F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Composite Biography

A new star illuminating the literary scene, F. Scott Fitzgerald was a novelist of many aspects, chronicler of the Jazz Age, romantic symbol of the American century, acute observer of society's best and worst, and midlife burnout at forty-four. This composite biography presents a new way of "grouping together" biographical material and perspectives, considering the author's best-known works and understudied writings. Contributors include Jade Broughton Adams, Ronald Berman, William Blazek, Elisabeth Bouzonviller, Jackson Bryer, Kirk Curnutt, Catherine Delesalle-Nancey, Scott Donaldson, Kayla Forrest, Marie-AgnÈs Gay, Joel Kabot, Sara Kosiba, Arne Lunde, Bryant Mangum, Martina Mastandrea, Philip McGowan, David Page, Walter Raubicheck, Ross Tangedal, Helen Turner, James L. W. West III, and Penn State U.

Format: Hardback
Length: 448 pages
Publication date: 02 September 2024
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

A comprehensive study of the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, related in two-year chapters by twenty-three leading writers on the Jazz Age author, challenges the biographers art. Fitzgerald, a good novelist by any measure, has tested this challenge to the biographers art. A new star illuminating the literary scene, a chronicler of the Jazz Age in all its brilliance and tarnish, a romantic symbol of the American century, an acute observer of societys best and worst, and of his own star-crossed career, a midlife burnout at forty-four, leaving an unfinished masterpiece in his wake, he was a man of many aspects, a writer whose complexity and multitudes this composite biography finally aptly portrays. Bringing together twenty-three leading writers and scholars on Fitzgerald, each focusing on two years of his life, this volume takes its cue from Henry Jamess remark, cited by preeminent Fitzgerald biographer Scott Donaldson: The whole of anything is never told; you can only take what groups together. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Composite Biography presents a new way of grouping together biographical material and perspectives, considering from various angles the authors best-known works as well as understudied writings, including neglected stories and forays into autobiography such as What I Think and Feel at 25 and How to Live on $36,000 a Year. The glamor and fame that made F. Scott and Zelda mythic figures of their time appear here alongside the personal experiences that he occasionally included in his writing: the beginnings as well as the poignant end, the literary relationships that informed and framed his work, set against solitary.

Weight: 782g
Dimension: 242 x 165 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517915858