F scott fitzgerald biography 1920s fashion

There is a very obvious pitfall that yawns before anyone who undertakes to talk about an author and his period, a pitfall that is no less dangerous for being obvious. Imaginative writers are not historians, and the better they are—no matter how representative—the less they resemble historians. They have in them little or none of the generalizing and quantifying impulse of historians because they do not know the world as a play of something called forces and tendency on things called groups and classes. Imaginative writers know their experience of the world, not an abstraction from it, and know that experience symbolically, not logically. There is nothing mysterious about this process: it is the way we all know our experience a great deal of the time, so that every time we begin a story by saying, “a funny thing happened to me today,” or “wait till I tell you about…” we are doing, in our humble way, what the imaginative writer does. That is, we are finding a particular person acting in a particular way at a specific time and place significant of something beyond himself. It is worth repeating the “funny thing that happened today” only because that thing embodies a meaning for us, a meaning that may, when the person who tells the story is a gifted man, give us an understanding of our time different from the historian’s but complementary to it and—in some respects, at least—more revealing.

Scott Fitzgerald had an imaginative sense of the experience of the I920’s, was indeed a writer so closely related to his time that he was in danger of being wholly absorbed by his sense of it and of writing books that would not survive it. But if you are not careful to make clear that in saying this you do not mean his work is history in the usual sense, you are sure to land in trouble. I have almost never touched on this aspect of Fitzgerald’s work without having someone in the audience rise after the lecture to say that he p

Could you ever imagine living life in a totally different era to the one we are in now? Be it from the past or something from the future, fashion, culture and lifestyles are constantly evolving. From one decade to the next you can see significant changes and developments in everything from language and clothing to technology and construction. This world is for ever changing! But if I had the opportunity to be transported back in time to an era of fun, flirtation and famous fashion, I’d definitely take a trip to the 1920’s.   In only two more years we will once again be living in the twenties, and I wonder if any of the glorious trends in fashion will be revived? I for one would love to dress like a flapper, with my feather boa floating along behind me, gin in hand, kicking up my heels to the Charleston and dancing till the wee hours of the morn. What a magical time it was!

The 1920’s was a decade of big cultural change. For the first time ever, women in America were allowed to vote, and women in both Europe and Britain were given a new found freedom. Fashion evolved into some significant statements that thankfully remained present for some years to come, and we have seen such trends be reborn and readapted to our modern way of life. Following the cease of the World War, cultural divides began to be torn down, with people from all classes and races merging to live their best lives. Louis Armstrong could be heard crooning those jazzy blues in many speakeasies that were cropping up all over America. The prohibition had sent folks underground, with roaring parties being held in conspicuous places all over the major cities. Film had become popular with starlets like Gloria Swanson and Clara Bow gracing the silver screen, and fashion was largely influenced by Hollywood. Art Deco came alive during the twenties, and is a trend that is hugely popular today, with its hues of black and gold.

It was during the 1920’s that fashion started to become more re

American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) rose to prominence as a chronicler of the jazz age. Born in St. Paul, Minn., Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton University to join the U.S. Army. The success of his first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920), made him an instant celebrity. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), was highly regarded, but Tender is the Night (1934) was considered a disappointment. 

Struggling with alcoholism and his wife’s mental illness, Fitzgerald attempted to reinvent himself as a screenwriter. He died before completing his final novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), but earned posthumous acclaim as one of America’s most celebrated writers.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald had the good fortune—and the misfortune—to be a writer who summed up an era. The son of an alcoholic failure from Maryland and an adoring, intensely ambitious mother, he grew up acutely conscious of wealth and privilege—and of his family’s exclusion from the social elite. After entering Princeton in 1913, he became a close friend of Edmund Wilson and John Peale Bishop. He spent most of his time writing lyrics for Triangle Club theatrical productions and analyzing how to triumph over the school’s intricate social rituals.

He left Princeton without graduating and used it as the setting for his first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920). It was perfect literary timing. The twenties were beginning to roar, bathtub gin and flaming youth were on everyone’s lips, and the handsome, witty Fitzgerald seemed to be the ideal spokesman for the decade. 

With his stunning southern wife, Zelda, he headed for Paris and a mythic career of drinking from hip flasks, dancing until dawn, and jumping into outdoor fountains to end the party. Behind this façade was a writer struggling to make enough money to match his extravagant lifestyle and still produce serious work. His second novel, The Beautiful and the Damned (1922), which recounted an artist’s losing f

About the Author of The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald is considered one of the most influential American novelists, primarily due to the success of his novel, The Great Gatsby. But what makes this novel so successful? It is likely the closeness of his character’s experiences to his own personal experience — particularly in relation to the pursuit of the American Dream. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Childhood and Adulthood

As a child and young adult, Fitzgerald’s experience is similar to James Gatz’s experience of coming from an unsuccessful family and trying to fashion a new name for himself. Fitzgerald often imagined himself attaining wealth and prosperity, much like Gatsby. Also like Gatsby, Fitzgerald never really experienced true happiness and died at a very young age. Fitzgerald did have the opportunity to attend Princeton University, and he even found influence within the Triangle Club until he flunked out of Princeton after being rejected by a girl.

After failing Princeton, much like Gatsby, Fitzgerald enlisted in the army and met his future wife, Zelda, while stationed in Montgomery, Alabama. Even though Zelda broke off her engagement with Fitzgerald once due to his lack of financial stability, Fitzgerald still managed to marry Zelda and saw success in publishing his first novel, This Side of Paradise. This is where Gatsby’s story diverts from Fitzgerald’s, as Gatsby was unsuccessful in recapturing Daisy from Tom’s grip. 

Much like Gatsby, Fitzgerald and Zelda enjoyed their newfound wealth and success in seeing this first novel published; however, the Fitzgeralds were uncomfortable with their new roles in the upper crust of society and fled to the French Riviera. Here he wrote and published a string of successful novels, including The Great Gatsby. Soon, the Fitzgeralds’ lives began to fall apart, both as Fitzgerald became an alcoholic and Zelda suffered a mental brea