fitzgerald valued this family tie that gave him his name. On one occasion, he was driven past his cousin’s monument in Baltimore, Maryland and cried out, “Don’t let Frank see me drunk.”

4. Both of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s parents had Irish roots

Mary McQuillan Fitzgerald was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s mother, and she was the daughter of an Irish immigrant who became wealthy as a wholesale grocer. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s father was Edward Fitzgerald, and he was of Irish and English heritage who had relocated to Minnesota from Maryland during the American Civil War to start a furniture manufacturing firm.

5. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s father was on the Confederate side of the Civil War

Edward Fitzgerald grew raised in Maryland’s Rockville/Montgomery County region, which backed the Confederacy during the Civil War due to its tobacco and slave economy. Edward rowed Confederate spies over the Potomac River when he was 9 years old and cheered for Confederate General Jubal Early’s army when it defeated Union soldiers at the Battle of Monocacy in 1864. Yikes.

6. His first cousin conspired to assassinate Abraham Lincoln

Mary Surratt was Edward’s first cousin, and she was executed in 1865 for plotting to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. She was the first woman to be executed by the federal government of the United States. She maintained her innocence until the day she died, though the case against her was and continues to be controversial. Yikes again.

7. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a bad student

F. Scott Fitzgerald was a poor pupil who struggled to get by in from elementary school to college. During his period at Princeton University, he developed a habit of skipping courses and nearly flunked out before discontinuing his studies altogether.

8. F. Scott Fitzgerald was also a terrible speller

There’s no doubt that F. Scott Fitzgerald had a mastery of the written word — but he might have needed a brilliant editor on his side. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a lousy speller and may have suffered from dyslexia. After reading a typo-filled edition of This Side of Paradise, Edmund Wilson, his close friend, pronounced it: “one of the most illiterate books of any merit ever published…full of English words misused with the most reckless abandon.”

Click to buy This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald!

9. When did F. Scott Fitzgerald publish his first work?

When F. Scott Fitzgerald was only 13 years old and a student at St. Paul Academy in Minnesota in 1909, he published his first story called “The Mystery of the Raymond Mortgage” in Now and Then the school magazine. You can read it here!

10. Where did F. Scott Fitzgerald go to college?

F. Scott Fitzgerald began attending Princeton University in 1913 after graduating high school at Newman.

11. At Princeton, F. Scott Fitzgerald fell in love with his first muse

During Christmas break at his sophomore year at Princeton, F. Scott Fitzgerald returned to Saint Paul, where he met and fell in love with 16-year-old Ginevra King. Little did he know that Ginevra King would become his literary inspiration for Isabelle Borgé in This Side of Paradise, as well as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, and many other characters.

12. Ginevra was kicked out of her school for flirting

Ginevra attended Westover, a nearby Connecticut women’s school, while F. Scott Fitzgerald attended Princeton. She was eventually dismissed for flirting with an admiring group of boys from her dormitory window.

13. Ginevra’s family thought she was out of his league

Despite Ginevra’s feelings for F. Scott Fitzgerald, her upper-class family rejected Scott’s pursuit because of his lower-class background in comparison to their family and Ginevra’s other affluent suitors. Her father, Charles Garfield King, allegedly warned a young Fitzgerald that “poor boys should not think of marrying rich girls.”

14. F. Scott Fitzgerald joined the Army hoping to die in combat

After Ginevra’s family rejected him, a suicidal Fitzgerald enlisted in the U.S Army in the middle of World War I, hoping to meet his demise in combat. However, he never actually served in battle and wrote about that regret in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “I Didn’t Get Over.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald & Zelda Sayre Relationship Facts

15. F. Scott Fitzgerald was still in love with Ginevra when he met Zelda Sayre

In the summer of 1918, F. Scott Fitzgerald met Zelda Sayre, a 17-year-old Southern belle whose extended family controlled the White House of the Confederacy. While their romance was growing, Fitzgerald was simultaneously writing Ginevra, hoping to resume their previous connection. In September 1918, three days after Ginevra married a rich Chicago businessman, Fitzgerald confessed his feelings for Zelda.

16. Zelda refused to marry him until he was financially successful

Scott and Zelda participated in what he later called sexual recklessness and by December 1918, they had consummated their relationship. Fitzgerald did not want to marry Zelda at first, but the pair increasingly considered themselves as unofficially engaged, though Zelda refused to marry him until he became financially accomplished.

17. After the war was over, F. Scott Fitzgerald moved to NYC to write

F. Scott Fitzgerald traveled to New York City after his discharge in 1919, where he unsuccessfully pleaded with the editors of several newspapers for a job. Discouraged, he moved to produce advertising copy to support himself while pursuing a breakthrough as a fiction novelist. Fitzgerald struggled to make ends meet. However, in his leisure time, he managed to write various short stories and satires.

18. F. Scott Fitzgerald obsessively recorded his life in a detailed diary

Fitzgerald meticulously tracked the course of his life and career in a big, leather-bound journal between 1919 and 1937, where he kept a month-by-month account of his actions since birth. Fitzgerald documented everything from his first word (which was up) to the date he fell in love with Zelda (September 7, 1918).

19. Zelda broke off the engagement with F. Scott Fitzgerald

Because Scott was incapable of supporting even himself, let alone her, Zelda broke off their engagement in 1919. However, she would soon change her mind after Fitzgerald successfully published This Side of Paradise, which put him back on his feet again and they resumed their engagement.

20. F. Scott Fitzgerald carried a revolver with him and considered suicide

At this point, Fitzgerald was rejected by two women in a row, his writings had failed to sell and the future seemed bleak. He openly threatened to plunge to his death from the Yale Club’s window ledge, and he carried a handgun on a regular basis considering shooting himself.

21. F. Scott Fitzgerald had complicated feelings for Zelda

Naturally, after Zelda broke off their engagement, Fitzgerald’s feelings weren’t as heightened as they had been towards her. F. Scott Fitzgerald told a friend: “I wouldn’t care if she died, but I couldn’t stand to have anybody else marry her.”

22. When did F. Scott Fitzgerald marry Zelda Sayre?

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre eventually married on April 3, 1920 in New York, about a week after the publication of This Side of Paradise.

23. The newlyweds were the life of the party

The Fitzgeralds might not have been madly in love by the time they married, but they were definitely drunk with the success of Fitzgerald’s debut novel, This Side of Paradise. Residing in luxury at the old Biltmore Hotel in New York (now 335 Madison Avenue), F. Scott was often found doing handstands in the lobby while Zelda slid down the hotel banisters. The writer Dorothy Parker recalled, “Their youth was striking. Everyone wanted to meet them.”

24. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in Manhattan, New York City

After F. Scott Fitzgerald married Zelda, the couple lived at 38 West 59th Street from October 1920 to April 1921.

25. The Fitzgeralds fought over alcohol, among other things

Alcohol was a staple part of the Fitzgeralds’ social life but in the background, their gin-and-fruit fueled nights led to a lot of fights as Zelda accused him of following the path of his alcoholic father. As their fights increased, their intensity escalated quickly and the couple started accusing each other of infidelities. Both of them believed their marriage wouldn’t last long.  

26. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda had only one child

In 1921, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald traveled back to Minnesota to give birth to their daughter and only child: Frances Scott Fitzgerald, who was also known as Scottie.

27. Zelda’s postpartum ramblings inspired one of Daisy’s dialogues in The Great Gatsby

As Zelda woke up from the anesthesia, she mumbled: “Isn’t she smart – she had the hiccups. I hope it’s beautiful and a fool—a beautiful little fool.” Fitzgerald would later use this rambling in the iconic quote by Daisy in The Great Gatsby: “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

Click to buy The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

28. Zelda allegedly had an affair with a French officer

While the Fitzgeralds lived in the French Riviera, Zelda became acquainted with a French naval aviator, Edouard Jozan. The two of them spent time swimming at the beach and dancing in casinos and within six weeks, Zelda was asking Fitzgerald for a divorce. However, Jozan soon left the Riviera and the Fitzgeralds’ life. Soon after, Zelda attempted to kill herself with a sleeping pill overdose.

29. Edouard Jozan denied that this affair ever happened

F. Scott Fitzgerald wanted to confront Jozan about the affair and even locked Zelda in the house until he could do so but Jozan had left the country before Scott got the chance to do so. Jozan later claimed that nothing ever happened between him and Zelda, saying: “They both had a need of drama, they made it up, and perhaps they were the victims of their own unsettled and a little unhealthy imagination.”

30. F. Scott Fitzgerald was part of The Lost Generation

The so-called “Lost Generation” refers to the generation of artists who came of age around World War I, as well as members of the American expatriate community in Paris, whom the Fitzgeralds met while alternating between Paris and the French Riviera until 1926. Other Lost Generation writers included James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway, who considered Fitzgerald as his most devoted friend at the time.

31. Ernest Hemingway hated Zelda!

Ernest Hemingway really disliked Zelda and flat out called her insane in his memoir A Moveable Feast. One of the things that Hemingway held against Zelda the most was the fact she directed Fitzgerald into writing lucrative short stories instead of exploring his creativity’s full potential, so Scott could support Zelda’s extravagant lifestyle.

32. Hemingway accused Fitzgerald of whoring for sales

F. Scott Fitzgerald was burdened with the responsibility of supplying an income that can support his and Zelda’s lifestyle and often wrote stories for magazines. Hemingway noticed that Fitzgerald would start his stories with an authentic style and then rewrite them to make them more commercial, by adding unnecessary plot twists that would sell well.

33. Hemingway debunked Zelda’s rumors regarding F. Scott Fitzgerald’s penis size

The marital bitterness between the Fitzgeralds led Zelda to seek to belittle her husband on every possible occasion, one of which was joking about his penis size in front of their friends. Like a true friend, Hemingway confirmed that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s penis was of an average size after catching a glimpse in a public restroom.

34. Zelda accused Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald of being homosexuals…

After the penis incident, a more serious fight occurred between Zelda and Hemingway when Zelda called them homophobic slurs and accused them of engaging in a homosexual relationship.

35. ….and Fitzgerald had an interesting reaction to that

Fitzgerald intended to have sex with a prostitute to fight Zelda back for her homosexual accusations. However, Zelda discovered the condoms he had purchased before anything occurred. Nevertheless, a heated argument erupted and their marriage would continue to be lingered with Zelda’s jealousy.

36. F. Scott Fitzgerald had a brief romantic relationship with a 17-year-old Hollywood star

Lois Moran was a starlet whom Hollywood was beginning to recognize due to her role in Stella Dallas, which came out in 1925. Fitzgerald met Lois at a lavish party in Hollywood and the two of them enjoyed a fruitful conversation, sitting on a staircase and discussing literature and philosophy. She inspired Fitzgerald to write his short story “Magnetism,” which revolves around a young Hollywood starlet and her romance with a married writer.

37. Zelda had a nervous breakdown in her attempt to become a ballerina 

Zelda decided to pursue a lifelong ambition and train to become a ballerina. She began taking classes with a professional dancer in Paris. However, the training hours were long and extensive and had caused her first mental breakdown, labeled as “nervous exhaustion,” in 1930.

38. Zelda attempted vehicular suicide

Zelda’s behavior became increasingly unpredictable and aggressive in 1929, while the couple was living in Europe. During a driving trip to Paris, Zelda gripped the steering wheel and attempted to drive over a cliff, with herself, Fitzgerald, and their 9-year-old daughter in the car.

39. Zelda was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1930

The couple traveled to Switzerland, seeking treatment for her at a clinic. When they returned to America in 1930, Zelda was hospitalized again at the Philips Clinic at John Hopkins University.

40. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writings became out-of-tone amid the Great Depression

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels were labeled snobbish and materialistic during the Great Depression, leading to a drastic drop in his popularity. Many Americans could no longer afford to sip champagne whenever they wanted or to spend their vacations in Paris like Fitzgerald’s extravagant characters did. Fitzgerald made the fatal mistake of not reading the room and adapting his works to the atmosphere of the era and current events.

41. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s drinking gradually caught up with his health

The consequences of Fitzgerald’s alcohol-tainted lifestyle eventually became evident in his health in the 1930s. Not only did it affect his heart resulting in cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease, but it also began to affect his writing and intellectual abilities. In the period between 1933 and 1937, he was hospitalized for alcoholism over eight times.

42. T.B or not T.B?

Some scholars believed that F. Scott Fitzgerald claimed to have tuberculosis just to cover up his drinking problems and use it as an excuse to cover his health problems. However, he might have actually suffered from recurring tubercular hemorrhage and in fact, did tell Hemingway of his fear of dying from it.

43. F. Scott Fitzgerald began a relationship with gossip columnist Sheilah Graham

Sheilah would become F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final romance before his death. During their relationship, a doctor ordered Fitzgerald to avoid any tiring physical activities, which led to Fitzgerald moving out of his apartment to Graham’s apartment on the first floor.

44. Sheilah Graham had never read any of Fitzgerald’s writings

This led to a depressing experience for F. Scott Fitzgerald, as he attempted to introduce Sheilah to his novels. However, each time he visited a bookshop, he was met with the daunting realization that his books were no longer relevant enough to be sold. Fitzgerald realized that he was now a forgotten author, which led him to spiral down a depressive episode.

What books did F. Scott Fitzgerald write?

45. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his first novel in the training camp, waiting to be deployed

F. Scott Fitzgerald rushed into writing a 120,000-word manuscript of The Romantic Egoist, which would later become This Side of Paradise. After finishing writing the manuscript, he had it sent to the publishers, who refused to publish it.

46. F. Scott Fitzgerald moved back to his parents’ home to rewrite The Romantic Egoist

Due to his financial struggles, F. Scott Fitzgerald decided to step up and make one last genuine effort to become a writer. F. Scott Fitzgerald stopped partying and drinking, moved back to his parents’ home, and worked ruthlessly on revising The Romantic Egoist. His efforts were successful and he managed to create This Side of Paradise.

47. This Side of Paradise was a hit upon its publication

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald hit the bookshelves on March 26, 1920 and sold over 40,000 copies in its first year. It was often described as the first realistic American college and it wasn’t a coincidence as it was almost an autobiographical account of Fitzgerald’s short time in Princeton and his relationships with the women in his life.

48. When did F. Scott Fitzgerald publish The Beautiful and Damned?

The Beautiful and Damned was published on March 4, 1922 and was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s second novel. It had been published previously as a serial in Metropolitan Magazine from September 1921 to March 1922.

Click to buy The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald!

49. F. Scott Fitzgerald hated the movie adaptation of The Beautiful and Damned

Scribner published The Beautiful and Damned in 1922, preparing an initial print run of 20,000 copies. The book was an instant hit and required an additional 50,000 copies to be printed and a movie adaptation was made the same year. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t a fan of the movie, writing to a friend that it was: “by far the worst movie I’ve ever seen in my life. Cheap, vulgar, ill-constructed, and shoddy. We were utterly ashamed of it.”

50. You can’t see The Beautiful and Damned movie

No copies of the 1922 film The Beautiful and Damned are known to exist. It’s considered a lost film.

51. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a stage play that failed miserably

The Vegetable was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s only full-length play and it flopped upon its premiere in 1923. It left Fitzgerald in debt and in need of writing more short stories to overcome that setback.

Click to buy The Vegetable by F. Scott Fitzgerald!

52. When did F. Scott Fitzgerald publish The Great Gatsby?

The Great Gatsby was published April 10, 1925 by Scribner’s. Despite now being considered a literary masterpiece and an ideal example of The Great American Novel, the book did not sell a lot of copies upon publication.

Click on the book cover to buy The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald!

53. The Great Gatsby was based on the time the Fitzgeralds lived in Long Island

For source material, F. Scott Fitzgerald drew heavily on his experiences on Long Island and his mixed feelings towards the extravagant parties, the wealthy people he encountered, and the morally complex privileged lifestyles they led. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald also revisited his lifelong obsession with Ginevra King. After all, “the whole idea of Gatsby was the unfairness of a poor young man not being able to marry a girl with money,” in Fitzgerald’s own words: “This theme comes up again and again because I lived it.”

54. Jay Gatsby was based on a real person

Max Gerlach was one of the Fitzgeralds’ rich Long Island neighbors. There are many striking similarities between Max Gerlach and Jay Gatsby, including the catchphrase “old sport.” Gerlach was also famous for his lavish parties and created fictional stories about his past to deem it more interesting.

55. F. Scott Fitzgerald wanted to try a different genre

F. Scott Fitzgerald was inspired by the famous Leopold and Loeb case that occurred in 1924 and involved the murder of a young boy by two adolescents. He wanted to write a matricide and made many attempts, giving the novel different names. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald only wrote a few chapters before dropping this project as he was preoccupied with writing short stories to fill his financial needs.

56. When did F. Scott Fitzgerald publish Tender is the Night?

Tender is the Night was published on April 12, 1934 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. It was the 4th novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

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57. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote different versions of Tender is the Night

You’d be surprised to know that Tender Is the Night had undergone so many changes that its final version is completely unrecognizable from where it was originally heading, reflecting the turbulence of the writer’s life at the time. The novel mirrors the events that were occurring at the time the final version was being written, as it tells the story of a writer who lives in Europe with his mentally ill wife.

58. F. Scott Fitzgerald published dozens of short stories

While F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote just 4 novels, he was a very prolific short story writer — if only because he was often using the medium to subsidize the lifestyle he was living with Zelda. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald — note the hardcover version published by Scribner — collects 43 of these and is well worth any reader’s time.

Click to buy The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald!

F. Scott Fitzgerald: Death, Legacy & Movies

59. The last time F. Scott Fitzgerald saw Zelda was on a trip to Cuba

In 1939, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda took a trip to Cuba, which would be their last encounter. Memorably during this trip, F. Scott Fitzgerald was beaten up when he attempted to break up a cockfight, objecting against the cruelty of the matter.

60. F. Scott Fitzgerald was sober for a year before his death

While living with Graham, Fitzgerald managed to quit drinking and stay sober for over a year before his death. On the night before his death, Fitzgerald felt faint and was finding it difficult to walk straight to his car. He turned to Graham and commented: “I suppose people will think I’m drunk”.

61. F. Scott Fitzgerald died of a heart attack while annotating the newspaper

Part of Fitzgerald’s weekly routine was annotating his Princeton Alumni Weekly. However, that week he didn’t get a chance to finish it as he collapsed on the floor without making a sound, before gasping and falling unconscious. Sheilah Graham attempted to resuscitate him, but it was too late.

62. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s daughter asked Sheilah Graham not to attend the funeral

Scottie asked Sheilah Graham to skip the funeral for social propriety, which Graham understood and instead, asked a friend to attend in her place. 

63. Zelda was buried next to F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Fitzgeralds might have had their differences but they meant it when they said “till death do us apart.” Zelda died in a fire at Highland Mental Hospital on March 10, 1948 and was buried next to him at Rockville Union Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland. Scottie successfully petitioned to have her parents’ remains relocated to the family gravesite at Saint Mary’s in 1975.

64. The Great Gatsby only became a hit after Fitzgerald’s death

It was suggested by librarians, publishers, and other literary enthusiasts that it be included in the series of Armed Services Editions, which were cheaply produced books shipped overseas to entertain World War II troops. The success of The Great Gatsby sparked significant curiosity in Fitzgerald himself. By the 1950s, he had become a cult figure in American society, and he was more regarded than at any other time in his life.

65. The Great Gatsby has been made into a movie 5x

The first adaptation of The Great Gatsby was a 1926 silent film, followed by the 1949 version of The Great Gatsby starring Alan Ladd and Betty Field. Robert Redford and Mia Farrow starred in the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby, and Mira Sorvino and Paul Rudd starred together in a 2000 version. Perhaps the most well-known version is the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire.

Click to buy The Great Gatsby on DVD!

66. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was directed by David Fincher and starred Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond, Taraji P. Henson, and Elle Fanning. The movie received 13 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It was based on a 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that was originally published in Collier’s Magazine.

Click to buy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Blu-ray!

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Once we learn about the dramatic life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, it’s easier to see how his writing often mirrored whatever turbulence was happening in his personal life, and his brilliant talent and stories have naturally led his name to be forever engraved in the canon of English literature. While Fitzgerald’s life — especially his life with Zelda Fitzgerald— was a pretty colorful story in and of itself, his writings have been immortalized and taught all over the world as a prime example of timeless American writing.

Are some of the words in this blog post to hard for you? Then you should check out our guide What Kind of Dictionary Should I Buy? And/or better yet, our guide to buying the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary!

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