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Scott and Ernest: The Fitzgerald/Hemingway Friendship
Dust jacket design by Jack Ribik. Bruccoli reevaluates these two authors and their friendship by examining their lives and correspondence.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1978
35 people want to read
About the author
Matthew J. Bruccoli
331 books39 followersMatthew Joseph Bruccoli was an American professor of English at the University of South Carolina. He was the preeminent expert on F. Scott Fitzgerald. He also wrote about writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe and John O'Hara, and was editor of the 'Dictionary of Literary Biography'.
Bruccoli's interest in Fitzgerald began in 1947 when he heard a radio broadcast of Fitzgerald's short story 'The Diamond as Big as the Ritz'. That week he tracked down a copy of 'The Great Gatsby', "and I have been reading it ever since," he told interviewers. Bruccoli graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1949, and studied at Cornell University where one of his professors was Vladimir Nabokov and at Yale University where he was a founder member of the fledgling Manuscript Society, graduating in 1953. He was awarded a master's degree and doctorate from the University of Virginia in 1960. Bruccoli, who also taught at the University of Virginia and the Ohio State University, spent nearly four decades teaching at the University of South Carolina. He lived in Columbia, South Carolina, where, according to his New York Times obituary, he "cut a dash on campus, instantly recognizable by his vintage red Mercedes convertible, Brooks Brothers suits, Groucho mustache and bristling crew cut that dated to his Yale days. His untamed Bronx accent also set him apart" (Grimes).
Over the course of his career, he authored over 50 books on F. Scott Fitzgerald and other literary figures. His 1981 biography of Fitzgerald, Some 'Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald', is considered the standard Fitzgerald biography. He has edited many of Fitzgerald's works, from 'This Side of Paradise' to Fitzgerald's unfinished final novel, 'The Love of the Last Tycoon'. Bruccoli has also edited Scott's wife Zelda Fitzgerald's only novel 'Save Me the Waltz'.
While studying Fitzgerald, Bruccoli and his wife Arlyn began to collect all manner of Fitzgerald memorabilia. Bruccoli owned the artist's copy of Celestial Eyes, the cover art by Francis Cugat which appeared on the first edition, and most modern editions, of The Great Gatsby. In 1969, Bruccoli befriended F. Scott and Zelda's daughter Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald. In 1976, Bruccoli and the Fitzgeralds' daughter Scottie (as Scottie Fitzgerald Smith) published The Romantic Egoists, from the scrapbooks that F. Scott and Zelda had maintained throughout their lives of photographs and book reviews. Later in life Bruccoli and his wife donated their collection to the Thomas Cooper Library at USC. The collection is valued at nearly $2 million.
Bruccoli was general editor of the 'Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography', published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. As part of this series, he produced 'F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Descriptive Bibliography' and, with Richard Layman, 'Ring W. Lardner: A Descriptive Bibliography' (1976). A working draft of the Lardner book was prepared in the summer of 1973 by Bruccoli.
Along with Richard Layman, a Dashiell Hammett scholar and former graduate assistant, and businessman C. E. Frazer Clark, Jr., Bruccoli launched the 'Dictionary of Literary Biography'. The 400-volume reference work contains biographies of more than 12,000 literary figures from antiquity to modern times.
Bruccoli continued working at the University of South Carolina until being diagnosed with a brain tumor, and died June 4, 2008.
Bruccoli's interest in Fitzgerald began in 1947 when he heard a radio broadcast of Fitzgerald's short story 'The Diamond as Big as the Ritz'. That week he tracked down a copy of 'The Great Gatsby', "and I have been reading it ever since," he told interviewers. Bruccoli graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1949, and studied at Cornell University where one of his professors was Vladimir Nabokov and at Yale University where he was a founder member of the fledgling Manuscript Society, graduating in 1953. He was awarded a master's degree and doctorate from the University of Virginia in 1960. Bruccoli, who also taught at the University of Virginia and the Ohio State University, spent nearly four decades teaching at the University of South Carolina. He lived in Columbia, South Carolina, where, according to his New York Times obituary, he "cut a dash on campus, instantly recognizable by his vintage red Mercedes convertible, Brooks Brothers suits, Groucho mustache and bristling crew cut that dated to his Yale days. His untamed Bronx accent also set him apart" (Grimes).
Over the course of his career, he authored over 50 books on F. Scott Fitzgerald and other literary figures. His 1981 biography of Fitzgerald, Some 'Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald', is considered the standard Fitzgerald biography. He has edited many of Fitzgerald's works, from 'This Side of Paradise' to Fitzgerald's unfinished final novel, 'The Love of the Last Tycoon'. Bruccoli has also edited Scott's wife Zelda Fitzgerald's only novel 'Save Me the Waltz'.
While studying Fitzgerald, Bruccoli and his wife Arlyn began to collect all manner of Fitzgerald memorabilia. Bruccoli owned the artist's copy of Celestial Eyes, the cover art by Francis Cugat which appeared on the first edition, and most modern editions, of The Great Gatsby. In 1969, Bruccoli befriended F. Scott and Zelda's daughter Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald. In 1976, Bruccoli and the Fitzgeralds' daughter Scottie (as Scottie Fitzgerald Smith) published The Romantic Egoists, from the scrapbooks that F. Scott and Zelda had maintained throughout their lives of photographs and book reviews. Later in life Bruccoli and his wife donated their collection to the Thomas Cooper Library at USC. The collection is valued at nearly $2 million.
Bruccoli was general editor of the 'Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography', published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. As part of this series, he produced 'F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Descriptive Bibliography' and, with Richard Layman, 'Ring W. Lardner: A Descriptive Bibliography' (1976). A working draft of the Lardner book was prepared in the summer of 1973 by Bruccoli.
Along with Richard Layman, a Dashiell Hammett scholar and former graduate assistant, and businessman C. E. Frazer Clark, Jr., Bruccoli launched the 'Dictionary of Literary Biography'. The 400-volume reference work contains biographies of more than 12,000 literary figures from antiquity to modern times.
Bruccoli continued working at the University of South Carolina until being diagnosed with a brain tumor, and died June 4, 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 5, 2023
Got exactly what I needed.
And as much as I love Hemingway’s work, I’m just as smitten—if not more so—with Fitzgerald (Tender is the Night esp) and Fitz was a kinder, more tragic figure. Showing their history like this draws the contrast even sharper. #TeamScott
And as much as I love Hemingway’s work, I’m just as smitten—if not more so—with Fitzgerald (Tender is the Night esp) and Fitz was a kinder, more tragic figure. Showing their history like this draws the contrast even sharper. #TeamScott
May 5, 2009
Bruccoli gives a very good, measured, and concise account of the Fitzgerald/Hemingway relationship. He draws extensively on primary sources - of which there are many. It's entertaining, especially if you are a geeky English major.
July 28, 2023
This was an okay biography of the love/hate friendship between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. I'm not real sure why I only thought it was "okay" -- it just felt ... not necessarily superficial, but almost like ... I don't know, like maybe it didn't really dig down deep ... maybe. I just didn't get as much out of it as I expected, so I feel like the book was lacking.
Bruccoli definitely does his research, though, using lots of letters and telegrams between Scott and Ernest, or to other people about each other. He also makes some good points about where in their own literature Scott and Ernest lie or exaggerate about their relationship. For example, the book begins with a quote from Hemingway's A Moveable Feast about "The first time I ever met Scott Fitzgerald," including mentioning Dunc Chaplin, a pitcher from Princeton. Bruccoli soon after notes "Chaplin was not [at the Paris bar where they met] that spring day in 1925. Chaplin was not in Paris. Chaplin was not even in Europe in 1925. Perhaps it was someone else--another Princetonian. But Chaplin is carefully identified as part of the sense of exact recall Hemingway develops in these memoirs. ... One wrong detail undermines the whole thing: all of it has to be right."
Similarly, there's an episode where Ernest is boxing another man, and Scott is tasked with keeping time... or not. There are (I think) three different versions of the story that float around, and Bruccoli points out that, since there are different versions, we don't know who's telling the truth.
The book also serves as a semi-good history of each author's bibliography and their writing processes (only semi-good because the book's about two people, so it can't go as in-depth as if it were only about one person).
Bruccoli definitely does his research, though, using lots of letters and telegrams between Scott and Ernest, or to other people about each other. He also makes some good points about where in their own literature Scott and Ernest lie or exaggerate about their relationship. For example, the book begins with a quote from Hemingway's A Moveable Feast about "The first time I ever met Scott Fitzgerald," including mentioning Dunc Chaplin, a pitcher from Princeton. Bruccoli soon after notes "Chaplin was not [at the Paris bar where they met] that spring day in 1925. Chaplin was not in Paris. Chaplin was not even in Europe in 1925. Perhaps it was someone else--another Princetonian. But Chaplin is carefully identified as part of the sense of exact recall Hemingway develops in these memoirs. ... One wrong detail undermines the whole thing: all of it has to be right."
Similarly, there's an episode where Ernest is boxing another man, and Scott is tasked with keeping time... or not. There are (I think) three different versions of the story that float around, and Bruccoli points out that, since there are different versions, we don't know who's telling the truth.
The book also serves as a semi-good history of each author's bibliography and their writing processes (only semi-good because the book's about two people, so it can't go as in-depth as if it were only about one person).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews