F. Scott Fitzgerald Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

F. Scott Fitzgerald is a great American writer best known for his novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1896, and grew up in upstate New York. He is named after his second cousin, three times removed, Frances Scott Key, who famously composed the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner. F. Scott Fitzgerald was sent to boarding school as a young man . Later he attended Princeton University, writing for their college humor magazine the Princeton Tiger. However, he eventually dropped out of the college after being placed on academic probation, and subsequently joined the army. While attending Princeton he met Ginerva King, who would become his inspiration for Isabelle Borge in This Side of Paradise, as well as Daisy Buchanan of The Great Gatsby.
While stationed in Alabama Fitzgerald met his future wife, Zelda. Fitzgerald was never deployed while serving in the military. He moved to New York City after the war and eventually asked Zelda to marry him. Zelda broke off the engagement due to worries that the author would be unable to support her. It was around this time that Fitzgerald wrote This Side of Paradise, his most popular novel during his lifetime. The book sold 41,075 copies in the first year alone. After his success Zelda was convinced and the two were married. Zelda and F. Scott had a daughter in October of 1921, also named Frances Scott Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald is known for documenting the Jazz Age in American and European culture. He often took trips to Paris in the 1920s, befriending writers and artists including Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. Some of this legacy is captured in the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris, which features the characters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. As a young man Fitzgerald began a practice of heavy drinking that would continue throughout his life. There were constant parties in the elite circles that he moved in, as portrayed in some of his novels. His trips to Europe proved very influential to his written work.

In order to support himself, Fitzgerald wrote many articles and short stories for papers and magazines. This practice was looked down on by writers like Hemingway. Sadly, no novel Fitzgerald wrote after This Side of Paradise was very successful, and he was forced to work on more commercial writing. The Fitzgeralds moved to Hollywood in 1926 in order to write a comedy script. During this period, F. Scott began an affair with an actress named Lois Moran. The time in Hollywood proved difficult for the marriage between F. Scott and Zelda and they moved two months later. In the 1930s Zelda became overwhelmed with symptoms of schizophrenia. She was hospitalized in Baltimore in 1932 for her emotional health issues. Her emotional and psychiatric problems became so bad that in 1936 her husband placed her in the Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. Fitzgerald continued to work in Hollywood, entering a contract with MGM studios and working on projects that included an early draft of Gone With The Wind. Once his contract with MGM expired, he became a freelance screenwriter.

Unfortunately, Fitzgerald died an early death in 1940 most likely as a result of his alcoholism. The author was also said to have suffered from tuberculosis. He suffered two heart attacks in the late 1930s before suffering from a fatal heart attack on December 21, 1940 at the age of 44. Fitzgerald was buried in Rockville, Maryland. Originally the Church denied his family’s request to be buried in the family plot at Saint Mary’s Cemetery. This is most likely due to his risqué writings of alcohol-fueled parties and adventures that took place in his novels. Eventually his daughter was able to have his remains moved to the family area of the Catholic cemetery.

Much of Fitzgerald’s writing focuses on the lives of the wealthy and sophisticated elite of the Jazz Age. His first book, This Side of Paradise, was published in 1920. The novel is about a Princeton student and writer named Amory Blaine. Blaine attends Princeton and later goes oversees while in the Army. Once he returns he meets a young woman who he wants to marry, but she marries a rich boy instead. Themes explored in the novel include love and status seeking in the world of the wealthy. Fitzgerald’s second novel The Beautiful and the Damned was published in 1922 and is focused on New York’s cafe society of the 1910s and 1920s. It is a love story about a couple and their party lifestyle in New York, as well as the characters’ alcoholism and other relationship problems. It is said that the book is largely based on the relationship between F. Scott and his wife Zelda.

The Great Gatsby was written in 1925 and did not attain fame and a large readership until after Fitzgerald’s death. The book deals with themes surrounding the American Dream and divisions of class in 20th century America. The story is told in the perspective of Nick Carraway, a young man who moves next door to the titular character Jay Gatsby in “West Egg”. Gatsby represents “new money,” throwing lavish parties every week. It turns out that Gatsby’s wealth is a facade set up because he loves a wealthy young woman, but his riches can’t give him the class and respect that “old money” families have. Fitzgerald’s fourth novel is titled Tender is the Night. It centers on a psychoanalyst named Dick Diver and his wife Nicole, who also happens to be his patient. Fitzgerald’s last novel was published posthumously, and is called The Love of the Last Tycoon, or The Last Tycoon. It is purportedly based on the life of Irving Thalberg, a hollywood producer. The novel follows his career in Hollywood and rivalries with opposing studio heads.

The Great Gatsby has been made into multiple adaptations for stage and screen. Most notably there is the 2013 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Baz Luhrmann, as well as a 1974 adaptation starring Robert Redford. There was a film made in 1922 by William A. Seiter based on The Beautiful and the Damned. Additionally, there have been several adaptations of Tender is the Night, including a 1962 film starring Jason Robards.

F. Scott Fitzgerald is an author whom most people have probably heard of, most likely due to his novel The Great Gatsby and a high school English course. However, he did not enjoy the same kind of fame while he was alive. His work is remembered for its vivid depictions of society life and the pitfalls of the American Dream.