Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald [Hardcover]

Jackson R. Bryer (Editor), Cathy W. Barks (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2002

Through his alcoholism and her mental illness, his career lows and her institutional confinement, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's devotion to each other endured for over twenty-two years. Now, for the first time, we have the story of their love in the couple's own letters. Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda consists of more than 75 percent previously unpublished or out-of-print letters as well as extensive narrative on the Fitzgeralds' marriage by Fitzgerald scholars Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks. Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda features black-and-white and color photographs, and a candid introduction by Eleanor Lanahan, the Fitzgeralds' granddaughter.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Once we were one person," F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote to his wife in the last years of their marriage, "and always it will be a little that way." While this carefully annotated collection (edited by two scholars at the University of Maryland) is dominated by Zelda's letters more of hers are extant it provides an intimate account of an enduring romantic union (as opposed to the dirty laundry of the Fitzgeralds' spectacular Jazz Age revels and rows or Scott's descent into alcoholism and Zelda's into mental illness). Their cross-Mason-Dixon Line courtship letters begin in 1918, with Zelda displaying her ardor and "mental wickedness" and Scott responding in brief but affectionate telegrams. The Great Depression coincided with Zelda's psychological malaise, and her letters from the '30s are penned from various sanitariums and, later, her family's home in Alabama, where she convalesced under her mother's care. Scott's letters are sufficiently represented only in his final year, when he was exiled to Hollywood as a scriptwriter and had a secretary to keep copies. Among the mutual assurances of love and the occasional long-distance tiffs, Scott and Zelda sometimes discuss art Zelda's search for self-expression in writing, dance and painting; Scott's desire to be "an instrument" for "dark, tragic destiny." Although Scott's letters, typically written in his high lyric style, are unfortunately outnumbered, this collection offers many previously unpublished epistles and photographs as well as an introduction by the Fitzgeralds' granddaughter, and is a moving portrait of a two-decades-long, complicated and deep love affair. (Apr.)Forecast: The Fitzgeralds remain a popular literary couple Nancy Milford's three-decades-old Zelda still sells well so there should be demand for this collection.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This collection of letters by the Fitzgeralds to each other covers their entire relationship, from their courtship in 1918 to Scott's death in 1940. While a number of these letters have been published before (in F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters and Zelda Fitzgerald: The Collected Writings, both edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli), many are being published here for the first time. The editors, both literature professors at the University of Maryland, are the first to gather the correspondence between the Fitzgeralds in one volume. The letters are presented in four parts: courtship and marriage, the years together, Zelda's three breakdowns, and the final two years of marriage. Many of the letters, especially in Part 3, are by Zelda, so this collection lets the reader sample the full range of her thoughts and emotions and helps correct mistaken impressions of the marriage left by past biographies. The editors' introductions and historical narratives are helpful in giving the broader contexts of the couple's lives and times, as are the photographs and explanatory footnotes. Recommended for medium and larger public libraries. Morris Hounion, New York City Technical Coll. Lib., Brooklyn
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (April 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312268750
• ISBN-13: 978-0312268756
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #960,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the major American writers of the twentieth century -- a figure whose life and works embodied powerful myths about our national dreams and aspirations. Fitzgerald was talented and perceptive, gifted with a lyrical style and a pitch-perfect ear for language. He lived his life as a romantic, equally capable of great dedication to his craft and reckless squandering of his artistic capital. He left us one sure masterpiece, The Great Gatsby; a near-masterpiece, Tender Is the Night; and a gathering of stories and essays that together capture the essence of the American experience. His writings are insightful and stylistically brilliant; today he is admired both as a social chronicler and a remarkably gifted artist.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre, December 9, 2003

By 

foundpoem - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (Paperback)

I'm fascinated by Fitzgerald and was truly looking forward to reading this book, what I thought would be an exchange between F. Scott and Zelda, as its title indicates.

But, the book is almost entirely Zelda's writing. Zelda didn't keep many of Scott's letters, so they aren't here, and apparently his letters to other people are found in other books - not that they "belong" here, necessarily, but I would have liked to hear from Scott himself. For example, Zelda in the hospital: letters from Zelda to Scott are here. Scott clearly is doing things during these periods - including writing letters to hospital staff *about* Zelda's treatment (these letters, I believe, are in Bruccoli's book, F. Scott Fitgerald's Life In Letters).

Much of Scott's thoughts, therefore, are left to the imagination. He's in California at times; he's drinking; he's with their child. Since this book is about their relationship as told through letters--i.e., their own words and thoughts--I wanted his too.

So, I found it rather one-sided and its title misleading. Had I known I wasn't going to read a relationship in letters I may have had a different response. It's absolutely interesting to read Zelda's thoughts and we certainly understand much of their situation through reading this book. So, for what it is, it's interesting. But, for what it purports to be, it's lacking.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Portrait of a Marriage, December 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (Hardcover)

This is a vivid, moving portrait of a marriage told in the couple's own words to one another. While biographer and commentators on the Fitzgeralds and their period have provided their own interpretations of the most famous exemplars of the Jazz Age, Breyer and Barks have chosen to let the protagonists speak for themselves and to each other. The result is a look at two human beings struggling to find their identities, define their relationship, and establish their place in the world relative to one another. That they only partially succeeded but never stopped trying is what makes this collection of their letters compelling reading.
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to know what the world looked like to those living in, and often trapped in, its confines.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Collection of Literary Love Letters, December 1, 2005

By 

Rebecca Papin "Literary Connoisseur" (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (Hardcover)

Once I opened this book of F. Scott and Zelda's love letters, I was glued to it, and didn't put it down until I had read the entire book 6 hours later. This is an engrossing collection of passionate letters between two of America's most famous Jazz Age babies, full of innocence, spurned hope, desperate longing, and a never-ending belief that one day, somehow, they would end up together again. Even knowing the Fitzgeralds' history as well as I do, I was drawn in by their steamy letters, and half-believed that everything was going to turn out alright in the end for them. Maybe it did. This is a fantastic, epic collection of letters (more by Zelda than Scott), photos (I loved seeing the presents that Scott gave to Zelda), drawings, and copies of the original letters. F. Scott had such beautiful handwriting. Anyways, for anyone with even a slight interest in the Fitzgeralds, or in love letters, this is a book well worth its price, one that I thought about for days after I finished it off.