Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald: An American Woman's Life

I had to do some research on Zelda for an art exhibit and really knew nothing about her except that she was the "wife of FSF". However, after reading this book, I have added her to my "ultimate dinner party guest list"! She seemed like a fascinating person (no matter what ones opinion of her might be). From what little I knew of her, I had associated her with NYC so I truly enjoyed learning about her Southern belle heritage, and although I am middle aged, from what I know about my grandmother's (and mother's) life as Southern women, I could totally relate to her youth. And what woman hasn't fantasized about the glory days of the flapper era and the jazz age? So that was quite interesting as well. And as someone who had dreamt forever of traveling to Europe (and have fortunately finally been), I loved reading about their bi-continent lives. This book definitely whet my appetite to learn more about such an interesting person who, in my opinion, seemed to be ahead of her time.

An antecedent to the 1970's "Zelda" by Milford, ZSF:An American Woman's Life, shows Zelda against the backdrop of a feminism which exploded during and after World War I. Zelda is characterized as more than a Southern belle, as if this were the whole and sum of the parts of her; she is depicted as a woman who wanted to marry "and have all the nice old safe things" yet she wanted a place in the world where she could write, act, paint and dance, areas in which she excelled, without the interference of her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's a good read and a decades-later follow up to Milford's biography of Zelda.

I knew something of the story of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, but after reading this book I think that Scott is the one who needed therapy. I can't believe he accused Zelda of stealing material from him. After all, it was her life. I'm sorry that she could not break away from him. I found it interesting to read about the amount of money he was paid and how they spent it all. He probably realized he wasn't going to live to be old.