An F. Scott Fitzgerald Encyclopedia

543 Pages·1998·2.74 MB·English

by  Robert L. Gale

An F. Scott Fitzgerald
Encyclopedia
Robert L. Gale
GreenwoodPress
Westport,Connecticut • London
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Gale,RobertL.,1919–
AnF.ScottFitzgeraldencyclopedia / RobertL.Gale.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )andindex.
ISBN0–313–30139–5(alk.paper)
1. Fitzgerald,F.Scott(FrancisScott),1896–1940—Encyclopedias.
2. Authors,American—20thcentury—Biography—Encyclopedias.
I. Title.
PS3511.I9Z6247 1998
813'.52—dc21
[B] 98–13976
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright(cid:2)1998byRobertL.Gale
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:98–13976
ISBN:0–313–30139–5
Firstpublishedin1998
GreenwoodPress,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
TM
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the Men of the Dartmouth College
Class of 1942—
Born mostly in Fitzgerald’s Roaring Twenties,
We entered Dartmouth with the New England Hurricane of 1938
and continued into World War II

Contents
Preface ix
Chronology xiii
Abbreviations xvii
The Encyclopedia 1
Bibliography 471
Index 473

Preface
F. Scott Fitzgerald is internationally known as the author of The Great Gatsby,
which is firmly established as a twentieth-century literary classic, and as the
author of several short stories, notably ‘‘Absolution,’’ ‘‘Babylon Revisited,’’
‘‘CrazySunday,’’‘‘TheDiamondasBigastheRitz,’’‘‘MayDay,’’‘‘TheRich
Boy,’’ and ‘‘Winter Dreams,’’ all of which have been widely anthologized.He
is also celebrated as a symbol of the Jazz Age and an eponym of the Roaring
Twenties, that grand, tragic, pathetic era in American history that lasted from
1918 until shortly after the Crash and the beginning of the Great Depression.
Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, also participated in that gaudy age,
which featured other attractive but dangerously irresponsible ‘‘flappers.’’
Less well known are Fitzgerald’s other novels, including This Side of Para-
dise, which started his meteoric rise to sparkling prominence,andTenderIsthe
Night, which among other things dramatizes his fall, caused by his ruinous but
sometimes delightful personality quirks.
Delightful, yes. As a freshman member of the Dartmouth College Class of
1942, I well remember waiting on the handsome Fitzgerald’s table at the Han-
over Inn during his alcoholic appearance at our Winter Carnival in February
1939.Withchagrin,Ialsorememberhavingtobetoldlaterwhohewas,because
I did not know him from Walter Wanger or Budd Schulberg, also there from
Hollywood. It was still later before I began to read, appreciate, and thenrevere
hismagicprose,somewhataftertheFitzgeraldrevivalbeganinthe1950s.When
IhighlightedFitzgeraldinmyundergraduatelecturecourse,titled‘‘TheRoaring
Twenties,’’ beginning in the 1970s at the University of Pittsburgh, he was the
most popular figure among the dozens we considered.
Still less well known is the fact that Fitzgerald, despite personal and profes-
sional difficulties, was almost constantly productive and that in aliterarycareer
effectivelybeginningin1919,whenheturnedprofessional,andendingwithhis
death only twenty-one years later, he wrote five novels, about 180 short stories
x PREFACE
(dependingoninclusionofpossible‘‘sketches’’),numerousessaysandreviews,
much poetry, several plays, and somefilmscripts.Hewasnotmerelytheauthor
of six or eight fictional masterpieces. It is also true that, even when he wrote
hastilyandperhapsblearyeyed,sustainedbyginandcoffee,thefinishedproduct
almostalwaysbearstracesofhisgenius.Hewasmuchmoreversatilethanmany
realize. Moreover, beneath all the roaring-age hoopla and glitter for which his
prose is famous lies the realistic warning that, while personal recklessness can
bedangerous,theromanticyearningofthehearttowardlovecanberedemptive.
Fitzgerald often aimed to preach to as well as entertain his readers. I thinkthat
no one who consults this encyclopedia can fail to be struck by Fitzgerald’s
bewilderingly numerouscharacters,almostalwaysneatlyetched,byhisdelight-
ful imagination and surprising range, and by his often sobering, if whispered,
little sermons.
This book presents the essential action in Fitzgerald’s novels, short stories,
plays,andnarrativepoemsandsummarizesthecoremeaningofhisotherworks.
All named fictional characters are identified, and their significance in works in
which they appear is indicated. Brief biographical sketchesofFitzgerald’sfam-
ily members, friends, and professional associates are included. Ample proof is
given that Fitzgerald the author could fall on his face once in a while, as with
‘‘TheAntsatPrinceton’’and‘‘StrangeSanctuary,’’forexample.Piecesmerely
attributed to Fitzgerald are not included, even when charming, for example,
‘‘Ethel had her shot of brandy’’ and ‘‘Oui, le backfield est from Paris.’’ For
them, and other such omissions, the reader is invited to consult F. Scott Fitz-
gerald in His Own Time, a Miscellany, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and
Jackson R. Bryer (New York: Popular Library, 1971).
To save space, I rarely mention discarded titles of works published under
different titles, nor do I discuss revisions of texts. Despite our being at table
together in 1939, I do not emulate some nervy biographers who refer to Fitz-
gerald as Scott. Please excuse my occasionally clipped syntax, alsodesignedto
cut wordage. To save still more space, I have tried to keep individual end-of-
entry bibliographies to a minimum. Experienced Fitzgerald scholars will rec-
ognize my frequent use of facts and occasional use of insights gleaned from
publications by others, most notably by the following experts on Fitzgerald’s
life and works: Matthew J.Bruccoli,JohnKuehl,BryantMangum,ArthurMiz-
ener, Alice Hall Petry, Stephen W. Potts, Jeffrey Meyers, Nancy Milford, and
AndrewTurnbull.Ihopemyexpressionofthanks,hereandnow,totheseschol-
arly pioneers will disarm any suspicions that I have ungraciously ‘‘borrowed’’
too much.
Although this encyclopedia aims primarily to be informational, a few critical
judgments are implicit on occasion; and the bibliographies, emphasizing post-
1990materialwhereverpertinent,shouldproveusefultocriticallymindedread-
ers. To aid them, items are cross-referenced by being marked with an asterisk
(*). Fitzgerald’s titles and characters, which have individual entries, are not so
marked.
PREFACE xi
Despitethedetailincludedinthisencyclopedia,itisnotpossibletodojustice
to the complexity of Fitzgerald’s work here. My work is obviously designedto
aidreadersbeginningtoappreciateFitzgerald,moreexperiencedreadersinhigh
school,college,anduniversityclassesstudyinghisworks,andgraduatestudents,
seasonedteachers,andscholarsseekingquickreviewsofprimaryandsecondary
data or desiring to refresh their memories of previous readings. To appreciate
Fitzgerald’sstyle,verve,imagery,humor,andsubstantivedepths,onemustturn
to his own pages and nothing else.
For kindness and encouragement I offer thanks to the following colleagues
at the University of Pittsburgh: H. David Brumble III, Bruce Dobler, Frederick
A. Hetzel, and Philip E. Smith. Also I owe much to several Pitt librarians,
especiallyLaurieCohen,ElizabethA.Evans,AnneW.Gordon,AmyE.Knapp,
and Marie Mazzocco Scipione. My editors George F. Butler and Betty C. Pes-
sagno of Greenwood Press and copyeditor Lynn E. Wheeler have also been
unfailingly helpful. Unique accolades must be accorded Matthew J. Bruccoli,
for his F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Descriptive Bibliography (rev. ed., Pittsburgh:
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987), a monumental, standard-setting bibliog-
raphy, without which no one can trace Fitzgerald’s more elusive publications.
Finally,muchloveandgratitudetomywife,Maureen,andourimmediatefamily
members—John, Jim, Christine, and Bill.