Birthdate: 24th September 1896
Nationality: American
Bio:
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an iconic American writer of the Jazz Age. He is best known for his novel The Great Gatsby, which was published in 1925 and is considered a masterpiece of 20th century literature. Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota and came of age during World War I. He attended Princeton University but dropped out in 1917 to join the army. His early stories and novels drew from his experiences as a young man in the postwar era of social and cultural change.
In 1920, Fitzgerald married Zelda Sayre and the following years were the height of their fame and excess as part of the Lost Generation in New York and France. Fitzgerald’s writings captured the restless, rebellious spirit of the era and chronicled the disillusionment of the post-war period. Novels like This Side of Paradise and Tales of the Jazz Age portrayed the decadence and hedonism of the Roaring Twenties. However, Fitzgerald struggled personally with alcoholism and financial troubles as his wife’s mental health deteriorated.
The Great Gatsby is now considered Fitzgerald’s masterpiece and a quintessential portrait of the American Dream. It exemplifies his brilliant, lyrical prose and talent for capturing the cultural Zeitgeist. Fitzgerald died in 1940, aged 44, continuing to write until his death. He left a profound mark on 20th century literature and remains one of the most iconic chroniclers of the Jazz Age.