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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul Minnesota -
Due to his failure as a student he was put on academic probation, which motivated him to join the army not much later
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When Fitzgerald was a member of Princeton class of 1917, he was often neglected. Because of this his academic studies for his literary training started to fall
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Shortly after joining the army, he had written his first novel, “The Romantic Egotist” which was rejected by Charles Scribners Sons. -
Fitzgerald was assigned to Camp Sheridan near Montgomery, Alabama. Where he met Zelda Sayer, the youngest daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court Judge
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Discharged from the army, Fitzgerald went to New York to seek fortune in order to marry Zelda, but she broke off the engagement after being unwilling to live off his small salary
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Fitzgerald quit his job in July 1919 and returned to St. Paul to rewrite his novel as “This Side of Paradise”, which is set mainly at Princeton and follows the life of Amory Blaine -
The novel was accepted by editor Maxwell Perkins of Scibners in September
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Near the end of 1919, Fitzgerald officially commenced his career as a writer of stories for the mass circulation magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post which would become his best story market.
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A week after “This Side of Paradise” was published in 1920 Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre were married in New York. -
The Fitzgerald’s moved to New York City where F. Scott wrote his second novel “The Beautiful and Damned”, which chronicles the New York Cafe society during the Jazz Age.
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Zelda Fitzgerald became pregnant a year after their marriage, which motivated the couple to return to St. Paul for the birth of their only child, Francis Scott Fitzgerald in October of 1921.
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In the fall of 1922, the Fitzgerald’s moved to Great Neck Long Island in order to be near Broadway because Fitzgerald had written a play called “The Vegetable” -
The play failed at its tryout and Fitzgerald wrote his way out of debt with short stories.
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The Fitzgerald’s went to France in the Spring of 1924 where “The Great Gatsby” was written.