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He is named after Francis Scott Key. Who wrote the lyrics to the “Star-Spangled Banner”. Fitzgerald’s father later takes a job that moves the family to New York.
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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is born in St. Paul, Minnesota. -
Attends St. Paul Academy. And he publishes his first piece of writing, at the age of 13. The piece is a detective story published in the school newspaper. -
Fitzgerald attends a Catholic preparatory school in Hackensack, New Jersey. He meets Father Sigourney Fay, who recognizes Fitzgerald’s literary talent and encourages him to pursue writing.
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He joins the army. He then meets Zelda Sayre, daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge. They become engaged, but she broke off the engagement because of small salary. -
Fitzgerald moves to New York City after Zelda breaks off their engagement. He returns to St. Paul and works on a novel that he had been writing during his time in the army.
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His first book This Side of Paradise, is published. The novel brings him a lot of money and he becomes known. He marries Zelda in April. They become a couple. -
Fitzgerald’s second novel The Beautiful and Damned is published. Tales of the Jazz Age a collection of short stories is also published.
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The Fitzgeralds, along with their daughter named Francis all together leave for France. After spending some time in Paris, the family moves to the Riviera. -
While in France he finishes his masterpiece The Great Gatsby. After the success of this book, he writes several short stories.
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Widely is considered his greatest work, The Great Gatsby is set in the Jazz Age a term popularized by Fitzgerald. A story about the promise and failure of the American Dream. -
After The Great Gatsby is published. Fitzgerald’s got a drinking problem and Zelda suffers a mental breakdown in 1930. She spends the next year in European clinics. After she is released in 1931, they move back to the United States. She has a second breakdown in 1932 from which she never fully recovers. She publishes her first and only novel, Save Me the Waltz, which is based on the Fitzgeralds’ troubled marriage.
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Fitzgerald’s last novel Tender Is the Night is published.
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Zelda enters Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. In 1937 Fitzgerald moves to Hollywood and becomes a scriptwriter. He meets and falls in love with Sheilah Graham, a famous Hollywood gossip columnist. In 1939 he begins writing a novel about Hollywood entitled The Last Tycoon. -
Fitzgerald dies of a heart attack in Hollywood. The Last Tycoon is published in the year after his death.