April 10, 1925: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published



Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1896. He spent most of his childhood in Buffalo, New York, where his father worked for Proctor and Gamble. He was a very bright, bookish child with a strong love of literature. He attended St. Paul Academy and the Newman School. In 1913, he enrolled at Princeton University. He was a poor student, devoting much of his time honing his writing. He dropped out in 1917 and joined the Army. In 1917, the United States entered the First World War, and Fitzgerald was worried that he would have to go (his regiment would never be called up). He was stationed at Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, Alabama, when he met Zelda Sayre. When the war ended, Fitzgerald went to New York City to start his writing career, hoping that Zelda would follow him. In 1920, he and Zelda were married.

By 1924, Scott and Zelda had moved to Europe, and he began working on what would become The Great Gatsby. His story was about Jay Gatsby and his attempts to rekindle a lost love. On a deeper level, his book was a commentary on the excesses and superficialities of the post-war period. His characters were true to life, fully flushed out people, whose dreams and desires were never quite attainable, even with their insurmountable wealth. On April 10, 1925, The Great Gatsby was published in New York City to a lukewarm reception. Fitzgerald’s novel would go to be one of the most widely read books of the 20th century.

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