F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was an American novelist and short-story writer, the great chronicler of the 1920s 'Jazz Age' — a phrase he helped coin. His elegant, lyrical prose captured the glamour, ambition, and disillusionment of America between the wars.
His masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, is one of the most celebrated American novels ever written: the story of the mysterious, self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby and his doomed love for Daisy Buchanan, set amid the reckless wealth of Long Island. Fitzgerald also wrote This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender Is the Night, and many superb short stories.
Fitzgerald's own life mirrored his fiction: early success and glittering fame gave way to financial trouble, his wife Zelda's illness, and his struggles with alcohol, and he died believing himself a failure at just 44. His reputation soared after his death.
His prose is graceful and largely modern in feel, and our editions present it cleanly. Read the opening free, and read or listen with a membership.
F. Scott Fitzgerald in the library · 3 works
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The Great Gatsby
This Side of Paradise
Audiobooks by F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Frequently asked questions about F. Scott Fitzgerald
What did F. Scott Fitzgerald write?
Fitzgerald wrote novels and short stories. His novels are The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, and Tender Is the Night, plus the unfinished The Last Tycoon. He also wrote many acclaimed short stories, such as 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and 'The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.' The Great Gatsby is his most famous work.
Where should I start with Fitzgerald?
Start with The Great Gatsby — it is short, beautifully written, and his defining achievement. His short stories are also an excellent, low-commitment introduction to his style. Tender Is the Night is his other major novel, richer and more sprawling, best saved for after Gatsby.
What is The Great Gatsby about?
It follows the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, who throws lavish parties in the hope of winning back his lost love, Daisy Buchanan, narrated by his neighbour Nick Carraway. Beneath the glamour of 1920s Long Island, it becomes a story of illusion, class, and the corruption of the American Dream. Its haunting ending is one of the most famous in American literature.
What was the 'Jazz Age'?
The Jazz Age is the name for the 1920s in America — a decade of economic boom, jazz music, loosening social rules, and reckless glamour, following the First World War. Fitzgerald both named and embodied the era, and his fiction captures its excitement and its underlying emptiness. The Great Gatsby is its defining novel.
Are Fitzgerald's works hard to read?
Not especially — his prose is elegant and flows beautifully, and his novels are relatively short. His writing is often praised as some of the most graceful in American literature. A clear edition lets you appreciate his style with ease.
When did F. Scott Fitzgerald live?
Fitzgerald was born in 1896 and died in 1940, aged 44. He rose to fame in the 1920s with This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby, then struggled through the 1930s with money troubles and personal hardship. His reputation, modest at his death, grew enormously afterward.
Where can I read Fitzgerald for free?
Fitzgerald's major works, including The Great Gatsby, are now in the public domain and freely available. Older editions keep the original text. Here you can read the openings free in clear modern English, and read or listen with a membership.
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