Stephen Vincent Benet: On Fitzgerald and 'The Last Tycoon'

In his review of FSF's book 'The Last Tycoon,' published posthumously, Benet wrote:

When Scott Fitzgerald died, a good many of the obituaries showed a curious note of self-righteousness. They didn’t review his work, they merely reviewed the Jazz Age and said that it was closed. Because he had made a spectacular youthful success at one kind of thing, they assumed that that one kind of thing was all he could ever do. In other words, they assumed that because he died in his forties, he had shot his bolt. And they were just one hundred percent wrong, as “The Last Tycoon” shows."

Why were contemporary critics so harsh toward Fitzgerald? Why do you think they were so quick to dismiss him and his work?

Why were critics so quick to dismiss Fitzgerald? An interesting question! As Benet and other critics note, the Jazz Age was over and Fitzgerald was of the Jazz Age. Perhaps he was dismissed as a product of and along with his time in history.

Contemporary critics dismiss him- and yet in May 2013, here comes a new movie version of Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"

This is curious, as I wasn't aware of this going on, as foresaid, I knew nothing of the Fitzgerald's life, both personal or public ahead of reading this novel. It's always been my intention to read the authors who fueled such vivid voices into literature, as I grew up in the 80s/90s knowing 'of F. Scott Fitzgerald' but until I saw 'Midnight in Paris' {in 2012}, I did not run across him or Zelda until this novel unfolded before me as I read it. I always was under the impression that Fitzgerald was held in high respect and regard for what he was able to produce during his lifetime, so the fact that its coming forward now that he's painted in quite a different light is new to my eyes and ears. Even my teachers were hoping that I would one day broach into contemparary literature of the 20th century, as I always had a propensity for the 19th and classical authors of a different age!! Laughs. History always held a candlelight for me in my literary adventures, and modern literary authors, I admired from afar, but did not dig into until recently!

I think that is one of the benefits of Book Browse, and why I initially wanted to join ~ I wanted to carve out a literary lens past my comfort zones, digging into stories that would challenge my mind and endear my heart.

I am also curious how the critics can be this cruel in their exclusion of F. Scott Fitzgerald, if perchance not noting that his books or stories, are still being brought to film!? Yes, next month's release of the next adaption of "The Great Gatsby" is one that I am looking forward too myself, but when I read that he wrote "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and sold it for a thousand dollars, I asked myself!? Where in all the press coverage of that particular film, did they fail to mention Fitzgerald as the original creator!? I never would have known this, if I hadn't read "Z"! Oy.

I googled the film just a moment ago, and it's lightly mentioned on the wikipedia page, but I swear, I remember seeing interviews at the time of release, and not in one of them, did I hear them mention the short story that was penned in 1922!

What does this forebear towards his legacy in print, page, and screen!?