F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and rose to fame with his first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920). He and his wife Zelda became icons of the Roaring Twenties. His most celebrated work, The Great Gatsby (1925), is a lyrical critique of the American Dream set amid Long Island's elite. Though commercially uneven during his lifetime, Fitzgerald's later novels Tender Is the Night (1934) and his unfinished The Last Tycoon further cemented his literary reputation. He died of a heart attack at age 44, believing himself a failure. Posthumously, Fitzgerald is recognized as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, his prose style and social insight influencing generations.