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A Life in Letters
"I doubt if, after all, I'll ever write anything again worth putting in print." F. Scott Fitzgerald was twenty-six when he wrote this lament to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, in 1923 - two years before Scribners published The Great Gatsby. Soon after Gatsby appeared, Fitzgerald wrote to H. L. Mencken, "I think the book is so far a commercial failure - at least it was two weeks after publication - hadn't reached 20,000 yet."
Gatsby turned out all right in the end. But while Fitzgerald's roller-coaster reputation fell precipitously in the years approaching his death in 1940, his stature in American literature has risen steadily in the five decades that followed - the strongest restoration in American literary history. Yet his life and work have remained obscured by myth and misconceptions. In this new collection of his letters, edited by leading Fitzgerald scholar and biographer Matthew J. Bruccoli, we see through his own words the artistic and emotional maturation of one of America's most enduring and elegant authors. A Life in Letters is the most comprehensive volume of Fitzgerald's letters - many of them appearing in print for the first time. The fullness of the selection and the chronological arrangement make this collection the closest thing to an autobiography Fitzgerald ever wrote.
While many readers are familiar with Fitzgerald's legendary "jazz age" social life and his friendships with Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Edmund Wilson, and other famous authors, few are aware of his writings about his life and his views on writing. Letters to his editor Maxwell Perkins illustrate the development of Fitzgerald's literary sensibility; those to his friend and competitor Ernest Hemingway reveal their difficult friendship. The most poignant letters here were written to his wife, Zelda, from the time of their courtship in Montgomery, Alabama, during World War I to her extended convalescence in a sanatorium near Asheville, North Carolina. Fitzgerald is by turns affectionate and proud in his letters to his daughter, Scottie, at college in the East while he was struggling in Hollywood.
For readers who think primarily of Fitzgerald as a hard-drinking playboy for whom writing was effortless, these letters show his serious, painstaking concerns with creating realistic, durable art. A Life in Letters offers a full, vibrant self-portrait of an artist whose work was his life.
Gatsby turned out all right in the end. But while Fitzgerald's roller-coaster reputation fell precipitously in the years approaching his death in 1940, his stature in American literature has risen steadily in the five decades that followed - the strongest restoration in American literary history. Yet his life and work have remained obscured by myth and misconceptions. In this new collection of his letters, edited by leading Fitzgerald scholar and biographer Matthew J. Bruccoli, we see through his own words the artistic and emotional maturation of one of America's most enduring and elegant authors. A Life in Letters is the most comprehensive volume of Fitzgerald's letters - many of them appearing in print for the first time. The fullness of the selection and the chronological arrangement make this collection the closest thing to an autobiography Fitzgerald ever wrote.
While many readers are familiar with Fitzgerald's legendary "jazz age" social life and his friendships with Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Edmund Wilson, and other famous authors, few are aware of his writings about his life and his views on writing. Letters to his editor Maxwell Perkins illustrate the development of Fitzgerald's literary sensibility; those to his friend and competitor Ernest Hemingway reveal their difficult friendship. The most poignant letters here were written to his wife, Zelda, from the time of their courtship in Montgomery, Alabama, during World War I to her extended convalescence in a sanatorium near Asheville, North Carolina. Fitzgerald is by turns affectionate and proud in his letters to his daughter, Scottie, at college in the East while he was struggling in Hollywood.
For readers who think primarily of Fitzgerald as a hard-drinking playboy for whom writing was effortless, these letters show his serious, painstaking concerns with creating realistic, durable art. A Life in Letters offers a full, vibrant self-portrait of an artist whose work was his life.
503 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1980
39 people are currently reading
981 people want to read
About the author
F. Scott Fitzgerald
2,137 books25.7k followersFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald, widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age, a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
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October 23, 2025
A Book I Wished Never Ended
F Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters is a portal to 1917 to 1940, a magical mailbox where you can receive letters from F Scott Fitzgerald.
On December 21, 1940, F Scott Fitzgerald died of a heart attack, and, as the letters approached that date, I had to choke back tears—I wasn’t ready to let go of this broken man with tremendous dreams, a struggling artist, a committed father and husband, waging battle on too many fronts.
A Life in Letters is highly addictive; while I was reading this, I would share glimpses of letters with friends, and they would inevitably return, clamoring for more.
Struggling Artist
A Life in Letters paints a portrait of a struggling artist—despite Fitzgerald’s commitment to quality, he never attained boundless riches and glory in his lifetime.
And the life of an artist can be depressing. For example, Vincent Van Gogh died a relatively unknown; he only attained fame posthumously as a result of his brother’s wife tirelessly promoting his work.
One of the funniest books that I have ever read is A Confederacy of Dunces, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. However, the author, John Kennedy Toole died in 1969, heartbroken due to the countless rejection of his book. His mother, Thelma, found his book, read it, and discovered that it was legitimately excellent. She spent years finding someone to give it a chance. According to Wikipedia, over five years, she sent the book to seven publishers, and all rejected it. Finally, she cornered a college professor who agreed to read it to get her off his back. He intended to only read one page, but the book was so enchanting that he couldn’t put it down, and the rest is history.
The point is that the life of a true artist is rarely easy, and Fitzgerald was no exception. Let’s look at some of his quotes:
“I want to be extravagantly admired again.”
“Who in hell ever respected Shelley, Whitman, Poe, O. Henry, Verlaine, Swinburne, Villon, Shakespeare ect when they were alive. Shelley + Swinburne were fired from college; Verlaine + O Henry were in jail. The rest were drunkards or wasters and told generally by merchants and petty politicians and jitney messiahs of their day that real people wouldn’t stand it And the merchants and messiahs, the shrewd + the dull, are dust—and the others live on.”
“The book comes out today [The Great Gatsby] and I am overcome with fears and forebodings. […] In fact all my confidence is gone. […] I’m sick of the book myself—I wrote it over at least five times.”
“Everything that I have ever attained has been through long and persistent struggle.”
“When I was your age I lived with a great dream. The dream grew and I learned how to speak of it and make people listen.”
“In a small way I was an original.”
“You don’t realize that what I am doing here is the last tired effort of a man who once did something finer and better.”
“What little I’ve accomplished has been by the most laborious and uphill work, and I wish now I’d never relaxed or looked back—but said at the end of The Great Gatsby: ‘I’ve found my line—from now on this comes first. This is my immediate duty—without this I am nothing.’”
Secret Insights
A Life in Letters doesn’t disappoint if you want to know the secrets behind Fitzgerald’s works.
Did you know that Fitzgerald considered many different titles for The Great Gatsby? Below were some possibilities:
Under the Red, White, and Blue
Among the Ash-Heaps and Millionaires
Gold-Hatted Gatsby
Trimalchio in West Egg
The High-Bouncing Lover
On the Road to West Egg
Literary Critic
A Life in Letters is also a literary guide. Fitzgerald gives his colorful yet eloquent opinion on many works of literature from Charles Dickens to Gertrude Stein to William Blake to John Keats to Edith Wharton to Sinclair Lewis to Henry David Thoreau. Toward the end of his life, Fitzgerald worked very briefly on the script for Gone With The Wind.
While living in Paris, Fitzgerald met Ernest Hemingway. For A Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, Fitzgerald gives Hemingway detailed review notes, reprinted in A Life in Letters. If one were so inclined, a reader can discover if Hemingway accepted Fitzgerald’s “suggestions.”
One of my favorite authors is John Steinbeck, and Fitzgerald had strong opinions about him. He accused Steinbeck of stealing a scene from McTeague, a book by Frank Norris, and using it in Of Mice and Men.
Fitzgerald also had a front row seat to the clash between his editor, Maxwell Perkins, and writer Thomas Wolfe. This is covered in the brilliant 2016 film, Genius. Of course, now I have to read Look Homeward Angel.
If you have a strong literary curiosity, who better than Fitzgerald to give his honest opinion?
A Reminder to Be Kind to Each Other
In 1936, Fitzgerald broke his shoulder in a diving accident, making writing impossible. On September 25, 1936, The New York Post published a particularly troubling article, resulting in Fitzgerald attempting to take his own life. By 1939, Fitzgerald writes of spending months in bed with ill health, high temperatures, and a lung cavity.
In parting, keep in mind Fitzgerald’s advice to his daughter, Scottie:
But it is a different story that you have spent two years doing no useful work at all, improving neither your body nor your mind, but only writing reams and reams of dreary letters to dreary people, with no possible object except obtaining invitations which you could not accept. […]
On the other hand, when occasionally I see signs of life and intention in you, there is no company in the world I prefer. For there is no doubt that you have something in your belly, some real gusto for life—a real dream of your own—and my idea was to wed it to something solid before it was too late.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – $31.80 from eBay
Connect With Me!
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F Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters is a portal to 1917 to 1940, a magical mailbox where you can receive letters from F Scott Fitzgerald.
On December 21, 1940, F Scott Fitzgerald died of a heart attack, and, as the letters approached that date, I had to choke back tears—I wasn’t ready to let go of this broken man with tremendous dreams, a struggling artist, a committed father and husband, waging battle on too many fronts.
A Life in Letters is highly addictive; while I was reading this, I would share glimpses of letters with friends, and they would inevitably return, clamoring for more.
Struggling Artist
A Life in Letters paints a portrait of a struggling artist—despite Fitzgerald’s commitment to quality, he never attained boundless riches and glory in his lifetime.
And the life of an artist can be depressing. For example, Vincent Van Gogh died a relatively unknown; he only attained fame posthumously as a result of his brother’s wife tirelessly promoting his work.
One of the funniest books that I have ever read is A Confederacy of Dunces, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. However, the author, John Kennedy Toole died in 1969, heartbroken due to the countless rejection of his book. His mother, Thelma, found his book, read it, and discovered that it was legitimately excellent. She spent years finding someone to give it a chance. According to Wikipedia, over five years, she sent the book to seven publishers, and all rejected it. Finally, she cornered a college professor who agreed to read it to get her off his back. He intended to only read one page, but the book was so enchanting that he couldn’t put it down, and the rest is history.
The point is that the life of a true artist is rarely easy, and Fitzgerald was no exception. Let’s look at some of his quotes:
“I want to be extravagantly admired again.”
“Who in hell ever respected Shelley, Whitman, Poe, O. Henry, Verlaine, Swinburne, Villon, Shakespeare ect when they were alive. Shelley + Swinburne were fired from college; Verlaine + O Henry were in jail. The rest were drunkards or wasters and told generally by merchants and petty politicians and jitney messiahs of their day that real people wouldn’t stand it And the merchants and messiahs, the shrewd + the dull, are dust—and the others live on.”
“The book comes out today [The Great Gatsby] and I am overcome with fears and forebodings. […] In fact all my confidence is gone. […] I’m sick of the book myself—I wrote it over at least five times.”
“Everything that I have ever attained has been through long and persistent struggle.”
“When I was your age I lived with a great dream. The dream grew and I learned how to speak of it and make people listen.”
“In a small way I was an original.”
“You don’t realize that what I am doing here is the last tired effort of a man who once did something finer and better.”
“What little I’ve accomplished has been by the most laborious and uphill work, and I wish now I’d never relaxed or looked back—but said at the end of The Great Gatsby: ‘I’ve found my line—from now on this comes first. This is my immediate duty—without this I am nothing.’”
Secret Insights
A Life in Letters doesn’t disappoint if you want to know the secrets behind Fitzgerald’s works.
Did you know that Fitzgerald considered many different titles for The Great Gatsby? Below were some possibilities:
Under the Red, White, and Blue
Among the Ash-Heaps and Millionaires
Gold-Hatted Gatsby
Trimalchio in West Egg
The High-Bouncing Lover
On the Road to West Egg
Literary Critic
A Life in Letters is also a literary guide. Fitzgerald gives his colorful yet eloquent opinion on many works of literature from Charles Dickens to Gertrude Stein to William Blake to John Keats to Edith Wharton to Sinclair Lewis to Henry David Thoreau. Toward the end of his life, Fitzgerald worked very briefly on the script for Gone With The Wind.
While living in Paris, Fitzgerald met Ernest Hemingway. For A Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, Fitzgerald gives Hemingway detailed review notes, reprinted in A Life in Letters. If one were so inclined, a reader can discover if Hemingway accepted Fitzgerald’s “suggestions.”
One of my favorite authors is John Steinbeck, and Fitzgerald had strong opinions about him. He accused Steinbeck of stealing a scene from McTeague, a book by Frank Norris, and using it in Of Mice and Men.
Fitzgerald also had a front row seat to the clash between his editor, Maxwell Perkins, and writer Thomas Wolfe. This is covered in the brilliant 2016 film, Genius. Of course, now I have to read Look Homeward Angel.
If you have a strong literary curiosity, who better than Fitzgerald to give his honest opinion?
A Reminder to Be Kind to Each Other
In 1936, Fitzgerald broke his shoulder in a diving accident, making writing impossible. On September 25, 1936, The New York Post published a particularly troubling article, resulting in Fitzgerald attempting to take his own life. By 1939, Fitzgerald writes of spending months in bed with ill health, high temperatures, and a lung cavity.
In parting, keep in mind Fitzgerald’s advice to his daughter, Scottie:
But it is a different story that you have spent two years doing no useful work at all, improving neither your body nor your mind, but only writing reams and reams of dreary letters to dreary people, with no possible object except obtaining invitations which you could not accept. […]
On the other hand, when occasionally I see signs of life and intention in you, there is no company in the world I prefer. For there is no doubt that you have something in your belly, some real gusto for life—a real dream of your own—and my idea was to wed it to something solid before it was too late.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – $31.80 from eBay
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta
October 24, 2012
I chose to read F. Scott Fitzgerald's Life of Lettersfor two reasons:
1) Because I have been studying Fitzgerald's works for most of my college career, so I wanted to hear about his life in his own words
2) Because the book is such a dry read, I'd only push myself to read it under the context of a undergrad book report. Thankfully, I've received that opportunity.
No doubt, Matthew Broccoli is an F. Scott Fitzgerald expert. His task of collaging a comprehensive collection of letters in a chronological order is extremely difficult. Broccoli states his task in the introduction:
"A rule of publishing holds that volumes of letters sell poorly because they are hard to read. But it is an editor's task to make the letters usable. Fitzgerald's letters--particularly his humorous letters--have a density of topical and literary references; they require their own cultural literacy."
Also, Broccoli tells us that many of the more personal letters have been lost. Zelda didn't save Fitzgerald's love letters and almost no letters to Fitzgerald's parents have been recovered. Many of the parts I hoped to see, such as courting Zelda or the emotions behind dealing with success, are sadly absent from the collection. His life before fame is merely a glimpse. When he published This Side of Paradise, his letters talk of business transactions and finances for a long, dull period of time. And as Broccoli alluded to, the humor flew over my head. When Fitzgerald's life begins to crumble,the intrigue finally sparks and the professional tone breaks; chaos begins to seep into even the most business-like letters.
Overall, the book was hard to get through. I only realized how much I retained after I finally put the book down. It prompted me to ask philosophical questions about myself. And about him. The book stirred me on a deep level. I felt strange for a couple days.
However, it was still a rather dull read. I wouldn't recommend it to the average person unless he craves primary source material. It's a fantastic source if you're a literature student and plan to milk Fitzgerald short-stories in every literary essay opportunity. Pop some quotes from this baby and your professor will find you a genius.
But, if you want to know about Fitzgerald's life story, I'd recommend reading one of Broccoli's many biographies. That will be easier to digest and a more enjoyable read.
1) Because I have been studying Fitzgerald's works for most of my college career, so I wanted to hear about his life in his own words
2) Because the book is such a dry read, I'd only push myself to read it under the context of a undergrad book report. Thankfully, I've received that opportunity.
No doubt, Matthew Broccoli is an F. Scott Fitzgerald expert. His task of collaging a comprehensive collection of letters in a chronological order is extremely difficult. Broccoli states his task in the introduction:
"A rule of publishing holds that volumes of letters sell poorly because they are hard to read. But it is an editor's task to make the letters usable. Fitzgerald's letters--particularly his humorous letters--have a density of topical and literary references; they require their own cultural literacy."
Also, Broccoli tells us that many of the more personal letters have been lost. Zelda didn't save Fitzgerald's love letters and almost no letters to Fitzgerald's parents have been recovered. Many of the parts I hoped to see, such as courting Zelda or the emotions behind dealing with success, are sadly absent from the collection. His life before fame is merely a glimpse. When he published This Side of Paradise, his letters talk of business transactions and finances for a long, dull period of time. And as Broccoli alluded to, the humor flew over my head. When Fitzgerald's life begins to crumble,the intrigue finally sparks and the professional tone breaks; chaos begins to seep into even the most business-like letters.
Overall, the book was hard to get through. I only realized how much I retained after I finally put the book down. It prompted me to ask philosophical questions about myself. And about him. The book stirred me on a deep level. I felt strange for a couple days.
However, it was still a rather dull read. I wouldn't recommend it to the average person unless he craves primary source material. It's a fantastic source if you're a literature student and plan to milk Fitzgerald short-stories in every literary essay opportunity. Pop some quotes from this baby and your professor will find you a genius.
But, if you want to know about Fitzgerald's life story, I'd recommend reading one of Broccoli's many biographies. That will be easier to digest and a more enjoyable read.
July 22, 2015
This book had so many insights into the life of a literary genius. I've been reading it off and on for over a year, and as long as you know the general narrative of Fitzgerald's life it's an easy book to come back to after a period of absence. The letters toward the end of his life were kind of hard for me to read because of the bleakness of his life. He'd gotten into such crushing debt, his wife was institutionalized, his career was failing, etc. that it was just so sad to read. Then he starts working on his final novel which he gets so excited about that it gives him almost a second wind in finding purpose in life. These letters, however, still reek of darkness because (spoiler alert!) he died before the novel's completion.
Despite the ending sadness, I loved reading this book. I especially loved the letters to his daughter that really show the development of their relationship throughout their lives, and depict well the closeness of their relationship at the end of his life. At times it seemed like his daughter was the only bright spot of his life. Fitzgerald is just all around a fascinating artist.
Despite the ending sadness, I loved reading this book. I especially loved the letters to his daughter that really show the development of their relationship throughout their lives, and depict well the closeness of their relationship at the end of his life. At times it seemed like his daughter was the only bright spot of his life. Fitzgerald is just all around a fascinating artist.
August 9, 2020
A collection of correspondences with Maxwell Perkins from Scribner's on his work, finances + loans, marketing strategy, endless requests + whining, letters to his Princeton colleague and literary critic Edmund Wilson, critiques and advices to his homie Hemingway, Scottie his daughter, John Beale Bishop, etc. No matter what it is, it's always written... gorgeously?
One can only wish to write like this. (an irrefutable asshole though)
“You and I have been happy; we haven’t been happy just once, we’ve been happy a thousand times. The chances that spring, that’s for everyone, like in the popular songs, may belong to us too – the chances are pretty bright at this time because as usual, I can carry most of contemporary literary opinion, liquidated, in the hollow of my hand – and when I do, I see the swan floating on it and – I find it to be you and you only.”
One can only wish to write like this. (an irrefutable asshole though)
“You and I have been happy; we haven’t been happy just once, we’ve been happy a thousand times. The chances that spring, that’s for everyone, like in the popular songs, may belong to us too – the chances are pretty bright at this time because as usual, I can carry most of contemporary literary opinion, liquidated, in the hollow of my hand – and when I do, I see the swan floating on it and – I find it to be you and you only.”
January 22, 2008
Fascinating stuff. Inside the heart and soul of one of America's most epic writers. To read this book is to understand that Fitzgerald was a true romantic and -- as most writers are -- his own worst critic.
May 3, 2021
I truly have never taken longer to read a book.
This wasn't as interesting as I expected/hoped it would be. Mostly administrative discussions about money and work, very little on his actual life, which admittedly you can't expect so much of when these are letters and not diary entries. I probably should have managed my expectations.
Found Scott very easy to pity and incredibly easy to dislike the whole way through. Happy to see the back of this book, for sure.
This wasn't as interesting as I expected/hoped it would be. Mostly administrative discussions about money and work, very little on his actual life, which admittedly you can't expect so much of when these are letters and not diary entries. I probably should have managed my expectations.
Found Scott very easy to pity and incredibly easy to dislike the whole way through. Happy to see the back of this book, for sure.
May 24, 2024
I read this book for so long. First I started reading it as an e-book, but then the app I use for e-books deleted it from their library. So I bought the book. I decided to start over as I saw that the footnotes were very useful. I read this book 1,5 times...
Mostly this book consists of lending money and someone being sick. I'm interested in 20s writers but this was maybe too much for me. Should have read his wiki page instead.
Mostly this book consists of lending money and someone being sick. I'm interested in 20s writers but this was maybe too much for me. Should have read his wiki page instead.
April 29, 2017
My total infatuation with Fitzgerald began in July of 2012 when I read "The Great Gatsby" for the first time. I was 21 and my knowledge and experience of "the classics" was basically non-existent. I read much of Gatsby outside lounging around on our back patio. It was one of the first books that I read where I thought to myself, "THIS is GOOD writing. I want to write books like this." After that, I started collecting his books and reading one a year. First up was Tender Is The Night, then The Love of the Last Tycoon. I read some short stories and eventually (just last summer) got a copy of The Beautiful and the Damned, which surpassed my love for Gatsby, which up until that time had been my favorite of everything of his that I had read.
Over the winter my Mom happened upon a copy of This Side of Paradise at the closest library branch's book sale. Needless to say, she snatched it right up and brought it to me with MUCH excitement. I've been looking forward to the final July reading one of Fitzgerald's novels for the first time ever since. In the meantime, I found out about this volume of his letters and knew that it would be the perfect thing to help me make it to July.
This collection was amazing. If you've read much Fitzgerald or find yourself as enamored with him as I am, then you MUST read it. Remember these letters are raw and honest. You'll encounter his thoughts on writing and his love and devotion to his wife and daughter. If you've suspected that his fiction was inspired by his life, you'll find that you were perfectly right. You'll have the chance to get inside the head of a man who, though master of pen and paper, struggled with the writing life that was granted to him. The sorrows and calamities he and his family faced are not hidden, which may be difficult to bear at times, though certainly far less so than it was for them. The writing advice that he gave to anyone and everyone will inspire you if you're a writer. The key phrases that are repeated over and over again along with his notorious list making may make you smile. You'll learn a million and one things about him....Quirks, that he worked on the screenplay for "Gone With the Wind", that he LOVED poetry, that Keats and Cummings and Conrad inspired him and that Ulysses was well loved. He was a re-reader. He was always sending out suggestions for books and accepting copies to read as he himself wrote.
The nights I spend curled up in bed reading until 11 and 12 at night will live on in my mind as PERFECTION. To have the opportunity to get into this man's head in this way is one that I will prize forever. The writing wisdom and the honesty about the struggles he faced are the things that make this collection especially amazing.
Over the winter my Mom happened upon a copy of This Side of Paradise at the closest library branch's book sale. Needless to say, she snatched it right up and brought it to me with MUCH excitement. I've been looking forward to the final July reading one of Fitzgerald's novels for the first time ever since. In the meantime, I found out about this volume of his letters and knew that it would be the perfect thing to help me make it to July.
This collection was amazing. If you've read much Fitzgerald or find yourself as enamored with him as I am, then you MUST read it. Remember these letters are raw and honest. You'll encounter his thoughts on writing and his love and devotion to his wife and daughter. If you've suspected that his fiction was inspired by his life, you'll find that you were perfectly right. You'll have the chance to get inside the head of a man who, though master of pen and paper, struggled with the writing life that was granted to him. The sorrows and calamities he and his family faced are not hidden, which may be difficult to bear at times, though certainly far less so than it was for them. The writing advice that he gave to anyone and everyone will inspire you if you're a writer. The key phrases that are repeated over and over again along with his notorious list making may make you smile. You'll learn a million and one things about him....Quirks, that he worked on the screenplay for "Gone With the Wind", that he LOVED poetry, that Keats and Cummings and Conrad inspired him and that Ulysses was well loved. He was a re-reader. He was always sending out suggestions for books and accepting copies to read as he himself wrote.
The nights I spend curled up in bed reading until 11 and 12 at night will live on in my mind as PERFECTION. To have the opportunity to get into this man's head in this way is one that I will prize forever. The writing wisdom and the honesty about the struggles he faced are the things that make this collection especially amazing.
September 6, 2018
This is about the most depressing book that I've read in ages. Fitzgerald's letters of the 1930s are full of despair. There's one particular exchange of letters exchanged between Scott and Zelda in 1930 that are particularly heartbreaking.
Maybe twenty years ago, I read the Andrew Turnbull-edited THE LETTERS OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD collection that was originally published in 1963. This newer volume, while not containing all of Fitzgerald's letters known to exist, contains 211 letters not contained in the Turnbull edition. For the most part, the letters in this collection that most affected me were among those 211 letters. So, from that standpoint, this edition is essential for Fitzgerald buffs like me.
That said, I wish the editors of this volume included a bit more in the way of explanatory notes. I understand that some "general readers" would be turned off by a volume containing more footnotes-- but let's be honest: any reader who'd want to read an author's letters are NOT "general readers." We're either academics, history buffs, or Fitzgerald buffs. So from that standpoint, I think the publisher erred in not letting the editors add more footnotes.
Maybe twenty years ago, I read the Andrew Turnbull-edited THE LETTERS OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD collection that was originally published in 1963. This newer volume, while not containing all of Fitzgerald's letters known to exist, contains 211 letters not contained in the Turnbull edition. For the most part, the letters in this collection that most affected me were among those 211 letters. So, from that standpoint, this edition is essential for Fitzgerald buffs like me.
That said, I wish the editors of this volume included a bit more in the way of explanatory notes. I understand that some "general readers" would be turned off by a volume containing more footnotes-- but let's be honest: any reader who'd want to read an author's letters are NOT "general readers." We're either academics, history buffs, or Fitzgerald buffs. So from that standpoint, I think the publisher erred in not letting the editors add more footnotes.
April 2, 2018
I have a whole new appreciation for FSF's earlier work now, having read his doubts, worries, exacting notes to his publisher, concerns that nobody would "get" it.
I reread Gatsby while reading this, and given his personal financial worries, apologies to those he owed money to, etc, I have a different take on it now than I did before - partly influenced also by my advancing age and events of the last decade or so. I wonder if Fitzgerald - great American novelist - didn't wonder, from time to time, if the American Dream was a crock? Dunno - just a thought.
Sadly limited to the letters saved. This means that a bunch written to Zelda aren't included, since she didn't save her letters from him. (No remarks on that, Ella!) I've always sort of loved Zelda, but it's clear from these letters that so did F. Scott Fitzgerald, or at least he repeated it to everyone he wrote.
These are worth reading if you're nosy like me.
I reread Gatsby while reading this, and given his personal financial worries, apologies to those he owed money to, etc, I have a different take on it now than I did before - partly influenced also by my advancing age and events of the last decade or so. I wonder if Fitzgerald - great American novelist - didn't wonder, from time to time, if the American Dream was a crock? Dunno - just a thought.
Sadly limited to the letters saved. This means that a bunch written to Zelda aren't included, since she didn't save her letters from him. (No remarks on that, Ella!) I've always sort of loved Zelda, but it's clear from these letters that so did F. Scott Fitzgerald, or at least he repeated it to everyone he wrote.
These are worth reading if you're nosy like me.
March 26, 2014
I don't think there is a better way of knowing who a person was than reading his hand written letters. There was much to know of Fitzgerald and what was going on in his life that contributed to such wonderful, dramatic and colorful stories that so many people love and continue to read. I will forever refer back to this book and many specific letters as they are inspirational and contain powerful words. I highly recommend this book to lovers of the early 1900's, poetry and/or Fitzgerald.
February 10, 2010
I loved this book for so many reasons. It gave me insights into Fitzgerald's process as a writer. I learned about his relationship with his daughter. I felt part of the trajectory of his life and I feel so sad at how quickly it all ended. This is a book I would read over and over.
March 12, 2016
This book is going out of print!! It is the closest thing to an FSF autobiography we have. Grab this gem before you are no longer able!
September 14, 2018
I have a love of F. Scott Fitzgerald's work, starting with the Great Gatsby, but going far beyond that. I picked up this book eagerly because I have always wanted to read his own letters about his life, particularly his relationship with Zelda.
I'm somewhat disappointed by the book. I find the one sidedness of the letters, we only read Fitzgerald's letters with a few exceptions, to leave me wanting. I don't feel the full picture, and it feels as though part of the story is missing. I also would like to read the other side of Zelda's illness--Fitzgerald's side of it is obviously self-serving and he is in denial about his own problems with drinking.
I am going to put a book with both his letters and Zelda's next on my list.
I'm somewhat disappointed by the book. I find the one sidedness of the letters, we only read Fitzgerald's letters with a few exceptions, to leave me wanting. I don't feel the full picture, and it feels as though part of the story is missing. I also would like to read the other side of Zelda's illness--Fitzgerald's side of it is obviously self-serving and he is in denial about his own problems with drinking.
I am going to put a book with both his letters and Zelda's next on my list.
July 29, 2024
* 2.5
A very interesting and sad portrayal of Fitzgerald's life. I felt quite sorry for him. He was a very talented writer who was forgotten by his contemporaries. Because of his alcoholism he led a very troubled life. I liked the letters to his daughter the most. However, it was a very slow read, and some sections were difficult to get through. Only worth reading if you are really passionate about his work.
A very interesting and sad portrayal of Fitzgerald's life. I felt quite sorry for him. He was a very talented writer who was forgotten by his contemporaries. Because of his alcoholism he led a very troubled life. I liked the letters to his daughter the most. However, it was a very slow read, and some sections were difficult to get through. Only worth reading if you are really passionate about his work.
June 21, 2021
“America’s greatest promise is that something is going to happen, and after awhile you get tired of waiting because nothing happens to people expect that they grow old and nothing happens to American art because America is the story of the moon that never rose.”
April 19, 2013
How does one fairly review a compilation of letters? I have decided to rate it based on the editor's compilation rather than Fitzgerald's content, which was never intended for such a vast audience. It felt false giving it five stars, but I wish I'd read this years ago. There are so many gems of wisdom for how to live and write. Especially in his later letters to his daughter, Fitzgerald's analysis of literature and writing will forever influence the way I read and write.
I believe a lot of the love letters have not been included, although there are several between him and Zelda that show how complicated their relationship was. The bulk of the letters are anxiety-riddled as Fitzgerald stressed about money, a consistent theme throughout.
The letters shed light on his short stories and novels. He begins with exuberance and conceit, but as time goes on he loses his confidence. He is astonishingly self-aware of both his literary strengths and weaknesses.
Usually letters or diaries of famous people are too scattered, intimate or mundane to be interesting, but I had a hard time setting this book down once I picked it up. I would've liked some of the letters and reviews written by others about his novels to have been included, but perhaps those were beyond the scope of this book.
I believe a lot of the love letters have not been included, although there are several between him and Zelda that show how complicated their relationship was. The bulk of the letters are anxiety-riddled as Fitzgerald stressed about money, a consistent theme throughout.
The letters shed light on his short stories and novels. He begins with exuberance and conceit, but as time goes on he loses his confidence. He is astonishingly self-aware of both his literary strengths and weaknesses.
Usually letters or diaries of famous people are too scattered, intimate or mundane to be interesting, but I had a hard time setting this book down once I picked it up. I would've liked some of the letters and reviews written by others about his novels to have been included, but perhaps those were beyond the scope of this book.
January 5, 2009
Whining elevated to an art form. Unfortunately, I have no patience for whining.
Want to read
June 16, 2014how 'bout a nice cover?
June 23, 2014
An excellent compilation of primary source material from Fitzgerald's Princeton years to his final years in Hollywood.
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