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The Glitz and Gamble of the Jazz Age: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Posted on Jul 04, 2019

For nearly a century, he has been renowned for his colorful works of fiction, his celebrity presence in the Roaring Twenties, his indulgent lifestyle, and, of course, his creation of the “Great American Novel." No other American author truly embodies the fancies and follies of the Jazz Age than Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Catholic parents—an aristocrat father and a provincial mother. He was named after a distant relative on his father’s side, Francis Scott Key, the lyricist of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Fitzgerald attended St. Paul Academy and, at the age of 13, published his first piece of fiction, a short detective story, in the school newspaper. He then attended Newman School in 1911, where he met one Fr. Sigourney Fay, who, upon seeing his talent, encouraged Fitzgerald to pursue his dreams as a writer. Thus, he attended Princeton University and focused on several writing projects—including contributions to the Triangle Club, Nassau Literary Magazine, and the humor magazine Tiger.

Fitzgerald’s career as a fictionist took off in 1919, when he was hired as a short-story writer for mass-circulation magazines, from which several of his popular short stories would originate. Such magazines included the Saturday Evening Post and Esquire, and his stories were (and are) famous for their depictions of young Americans falling victim to the charms and caprices of wealth and the upper class, including “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” “May Day,” and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.”

A week before his marriage to 18-year-old Zelda Sayre, the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge, 24-year-old Fitzgerald published his first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel, said to be autobiographical in nature, recounts the life of Midwesterner Amory Blaine, who seeks a place in high society but is ultimately rejected, specifically by two high-class girls with whom he falls in love. Ironically, This Side of Paradise received such praise that placed Fitzgerald among his successful peers and earned him and Zelda celebrity status.

This was followed by the publication of Fitzgerald’s second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), about the tempestuous marriage between young Anthony and Gloria Patch, who age in both years and spirit as they impatiently wait for a large inheritance that would boost their status and fortune; their ambition and extravagance eventually grant them such wealth but cost them their marital happiness—a popular trope in the height of the Jazz Age. Meanwhile, though Fitzgerald and his wife made a name for themselves as the decade’s darlings, they had frequent arguments resulting from his alcoholism.

The pinnacle of Fitzgerald’s writing career came in the form of his most famous novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), which critics lauded as his finest work, a playful yet hard-hitting narrative of love and loss and of coveting the hugely sought-after “American Dream.” The story is told by the fictitious Nick Carraway, who recounts his experiences and close friendship with the novel’s protagonist, the wealthy yet mysterious Jay Gatsby, as the latter throws elaborate parties at his mansion daily but secretly longs for his lost love, Daisy Buchanan. Surprisingly, though the novel earned critical acclaim, it performed poorly in terms of sales at the time; nevertheless, decades later, The Great Gatsby became and would continue to be Fitzgerald’s most remembered work.

The Fitzgeralds’ troubles began in the 1930s, when Zelda, because of her husband’s drinking problems and her failing marriage, had a breakdown and was diagnosed with schizophrenia; shortly after, she would spend the rest of her life in and out of psychiatric hospitals. In 1934, Fitzgerald published his fourth novel. Tender is the Night was based on his wife’s battle with mental illness and their strained marriage; set in Paris, it narrates the troubled relationship between an American psychiatrist and his patient. Unlike his previous novel, Tender is the Night received poor reviews as critics were dissatisfied with the story’s “jumbled” structure.

Further succumbing to writer’s block, depression, and alcoholism, Fitzgerald struggled to keep his literary career afloat. He eventually worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter and short-story writer, though he was dissatisfied with his “mediocre” commercial success. Leaving his fifth novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, unfinished, Fitzgerald passed away on December 21, 1940, from a heart attack, eight years before Zelda’s death in 1948; he was 44 years old.

We’re celebrating the American Greats this July—writers, poets, and artists who have defined American culture through their incomparable works. Follow our Author Highlights entries on the 1-Hour Proofreading blog for more!

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In this series, we shine a spotlight on the most unsung heroes of language: punctuation marks. For this part of the series, we’re going to talk about quite a breathtaking mark. Like others, this one gets overlooked a lot, but if not for this particular punctuation mark, we probably would have run out of air. Let’s all take a pause and talk about the comma.

Behind the Mark

We can trace the roots of the comma back to third century BC in a system of single dots that indicated the “amount of breath” one was to take when reading verses aloud. The comma is a mark that is used across different languages and is available in different typefaces.

The comma shares a symbol similar to the apostrophe and the single quotation mark: a small dot with a tail. The difference is in placement because unlike the apostrophe and the single quotation mark, the comma is placed at the bottom of the line.

How to Use It in English

There are several uses for the comma, but generally, the comma has two functions: pauses and linkage. This is because the commas are used to distinguish separate but related ideas.

For one, commas are used to separate items in a list. The use of the comma in lists indicates not only separation but also the link between all the items within the list.

The new subjects include geography, biology, ethnography, and statistics.

Another important use of the comma is to separate clauses. Two dependent clauses may be separated by a comma. This again goes back to the idea that commas are used for distinguishing related ideas.

Ginger wanted to become a doctor, but she also wanted to teach.

Some adverbs also require the use of the comma when they are used. These include therefore, however, nevertheless, and others. Should these adverbs be used in the middle of a sentence, they would have to be preceded and followed by a comma.

Furthermore, studies show that smoking causes harm to both the smoker and anyone inhaling the smoke for cigarettes. It is recommended, therefore, that smoking be banned from public places.

In some cases, commas are used in place of parentheses, as in the case of parenthetical phrases. These phrases contain information that are not necessary to the meaning of the sentence.

Kath’s grandmother, whom she considers her closest relative, will be attending her graduation.

The comma is also a valuable punctuation mark when using vocatives and quotations.

In his speech today, the mayor said, “Students who apply for scholarships will also be eligible to receive a monthly allowance.” And that, Rose, is why you should aim for better grades this semester.

The comma also has plenty of uses outside of grammar. In mathematics, commas are used to separate numerical values. They are also used to separate geographical locations, names, and titles, as well as dates.

There are 525,600 minutes in one year.

I used to live in Nashville, Tennessee.

Today’s keynote speaker is Charles Xavier, PhD.

In speech as well as literature, commas mark a pause (as opposed to the full stop indicated by periods). The comma also retained its original use of marking breaths.

The Oxford Comma

One of the most controversial issues surrounding the comma is its elevated form, the Oxford comma. The Oxford comma is a highly contested and highly polarizing use of the mark. People either feel that it is absolutely necessary or absolutely useless.

The Oxford comma, or the serial comma, is an “optional” comma that comes before the word and on the last item of a list. For cases such as single-word lists, the serial comma may seem unnecessary, such as in the example below.

Popular dog breeds for large families include the Golden Retriever, the Labrador Retriever and the Newfoundland.

However, some lists may be confusing without the extra comma. Read this sentence below to see what I mean.

The lawyer’s clients include a teacher, a newly divorced mom and an accused murderer.

See the problem? Without the Oxford comma, two meanings could be gleaned from the above sentence: the lawyer has three distinct clients, or the lawyer’s client is a teacher, mom, and murderer all in one. Here it is easy to see the importance of the Oxford comma.

As is the case with plenty of rule makers (grammarians and linguists included), one of the aims is to standardize the use of the Oxford comma, making it more than just an option. While practitioners of the language are yet to come to an agreement, for now, the rule of thumb is to follow what the style guide you’re using says about the subject. For example, most academic style guides always require an Oxford comma, but most publication style guides don’t. It all boils down to whom you’re writing for.

Phew! Safe to say, that was more than just a pause. Safe to say, the comma is one punctuation mark that’s sure to pack a punch. We hope you learned plenty today, and we hope you stick around for the rest of 1-Hour Proofreading’s Punctuation Series!

Still unsure about the comma? We’ve got your back! Send your documents through our main page here at 1hourproofreading.com and we’ll make sure to keep all of them in check.

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