新乡学院外国语学院美国文学课件 第06章.pptVIP

Early Life and Influences Fitzgerald is best known for his novels and short stories which chronicle the excesses of Americas Jazz Age during the 1920s. Born into a fairly well-to-do family in St Paul, Minnesota in 1896 Fitzgerald attended, but never graduated from Princeton University. In the Northeast, he mingled with the members of high-class who so obsessed him for the rest of his life. Early Life and Influences In 1917 he left Princeton University to join the army, but he never saw active service abroad. Instead, he spent much of his time writing and re-writing his first novel This Side of Paradise, which on its publication in 1920 became an instant success. In 1920 he married the beautiful Zelda Sayre and together they embarked on a rich life of endless parties. Literary influences Fitzgerald followed his first success with The Beautiful and the Damned (1922), and The Great Gatsby (1925) which Fitzgerald considered his masterpiece. However, neither one of these books were as well-received as his first. It was also at this time that Fitzgerald wrote many of his short stories which helped to pay for his extravagant lifestyle. Literary Influences In the 1930s when Zelda became increasingly troubled by mental illness. Tender is the Night (1934), the story of Dick Diver and his schizophrenic wife Nicole, goes some way to show the pain that Fitzgerald felt. Themes Fitzgerald’s themes are very modern. All of his books and short stories display the loneliness and misery of modern life. His books convey the idea that, “Money can’t buy happiness.” flowery descriptive language Smooth, sensitive, and completely original in its diction and metaphors. Skill in manipulating the relation between general and specific, bold impressionistic and colorful quality, competence to convey the vision of the author all reveal Fitzgerald consummate artistry. melancholy and often tragic ending As one of products of the post-WWI lost generation, this is evident in the rep