Zelda: A Biography

i am a huge f. scott and zelda fitzgerald fan, but you can usually only find books that are mostly about scott. this one about zelda gives you such insight into her personality and her mental illnesses, as well as her relationship with scott. it's also a great read for anyone who loves the 1920s and 1930s.

While most people know of "The Legend of Zelda" as a video game, in fact the game takes its name from the real Zelda, the wife of F. Scott (Francis Scott Key) Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was without any doubt a superlative author in his own right. However, an interesting and lesser known fact is that his work comes very much out of his own personal experience with his wife Zelda. Milford's book, which reads like a novel, is an incredible example of what can be done when one combines intense research skills with extraordinary writing acumen. Zelda was a Southern Girl from Montgomery, Alabama, the first capitol of the Confederacy. It was also the home town of Jefferson Davis the only President of the Confederacy. The Southern ways stuck long after the end of the Civil War in Montgomery and Zelda was truly a child of the era. What is fascinating about Milford's book is what happens to Zelda and Fitzgerald after they marry and move to New York. Fitzgerald produced two very successful books, the second of which was "The Great Gatsby" and then basically expatriated to France where he was in the good company of Ring Lardner, Ernest Hemingway and many others of that ilk. He and Zelda were friend of Dorothy Parker and Gertrude Stein and the list goes on. Zelda though, was the creative mind behind "The Great Gatsby" and was the one who created the visual image of the character that Fitzgerald used as the basis of his book. Even more interesting is that Zelda, after a wild life with Fitzgerald in their early marital days became a serious alcoholic and had a horribly debilitating mental disorder that kept her in insane asylums for the better part of 12 years. She never did overcome her problem and ultimately died in a fire when serving one of her many commitments as the building was wood, along with the fire escapes. The book is perhaps one of the greatest biographies ever written and tells a tale of a lady and her famous author husband both of whom lived at the end of an era that shall never return. It is highly recommended for all readers of F. Scott Fitzgerald and makes a superb biographical connection between Zelda and her famous author/screenwriter husband.

Semi-brilliant because it was still a time when Zelda was explained as sick because of her ambition and lack of satisfaction in the demands of being a wife and mother. No one thought to tell her as a child she may have to make her own way and Scott only said it later because he was tired of her financial drain on him and already looking with desire at other women. She expected exactly what she was told would happen, and it did happen for a little while, until it all started falling apart.She wasn't prepared, but made a valiant attempt to succeed- Against a destructive jealous alcoholic genius husband, a snobbish daughter, and a world that wished she would learn her "place", could you have stayed sane? Granted she wasn't an angel, but F. Scott Fitz owes his very legend to her. This book reveals through her own words and those of others what she may have been, and frankly what she became as a writer and artist is more than many "sane" people will ever be.