Zelda Fitzgerald: Jazz Age Icon and Writer
Zelda Fitzgerald (July 24, 1900 – March 10, 1948) was an American novelist, painter, writer, and socialite. She became the national symbol of the Jazz Age flapper and authored the semi-autobiographical novel Save Me the Waltz while institutionalized for mental illness.
Early Life and Education
Zelda Sayre was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on July 24, 1900, the youngest of six children in a prominent Southern family. Her mother, Minerva Buckner Machen, named her after a Roma heroine in a novel. Her father, Anthony Dickinson Sayre, was an Alabama politician and state legislator who authored the 1893 Sayre Act. Zelda’s maternal grandfather, Willis Benson Machen, served as a Confederate Senator and later as a U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Her father’s uncle, John Tyler Morgan, was a Confederate general and served six terms in the United States Senate.
As the youngest child of a wealthy family, Zelda was doted upon by her mother but described her father as a “living fortress.” She grew up with domestic servants and spent her youth dancing, taking ballet lessons, and enjoying outdoor activities. The family spent summers in Saluda, North Carolina, a village that would later appear in her artwork. In 1914, she began attending Sidney Lanier High School, where she remained bright but disinterested in her lessons while continuing her interest in ballet.
Career and Achievements
Zelda’s public prominence began in 1920 when she married writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, shortly after the popular success of his debut novel This Side of Paradise. The novel’s success catapulted the young couple into the national spotlight, and she became known in the press as the first American flapper. Their wild antics and constant partying earned them a reputation as the enfants terribles of the Jazz Age.
Her marriage deteriorated due to alleged infidelity and bitter recriminations. After traveling to Europe, her mental health declined, and she developed suicidal and homicidal tendencies requiring psychiatric care. Doctors diagnosed her with schizophrenia, though later posthumous diagnoses suggest bipolar disorder.
While institutionalized at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, Zelda authored her novel Save Me the Waltz, published by Scribner’s in 1932. The semi-autobiographical work depicted her early life in the American South during the Jim Crow era and her marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel received mostly negative reviews and poor sales, disappointing Zelda and prompting her to pursue other artistic interests.
In the fall of 1932, she completed a stage play titled Scandalabra, but Broadway producers unanimously rejected it. She then attempted watercolor painting, but when her husband arranged an exhibition in 1934, the critical response proved equally disappointing. After Scott died in December 1940 from occlusive coronary arteriosclerosis, Zelda attempted to write a second novel, Caesar’s Things, but recurrent voluntary institutionalization for mental illness interrupted her work, and she never completed it.
Notable Events and Milestones
Zelda’s life was marked by significant mental health crises beginning after her travels to Europe. Her institutionalization at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1932 coincided with the publication of Save Me the Waltz, her only completed novel. Over more than a decade, she underwent over ten years of electroshock therapy and insulin shock treatments, which left her with severe memory loss.
On March 10, 1948, while sedated and locked in a room on the fifth floor of Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, she died in a fire. Her body was identified by her dental records and one of her slippers. A follow-up investigation raised the possibility that the fire had been set by a disgruntled or mentally disturbed hospital employee.
Awards and Honors
Zelda received posthumous recognition for her literary and artistic contributions. A 1970 biography by Nancy Milford was a finalist for the National Book Award, sparking renewed scholarly interest in Zelda’s work. In 1992, she was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame. Following Milford’s biography, her paintings were posthumously exhibited in the United States and Europe, and literary scholars began examining Save Me the Waltz in relation to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night and the cultural pressures on modern women in the 1920s.
Additional Resources
Zelda Fitzgerald’s life and work continue to attract scholarly attention and public interest. Readers seeking more detailed information about her biography, literary output, and artistic legacy can consult Nancy Milford’s award-finalist biography, as well as comprehensive biographical archives and academic studies examining her contributions to American literature and art history.
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