Scott Fitzgerald

From the acclaimed author of Hemingway, "a marvelous—clear-sighted, humane and appreciative" biography of F.Scott Fitzgerald (Paul Theroux, award-winning author of The Mosquito Coast).

Scott Fitzgerald, a romantic and tragic figure who embodied the decades between the two world wars, was a writer who took his material almost entirely from his life. Despite his early success with The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald battled against failure and disappointment. This book, by the acclaimed biographer of Hemingway, is the first to analyze frankly the meaning as well as the events of Fitzgerald's life and to illuminate the recurrent patterns that reveal his inner life.

Author Jeffrey Meyers looks at Fitzgerald's alcoholism, Zelda's schizophrenia, Fitzgerald's love affairs both before and after her breakdown as well as his fascinating relationship with his daughter Scottie. He also examines Fitzgerald's wide-ranging friendships, from the polo star Tommy Hitchcock to the Hollywood executive Irving Thalberg, and his many writer friends, including Ring Lardner, John Dos Passos, James Joyce, Edith Wharton, and Dorothy Parker. Portraying the volatile relationship between Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Meyers reveals the remarkable humility with which Fitzgerald accepted his fellow writer and hero's criticism of his behavior and his novels.

Exercising a fine critical balance, Meyer's ultimately portrays Fitzgerald as a man capable of fierce loyalty and great moral courage.

"[An] unforgettable portrait." —Booklist

[A] culmination of decades of biographical exploration. . . .Meyers is particualrly interested in those areas of Fitzgerald's life that other biographers have not sufficiently covered." —The Toronto Star