A Life in Letters: A New Collection Edited and Annotated by Matthew J. Bruccoli
F. Scott Fitzgerald
(Author)
Description
A vibrant self-portrait of an artist whose work was his life.In this new collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald's letters, edited by leading Fitzgerald scholar and biographer Matthew J. Bruccoli, we see through his own words the artistic and emotional maturation of one of America's most enduring and elegant authors. A Life in Letters is the most comprehensive volume of Fitzgerald's letters -- many of them appearing in print for the first time. The fullness of the selection and the chronological arrangement make this collection the closest thing to an autobiography that Fitzgerald ever wrote.
While many readers are familiar with Fitzgerald's legendary jazz age social life and his friendships with Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Edmund Wilson, and other famous authors, few are aware of his writings about his life and his views on writing. Letters to his editor Maxwell Perkins illustrate the development of Fitzgerald's literary sensibility; those to his friend and competitor Ernest Hemingway reveal their difficult relationship. The most poignant letters here were written to his wife, Zelda, from the time of their courtship in Montgomery, Alabama, during World War I to her extended convalescence in a sanatorium near Asheville, North Carolina. Fitzgerald is by turns affectionate and proud in his letters to his daughter, Scottie, at college in the East while he was struggling in Hollywood.
For readers who think primarily of Fitzgerald as a hard-drinking playboy for whom writing was effortless, these letters show his serious, painstaking concerns with creating realistic, durable art.
Product Details
Price
$30.99
Publisher
Scribner Book Company
Publish Date
May 01, 1995
Pages
528
Dimensions
6.15 X 1.14 X 9.22 inches | 1.56 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780684801537
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Francis Scott (Key) Fitzgerald's (1896-1940) posthumous literary reputation has remained consistently strong despite many highs and lows throughout his brief life. His best-known novel, The Great Gatsby (1925) remains a critical favorite along with Tender is the Night (1934). Most of Fitzgerald's works are loosely based on his life, including his wife Zelda's insanity and his appreciation for personal indulgence and self-destructive excess.
Reviews
James Dickey A Life in Letters is the closest thing to an F. Scott Fitzgerald autobiography, which is much to be cherished.
J.T. Barbarese Philadelphia Inquirer The letters reveal a powerful and unsparing literary intelligence...extraordinary.
J.T. Barbarese Philadelphia Inquirer The letters reveal a powerful and unsparing literary intelligence...extraordinary.