Major Issues
Author Links
Essay Questions

Major Issues

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life and times have presented his biographers and biographical critics with a wealth of fascinating material. Scholars have examined his role as social historian of the Jazz Age, observed his personal and literary obsession with the wealthy, and probed the many possible connections between the peaks and valleys of his personal life and his literary career. Critical studies of his longer works have noted his experiments with viewpoint and chronology, and his efforts to find the right balance between entering his characters’ worlds and maintaining an objective distance. Fitzgerald’s protagonists have been described as heroes in unheroic, existential times. His work reveals the empty destructiveness of materialism, and mourns the inevitable compromise of idealistic dreams.

Author Links

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
An introductory bio-critical essay examining Fitzgerald’s tumultuous personal life and important literary triumphs.

F. Scott Fitzgerald
This site contains an extensive biographical and critical essay, and synopsis of Fitzgerald’s major works, including "Babylon Revisited," plus links to other sites.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary Home Page
This University of South Carolina website includes biography, primary and critical bibliography, quotations, and interesting Fitzgerald facts.

"Babylon Revisited:" A Long Expostulation and Explanation
Here you’ll find a complete M.A. thesis on the short story in your anthology, with interesting photos from the 1931 "Saturday Evening Post" in which it was first published.

Fitzgerald Photographs
A collection of photos of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald from Princeton University.