F. Scott Fitzgerald (Overlook Illustrated Lives)

Rating:
Summary: Solid if not in depth survey of Fitzgerald's life
Review: If you are looking for a very brief and enjoyable biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, this volume will certainly fill the need. Like other books in the series, it features a fairly short account of the subject's life and writings illustrated with a host of photographs. The other books in the series that I have read tended to focus a bit more on the social and regional context for the author's work, which is one of the weaknesses of this particular book. Though Fitzgerald is identified as a leading figure of the Jazz Age, not a great deal of text is expended on explaining precisely what this was and how it made his context different from other writers.

Neither is much attention lavished on Fitzgerald's achievements as a writer. The publication dates of his various works are noted, and mention is made of their relative critical and financial success, but if someone who had read nothing of Fitzgerald's work were asked to say something of the nature of his fiction after reading this book, I believe they would be unable to say anything with any certainty. What were Fitzgerald's unique contributions to American literature? What was his approach to the novel and the short story, and how did this differ from his predecessors? These questions are simply not addressed.

In the end, I found myself highly entertained by the recounting of major events in the lives of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. How could it be otherwise? Few writers in American history have had such an interesting life, if also so short. Yet at the end there is the sense that far more was left unaddressed than addressed. All in all, the book feels like a lost opportunity to produce a solid short biography or a major American writer.

I do recommend the book, though I also hope for a competing volume. The illustrations are marvelous, and the book does do a good job of marshalling all the key figures in Fitzgerald's life. But in the end anyone really wanting to learn much about Fitzgerald will be left with the need to pursue the subject further. Contrast this with the Kafka volume in the same series and my point will be clearer.