Francis Scott Fitzgerald is an American writer, author of dozens of novels and stories about the “jazz period” in the United States. He is widely known as the author of The Great Gatsby, The Mysterious Story of Benjamin Button, and The Last Tycoon.
The United States has a relatively short literary history, but it has given the world such great writers as Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, Margaret Mitchell, Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. All these people lived and wrote in different periods, but there is a certain unifying force in their works, based on national pride and unity of spirit.
One of the brightest representatives of the “lost” literary generation was Francis Scott Fitzgerald, who dedicated his books to the so-called “Jazz Age” of the early 20th century. The author’s most famous work was the novel The Great Gatsby, published in 1925.
WORK
When The Romantic Egoist was finished, the author made copies and sent them to several New York publishers. What was the creator’s disappointment when one after another began to come refusals to publish his brainchild. Francis was depressed, because he had pinned enormous hopes on the novel. Alcohol appeared in the life of the young writer, he quit his job and found himself literally below the poverty line. There was nothing else to do but return to live with his parents.
Having recovered his strength, the writer returned to his novel. Initially he wanted to correct some points in it, but in the end he rewrote the work from scratch. The new version of the manuscript the author sent out again to major publishers. The long-awaited letter came from the management of Charles Scribner`s Son, which found the novel unusual and unlike anything that had been published in the 1920s. The publisher believed in the success of the work and took the risk of starting its publication.
In March 1920 on the shelves of second-hand books appeared “This Side of Heaven”, the original version of the book called “The Romantic Egoist”. The novel instantly gained popularity, millions of people on the planet learned about its author. Francis began to receive steady royalties from sales, which allowed him to ask for the hand of Zelda again from her principled parents.
Buoyed by his success, Fitzgerald began writing prose for popular publications. These essays would later be included in his first collection, titled Emancipated and Deeply Thoughtful. In the spring of 1922 Collier’s Weekly published the writer’s short story “The Mysterious Story of Benjamin Button,” which became a bestseller for readers from all continents.
In 2016, a multiseries movie “The Last Tycoon” based on the work of the same name by Francis Scott Fitzgerald was released. In this interpretation of the novel the main roles went to American actors Lily Collins and Matt Bomer.