Fool for Love: F. Scott Fitzgerald

by Scott Donaldson

Book Overview

Fool for Love is Scott Donaldson's masterful biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald--written from a fresh and highly intimate perspective. Fool for Love follows Fitzgerald from his birthplace in St. Paul,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816678200
• ISBN13: 9780816678204
• Release Date: August 2012
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Fool for Love is a detailed psychological examination of Jazz Age Author Francis Scott Key Fitzgeral

He and Zelda were the poster children of the wild, raucous and self-destructive Jazz Age. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was born into the upper middle class in St. Paul, Minnesota. His father Edward liked to drink and was a business failure. His eccentric and fearsome mother Mollie was a devout Catholic who babied little Scott. Fitzgerald grew to hate his mother but, throughout, his life he communicated and was comforted and buffeted by women! Famed Fitzgerald scholar Scott Donaldson in "Fool for Love" does not give the reader a crib to grave biography of the famous author of "The Great Gatsby"; "The Far Side of Paradise"; "The Beautiful and Damned"; "Tender is the Night"; "The Last Tycoon" and classic short stories such as "Babylon Revisited". Instead, Donaldson, focuses on several motifs which run through the handsome man's life: 1. Fitzgerald was an alcoholic who ruined his health with drink. He was cruel and mean when drunk. 2. Fitzgerald was a womanizer carrying on countless affairs. He was in the home of lover Sheila Graham when struck down by his second heart attack in December, 1940. Fitzgerald, at the time, was considered a has been and was doing freelance scriptwriting for Hollywood studios. Fitzgerald's most ardent dream women were the rich Ginerva King who rejected his advances and his mentall ill wife Zelda Sayre. Zelda spent the last several years of her life in a mental institution in Asheville NC. She died in a fire in 1948. She was unfaithful to Scott and loved painting, ballet and wrote one failed novel based on their relationship entitled "Save the Waltz" 3. Scott's major literary trope was the story of the poor boy who is hopelessly in love with a rich girl. 4. He was an egomaniac who dreamed of riches and being accepted into the best social circles. He never achieved this goal despite friendships with the wealthy Gerald and Sarah Murphy living in luxury on the French Riveria. 5. Despite the mess he made of his life the one redeeming fact about FS Fitzgerald is that he has become one of the most famous and best authors of the 20th century in the United States. His lyrical prose is a joy to read and savor in rereadings. Scott McDonald is one of the best commentators on the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fool for Love is an apt description of his subject. It is well worth your time. If you know nothing about Fitzgerald's life this slim book is a good place to begin your search for answers.

Zelda was the most important ?

Six years in the making, this book provides a new approach to understanding a writer. This narrative examines Fitzgerald's all-consuming quest for attention and approval-and love. His constant search for perfect love, the perfect life, and women. He need and demanded the admiration of women and courted them assiduously, and indiscriminatley. This book probes the influence of women on Fitzgerald's world-from doting mother to Sheilah Graham and how he captures all these delights and despairs in his work.