Fool for Love: F. Scott Fitzgerald [Paperback]

Scott Donaldson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 22, 2001

"By exploring- often through fresh evidence- his involvement with a bizarre mother, a popular girlfriend, a neurotic wife, a devoted lover, and other fascinating females, Mr. Donaldson has managed, in very readable fashion, to reveal the complex man behind the simplistic legend."-John Kuehl, editor of Dear Scott-Dear Max "The most penetrating psychological examination of the author ever written."-James L. W. West III, Studies in American Fiction

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A stunning portrait. Full of intriguing insights. Donaldson comes close to what the inner man must have been." -- Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Scott Donaldson is one of the nation?s leading literary biographers. Among his books are Poet in America: Winfield Townley Scott, Fool for Love, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Cheever: A Biography, Archibald MacLeish: An American Life, winner of the 1993 Ambassador Book Award for Biography, and Hemingway vs. Fitzgerald.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (May 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595181708
• ISBN-13: 978-0595181704
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,086,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zelda was the most important ?, April 18, 2006

By 

Kim F. Hill (Rockford, IL. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fool for Love: F. Scott Fitzgerald (Hardcover)

Six years in the making, this book provides a new approach to understanding a writer. This narrative examines Fitzgerald's all-consuming quest for attention and approval-and love. His constant search for perfect love, the perfect life, and women.

He need and demanded the admiration of women and courted them assiduously, and indiscriminatley.

This book probes the influence of women on Fitzgerald's world-from doting mother to Sheilah Graham and how he captures all these delights and despairs in his work.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fool for Love is a detailed psychological examination of Jazz Age Author Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, September 16, 2009

By 

C. M Mills "Michael Mills" (Knoxville Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fool for Love: F. Scott Fitzgerald (Paperback)

He and Zelda were the poster children of the wild, raucous and self-destructive Jazz Age. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was born into the upper middle class in St. Paul, Minnesota. His father Edward liked to drink and was a business failure. His eccentric and fearsome mother Mollie was a devout Catholic who babied little Scott. Fitzgerald grew to hate his mother but, throughout, his life he communicated and was comforted and buffeted by women!
Famed Fitzgerald scholar Scott Donaldson in "Fool for Love" does not give the reader a crib to grave biography of the famous author of "The Great Gatsby"; "The Far Side of Paradise"; "The Beautiful and Damned"; "Tender is the Night"; "The Last Tycoon" and classic short stories such as "Babylon Revisited". Instead, Donaldson, focuses on several motifs which run through the handsome man's life:
1. Fitzgerald was an alcoholic who ruined his health with drink. He was cruel and mean when drunk.
2. Fitzgerald was a womanizer carrying on countless affairs. He was in the home of lover Sheila Graham when struck down by his second heart attack in December, 1940. Fitzgerald, at the time, was considered a has been and was doing freelance scriptwriting for Hollywood studios. Fitzgerald's most ardent dream women were the rich Ginerva King who rejected his advances and his mentall ill wife Zelda Sayre. Zelda spent the last several years of her life in a mental institution in Asheville NC. She died in a fire in 1948. She was unfaithful to Scott and loved painting, ballet and wrote one failed novel based on their relationship entitled "Save the Waltz"
3. Scott's major literary trope was the story of the poor boy who is hopelessly in love with a rich girl.
4. He was an egomaniac who dreamed of riches and being accepted into the best social circles. He never achieved this goal despite friendships with the wealthy Gerald and Sarah Murphy living in luxury on the French Riveria.
5. Despite the mess he made of his life the one redeeming fact about FS Fitzgerald is that he has become one of the most famous and best authors of the 20th century in the United States. His lyrical prose is a joy to read and savor in rereadings.
Scott McDonald is one of the best commentators on the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fool for Love is an apt description of his subject. It is well worth your time. If you know nothing about Fitzgerald's life this slim book is a good place to begin your search for answers.