The history of my life is the history of the struggle between an overwhelming urge to write and a combination of circumstances bent on keeping me from it. - "Who's Who - And Why"
The man behind The Great Gatsby mystifies me to no end. I learned intimate details about his life through Z and The Paris Wife, but I really wanted to get to know him through his own stories about himself. What were his inspirations? Who was his Gatsby? How many of the characters and events in his books stemmed from personal experience? So, I picked up a copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Short Autobiography and got to work.
The book contains a collection of Fitzgerald's short stories, some unfinished, most published in various popular magazines, spanning his entire professional career (1920-1940). The stories are reflective of many things - family, finances, children, morals, education - all of which prove me right when I say that this man was brilliant. For example, the second story in the book, "An Interview with Mr. Fitzgerald by F. Scott Fitzgerald," is an interview with himself shortly after the publication of This Side of Paradise.
He writes: "The author of This Side of Paradise is sturdy, broad-shouldered and just above medium height. He has blond hair with the suggestion of a wave and alert green eyes - the melange somewhat Nordic - and good-looking too, which was disconcerting as I had somehow expected a thin nose and spectacles." How long do you think it took him to nail that self-portrait down? He goes on to describe his life plans, his writing style, his thoughts on literary tradition and style - the following quote:
The book contains a collection of Fitzgerald's short stories, some unfinished, most published in various popular magazines, spanning his entire professional career (1920-1940). The stories are reflective of many things - family, finances, children, morals, education - all of which prove me right when I say that this man was brilliant. For example, the second story in the book, "An Interview with Mr. Fitzgerald by F. Scott Fitzgerald," is an interview with himself shortly after the publication of This Side of Paradise.
He writes: "The author of This Side of Paradise is sturdy, broad-shouldered and just above medium height. He has blond hair with the suggestion of a wave and alert green eyes - the melange somewhat Nordic - and good-looking too, which was disconcerting as I had somehow expected a thin nose and spectacles." How long do you think it took him to nail that self-portrait down? He goes on to describe his life plans, his writing style, his thoughts on literary tradition and style - the following quote:
"By style, I mean color," he said. "I want to be able to do anything with words: handle slashing, flaming descriptions like Wells, and use the paradox with the clarity of Samuel Butler, the breadth of Bernard Shaw and the wit of Oscar Wilde. I want to do the wide sultry heavens of Conrad, the rolled-gold sundowns and crazy-quilt skies of Hichens and Kipling as well as the pastel dawns and twilights of Chesterson. All that is by way of example. As a matter of fact I am a professed literary thief, hot after the best methods of every writer in my generation." - "An Interview with Mr. Fitzgerald by F. Scott Fitzgerald"
All of the stories in the collection are very entertaining. One thing I can say about Fitzgerald's prose is that it takes me a lot longer than usual to read than most authors, because it challenges me intellectually - his sentences are complex, so while I'm deciphering the metaphors, analogies, descriptive paragraphs and references in one Fitzgerald paragraph, I could probably have read twenty pages of Fifty Shades of Grey. I can only hope to construct stories that flow as well as "How to Live on $36,000 a Year" and "How to Live on Practically Nothing a Year," both illustrating the financial troubles the young author and his wife experienced (told, of course, in a very humorous light) in his early days of fame.
Several insightful and thought-provoking stories covering a wide variety of controversial topics fill the rest of the book, but the one thing that really stuck in my mind was this list from "Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own!" - the five ways in which he says his children's world will be different than his own:
Several insightful and thought-provoking stories covering a wide variety of controversial topics fill the rest of the book, but the one thing that really stuck in my mind was this list from "Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own!" - the five ways in which he says his children's world will be different than his own:
"First - he will be less provincial, less patriotic. He will be taught that a citizen of the world is of more value to Podunk, Indiana, than is a citizen of Podunk, Indiana, to Podunk, Indiana. He will be taught to look closely at American ideals, to laugh at those that are absurd, to scorn those that are narrow and small, and give his best to those few in which he believes.
Second - he will know everything about his body from his head to his feet by the time he is ten years old. It is better that he should know this than that he should learn to read and write.
Third - he will be put as little as possible in the way of constant stimulation whether by men or machines. Any enthusiasm he has will be questioned, and if it is mob enthusiasm ... it will be laughed out of him as something unworthy.
Fourth - he shall not respect age unless it is worthy in itself, but he shall look with suspicion on all that his elders say. If he does not agree with them he shall hold his own opinions rather than theirs, not only because he may prove to be right but because he must find out for himself that fire burns.
Fifth - he shall take life seriously and feel always alone: that no one is guiding him, no one is directing him, and that he must form his own convictions and standards in a world where no one knows much more than another."
The world might just be a better, more productive place if the Fitzgerald child-rearing method becomes a standard practice.
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