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If ever an author became the embodiment of an era, it was F. Scott Fitzgerald, who both lived and chronicled American life in the Roaring 20s.
Fitzgerald's three major works of the 1920s captured the essence of the American scene and spirit in a way no other author of the time could. The Great Gatsby is far more than a great book from the 1920s… it is widely recognized as one of the finest American novels of any era.
In his personal life, Fitzgerald lived as fast and hard as the tragic heroes of his books. He drank and partied with the newly wealthy on Long Island and battled fiercely with his equally volatile wife, Zelda.
Fame and success came early for Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise was published when he was only 24. Two years later, he wrote The Beautiful and the Damned. He was not yet 30 when he wrote The Great Gatsby and it would be another decade before his final novel, Tender is the Night, would arrive.
For most of his life, Fitzgerald's fame had more to do with his personal excesses than his literary successes. His tumultuous marriage to Zelda was fodder for the newspapers. The two were known for their lavish lifestyle, wild parties, alcoholism and subsequent breakdowns.
He was in the middle of writing The Last Tycoon when he died-at the age of 44-of a massive heart attack.
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