F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Jazz Age

F. Scott Fitzgerald Born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald September 24, 1896 St. Paul, Minnesota Descendant of famous patriot, Frances Scott Key who wrote “Star Spangled Banner”

Education Attended St. Paul Academy The Newman School Princeton Dropped out of Princeton to join the Army in 1917

Zelda Stationed in Montgomery, Alabama Met Zelda Sayre After his first novel This Side of Paradise was published he had the literary and monetary success to marry Zelda in 1920

Were the “it” couple Moved frequently (Rome, Paris, Long Island) Had a chaotic relationship due to his alcoholism, depression, and insecurity and her infidelity and mental instability. Fitzgerald sold many short stories to pay for their lifestyle and Zelda’s medical bills

Had one daughter named Frances Scott “Scottie.” Fitzgerald sent Scottie to live at a boarding school when Zelda was hospitalized for mental and physical breakdowns and he was battling with alcoholism. Zelda died in a hospital fire in 1932. Fitzgerald died in 1940 at 44 of a heart attack.

The Jazz Age

The Party That Lasted a Decade Period between the end of World War I and the Stock Market Crash in 1929, which led to the Great Depression.

“The Jazz Age”-coined by Fitzgerald Automobiles Radios Prohibition Flappers Gangster Talkies The Charleston Jazz

The Moderns (1900-1950) WWI Changed the voice of American Fiction Before the war, American lit was youthful, and even as uncertain as an adolescent. After the war the country seemed to have lost its innocence.

Post-war Writing Idealism turned to cynicism and a few American writers began to question the authority and tradition that was America’s bedrock The war introduced new moral codes, short skirts, bobbed hair, and new slang America’s sense of the past was deteriorating.

Modernism American writers began being influenced by the modernist movement The movement in literature, music and arts – swept along by disillusionment with traditions that seem to have become spiritually empty – called for a bold experimentation and a wholesale rejection of traditional themes and styles.

The American Dream: The Pursuit of a Promise If we try to identify our uniquely American beliefs, we find three central ideas that we have come to call “The American Dream”

#1 Admiration for America as the new Eden America is a land of beauty, bounty, and unlimited promise. There are unlimited resources and endless opportunities. This is one of the major themes of the Great Gatsby – as it captures the American Dream seen through Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway’s eyes.

#2 Optimism The ever-expanding opportunity and abundance that many people have come to expect. Americans have believed in progress – that life keeps getting better and better and that we are moving toward an era of prosperity, justice, and joy that seems just around the corner.

#3 The Importance and Ultimate Triumph of the Individual The independent, self-reliant person will triumph. Everything is possible for the person who places trust in his or her own powers and potential. American dreamers believed that the could overcome their birth and become whoever they wanted to be with a little luck and hard work. Trust in the universe and trust in yourself.