Decadent Facts About F. Scott Fitzgerald
"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. 'Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.'"— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an author who achieved success by writing about American life in the 1920s. Now regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, he completed four novels during his lifetime, including his magnum opus, The Great Gatsby, as well as 164 stories for magazines and four short story collections. A fifth uncompleted novel, The Last Tycoon, was published one year after his death in 1941. Living almost as wild a life as what he portrayed on the page, no other writer so perfectly encapsulated the glitz, glamor, and debauchery of the Roaring Twenties, the era he himself dubbed "the Jazz Age." Keep on reading for 42 facts about this literary icon.
F. Scott Fitzgerald Facts
42. Patriotic Roots
Fitzgerald’s full name, Francis Scott Key, also belonged to a famous ancestor. That Francis Scott Key was a lawyer and a writer who is known for writing the lyrics to the “The Star Spangled Banner” during the War of 1812. Key wasn’t a close relative, (he was a second cousin three times removed) but that didn’t stop Fitzgerald from playing up the family connection. Wouldn’t you?
41. Alternate Title
As hard as it is to imagine, The Great Gatsby was almost called something else. He was pretty close to choosing either Trimalchio or Trimalchio in West Egg for the title, but someone managed to convince him that the literary reference was too obscure to use (Trimalchio is a character from a Roman work called the Satyricon).
40. Not His Forte
Of all his talents, fighting was definitely not one of them. He rarely seemed to get involved in fights he had any prayer of winning, including one in the Jungle Club in Princeton while he was dating his wife-to-be Zelda.
One night, an already drunk Fitzgerald was arguing with a bouncer outside the club’s inner when Zelda poked her head out and asked if he’d be joining her inside.
Fitzgerald decided to try and force his way inside but ended up getting tossed across a table instead. The next day, Fitzgerald was in bed with one eye swollen shut, and his head bandaged, with no memory of what had happened the night before.
