Zelda Fitzgerald - Writer, painter, dancer, and the woman behind one of the most fascinating creative lives of the Jazz Age
Zelda Fitzgerald
Writer, painter, dancer, and the woman behind one of the most fascinating creative lives of the Jazz Age
When people hear the name Zelda Fitzgerald, they often think first of F. Scott Fitzgerald's glamorous wife—the woman associated with the parties, clothes, champagne and restless energy of the Jazz Age.
But Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was considerably more complicated and interesting than the legend suggests.
She was a writer, painter, dancer and cultural personality who spent much of her life trying to establish an artistic identity of her own. Her surviving writing and paintings have increasingly been studied independently of her famous husband. The Fitzgerald Society describes her as an artist and author in her own right, while the Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald brings together her fiction, journalism, play and letters. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
Zelda Sayre
Zelda Sayre was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on July 24, 1900, the youngest child of Alabama Supreme Court Justice Anthony Dickson Sayre and Minnie Buckner Machen Sayre.
She grew up in a socially prominent Southern family and developed an early reputation for independence, vivacity and unconventionality. Dance was already important to her during her youth, and she performed in ballet recitals as a teenager.
In 1918, she met a young army lieutenant named F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country-club dance in Montgomery.
He was twenty-one and determined to become a famous writer.
She was eighteen.
Their relationship would eventually become one of the most famous—and complicated—marriages in American literary history. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
Zelda and Scott
Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise, was accepted by Scribner's in 1920.
Zelda accepted his proposal soon afterward.
They married in New York on April 3, 1920.
The marriage immediately placed them in the center of the cultural excitement surrounding the new decade. Fitzgerald's novel became a sensation, and Zelda became a celebrity in her own right.
Their daughter, Frances Scott “Scottie” Fitzgerald, was born in 1921.
Zelda's personality and experiences became intertwined with Fitzgerald's fiction. The Fitzgerald Society notes her connection to characters including Rosalind Connage in This Side of Paradise and Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, although the precise relationship between Zelda and Fitzgerald's fictional characters is a matter for literary interpretation rather than simple one-to-one biography. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
The Original Flapper
Zelda became one of the women most strongly associated with the emerging image of the flapper.
The flapper represented a new kind of woman in popular culture: younger, more socially independent, fashion-conscious and willing to challenge older expectations about women's behavior.
Zelda's public persona made her particularly fascinating to newspapers and magazines.
She was photographed.
She was interviewed.
She danced.
She wrote.
She painted.
She traveled.
And she lived publicly in a way that seemed to embody the freedom and excess of the 1920s.
But the glamorous image was only one part of her story.
Zelda the Writer
Zelda's literary career has sometimes been overshadowed by her husband's enormous reputation.
That is unfortunate because she produced a substantial body of writing.
Her journalism appeared in magazines during the 1920s and early 1930s, and several stories were published under joint F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald bylines.
The Fitzgerald Society notes that nearly two dozen stories and articles carried her name in various forms, although some joint bylines were added by agents or editors for commercial reasons. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
Her most important literary achievement was her novel:
Save Me the Waltz — 1932
Zelda wrote the novel while receiving treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
It is a highly autobiographical novel concerning a Southern woman named Alabama Beggs, her marriage to a painter, and her determination to pursue a career in ballet.
The parallels between the novel and Zelda's own life are unmistakable, but it should also be read as a work of fiction—with its own artistic structure, language and imagination.
The book was published by Scribner's in 1932. (University of South Carolina)
Why the novel matters
Save Me the Waltz is particularly fascinating because Zelda and Scott were simultaneously transforming overlapping experiences into fiction.
Scott was working on Tender Is the Night.
Zelda was writing Save Me the Waltz.
The resulting literary relationship has generated considerable scholarly discussion, particularly concerning artistic ownership, marriage and the boundaries between autobiography and fiction. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
Her Short Stories
Zelda published numerous short pieces during the 1920s and early 1930s.
Among them are:
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“Our Own Movie Queen”
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“The Original Follies Girl”
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“Southern Girl”
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“The Girl the Prince Liked”
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“The Girl with the Talent”
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“A Millionaire's Girl”
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“Poor Working Girl”
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“Miss Ella”
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“The Continental Angle”
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“A Couple of Nuts”
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“Other Names for Roses”
These works reveal a writer interested in women, marriage, celebrity, fashion, social expectations and modern American life.
They are especially valuable today because they allow Zelda's own voice to emerge rather than requiring readers to encounter her entirely through Scott's fiction or later biographies.
The University of South Carolina's Fitzgerald collection provides a detailed bibliography of these publications. (University of South Carolina)
Her Journalism
Zelda also wrote essays and magazine articles.
Among the pieces collected in The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald are:
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“Friend Husband's Latest”
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“Eulogy on the Flapper”
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“Does a Moment of Revolt Come Sometime to Every Married Man?”
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“What Became of the Flappers?”
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“Breakfast”
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“The Changing Beauty of Park Avenue”
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“Looking Back Eight Years”
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“Who Can Fall in Love After Thirty?”
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“Paint and Powder”
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“On F. Scott Fitzgerald”
The range is revealing: Zelda was writing about marriage, beauty, fashion, women, modernity and her own unusual cultural world. (UBC Press)
Zelda and the Stage
Scandalabra
In 1933, Zelda turned to drama.
Her play Scandalabra: A Farce Fantasy in a Prologue and Three Acts was produced by an amateur theatrical group in Baltimore.
It was not a major commercial success, but it demonstrates that Zelda continued searching for different artistic forms.
It was her final major public writing project. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
Zelda the Dancer
Dance was not simply a passing fascination.
It was one of Zelda's deepest artistic ambitions.
In Paris, she studied ballet under the renowned teacher Lubov Egorova. She pursued dance with extraordinary intensity and hoped to become a professional ballerina.
But she began serious professional training relatively late.
The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame records her determination and eventual recognition that she had begun the professional pursuit of ballet too late. (Alabama Women's Hall of Fame)
Dance subsequently became central to Save Me the Waltz.
The novel transforms the physical discipline of ballet into a metaphor for identity, marriage, ambition and artistic independence.
Zelda the Painter
Painting became another important form of expression.
Her surviving work includes paintings and drawings of:
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dancers
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flowers
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city scenes
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imaginative subjects
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religious subjects
Her paintings are primarily associated with the 1930s and 1940s.
She exhibited her work in New York in 1934, and later exhibitions helped bring renewed attention to her visual art. (Alabama Women's Hall of Fame)
Her artwork is particularly important because it demonstrates that Zelda's creativity did not depend entirely upon Scott.
She was not simply supplying material for another writer.
She was attempting to make art herself.
The Fitzgeralds in Europe
The Fitzgeralds became part of the American expatriate culture in Europe during the 1920s.
Paris and the French Riviera brought them into the orbit of other writers and artists associated with the Lost Generation.
These years supplied material for Fitzgerald's fiction and later became part of the mythology surrounding the couple.
But behind the glamour, Zelda was increasingly searching for an artistic identity of her own.
Her devotion to ballet intensified, and the strain of her ambitions and personal circumstances contributed to a series of serious psychological crises. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
Illness and Institutionalization
This is an important part of Zelda's story, but it should not become the whole story.
Zelda experienced severe psychological difficulties beginning in the late 1920s. In 1930, she entered a clinic in Switzerland, where she remained for more than a year.
Later she received treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital and subsequently spent extended periods at Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina.
Historical accounts record a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but the Fitzgerald Society notes that later mental-health experts questioned both the diagnosis and aspects of her treatment. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
During one of her periods of hospitalization, Zelda wrote Save Me the Waltz.
That fact alone is remarkable: even while experiencing profound personal difficulties, she continued to create.
Zelda and Scott: Two Artists
The story of Zelda and Scott is sometimes reduced to a simple question:
Who influenced whom?
The historical record is more complicated.
Zelda influenced Fitzgerald's fictional women and supplied observations and experiences that entered his work.
Scott's fame, meanwhile, gave Zelda access to a literary and cultural world in which she herself became a public figure.
They were husband and wife, parents, collaborators in the broad cultural sense, competitors at times, and two people struggling to establish creative identities within the same marriage.
The surviving record does not support reducing Zelda simply to Scott's “muse,” nor does it require treating Scott's work as secretly hers. Scholars continue to debate the boundaries between their lives and writings. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
The Final Years
Zelda and Scott effectively separated in the mid-1930s, although they never divorced.
Scott moved increasingly toward Hollywood.
Zelda spent much of her remaining life in and around Highland Hospital and Montgomery, continuing to paint and taking occasional dance lessons.
She began a second novel, Caesar's Things, but never completed it. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
On the night of March 10–11, 1948, a fire swept through Highland Hospital.
Zelda was among the nine women who died.
She was 47 years old.
Zelda Fitzgerald's Literary Bibliography
Books by Zelda
Save Me the Waltz
1932 — Novel
Zelda's only published novel and her major literary work.
Scandalabra
1933 — Play
A farce in a prologue and three acts.
Bits of Paradise
1973/1974 — Collection
A posthumous collection containing ten stories by Zelda.
The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald
1991 — Edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli
The essential volume for anyone wanting to encounter Zelda as a writer.
It includes her novel, play, stories, articles and selected letters. (University of South Carolina)
Important Books About Zelda
Zelda: A Biography
Nancy Milford — 1970
The landmark biography that helped transform Zelda's public reputation and encouraged renewed attention to her artistic ambitions. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
Zelda: An Illustrated Life
Eleanor Lanahan, 1996
Particularly valuable for its photographs, drawings, paintings and other visual material connected with Zelda. (EBSCO)
Zelda Fitzgerald: Her Voice in Paradise
Sally Cline — 2003
A later biography emphasizing Zelda's artistic and literary voice.
Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald: An American Woman's Life
Linda Wagner-Martin — 2004
A detailed study placing Zelda's life within its broader historical and cultural context.
These titles are among the major works listed by the Fitzgerald Society and Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. (F. Scott Fitzgerald Society)
Zelda Fitzgerald — Bibliography of Her Own Writing
| Year | Work | Form |
|---|---|---|
| 1922–34 | “Our Own Movie Queen” | Short story |
| 1922–34 | “The Original Follies Girl” | Short story |
| 1922–34 | “Southern Girl” | Short story |
| 1922–34 | “The Girl the Prince Liked” | Short story |
| 1922–34 | “The Girl with the Talent” | Short story |
| 1922–34 | “A Millionaire's Girl” | Short story |
| 1922–34 | “Poor Working Girl” | Short story |
| 1922–34 | “Miss Ella” | Short story |
| 1922–34 | “The Continental Angle” | Short story |
| 1922–34 | “A Couple of Nuts” | Short story |
| 1920s–30s | “Eulogy on the Flapper” | Article |
| 1920s–30s | “What Became of the Flappers?” | Article |
| 1920s–30s | “Paint and Powder” | Article |
| 1920s–30s | “The Changing Beauty of Park Avenue” | Article |
| 1920s–30s | “Looking Back Eight Years” | Article |
| 1932 | Save Me the Waltz | Novel |
| 1933 | Scandalabra | Play |
| 1991 | The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald | Posthumous collection |
The publication record is drawn from the University of South Carolina's Fitzgerald bibliography and the contents of Bruccoli's Collected Writings. (University of South Carolina)
Zelda in Portraiture
One of the most beautiful surviving portraits of Zelda is the 1927 drawing by Harrison Fisher, now held by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
It depicts Zelda as a glamorous young woman but, importantly, the museum identifies her not only as a social figure but also under the categories of writer and painter. The work is in the Smithsonian's collection and is listed as CC0, meaning it is in the public domain under the Smithsonian's stated rights information. (Smithsonian Institution)
The Woman Behind the Legend
Zelda Fitzgerald's life is ultimately larger than the familiar image of the glamorous flapper beside F. Scott Fitzgerald.
She was a Southern daughter, wife, mother, celebrity, writer, journalist, playwright, dancer and painter.
She wanted to dance professionally.
She wanted to write.
She wanted to paint.
She wanted, above all, to create something that belonged to her.
Her novel Save Me the Waltz, her short stories, her journalism and her paintings allow us to see a woman who was not merely the inspiration for another writer's imagination, but an artist struggling to make her own imagination visible.
That is perhaps the most interesting way to return to the Fitzgerald story:
Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the Jazz Age. Zelda Fitzgerald lived inside it—and tried to create her own art from within it.
And today, her work can finally be read and seen on its own terms. (UBC Press)