"F. Scott Fitzgerald's Case" (1980) Summary and Analysis

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's 44 years, he published four novels, 160 short stories, fragments of autobiography and wrote screenplays for Hollywood. Although very little of Fitzgerald's work has any lasting value as literature, true to form, his life has generated a healthy academic publishing and film industry, according to Vidal. This essay coincides with publication of two volumes of Fitzgerald's notebooks and letters, edited by Professor Matthew J. Bruccoli.

Vidal reminds us that Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published in 1920, whereupon he married Zelda Sayre and moved to Europe where his alcoholism and her madness blossomed as they attempted to raise a daughter. When his third novel, The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, failed to make money and the magazine market for his stories dried up, Fitzgerald turned to screen writing. Desperate and...