“If you have not already done so, make a note of the name, F. Scott Fitzgerald.” So begins the Chicago Tribune’s review of This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald’s debut novel. Its publication announced the arrival of an eminent new American writer and established him as the spokesperson for his generation. The story follows the life of Amory Blaine from a constrained childhood as the only offspring of a neurotic, restless, well-off widow, through his student years, the First World War, disappointment in love, and impoverishment to a provisional epiphany. This vibrant portrait of a young character coming to terms with the world as it is and his own place in it shimmers with candor, energy, and flashes of genius.<br/><br/>Includes a biographical timeline and the full text of the career-launching reviews that appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The New Republic, The Evening Post, and The Evening World.<br/><br/>FRANCIS SCOTT FITZGERALD (1896-1940) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and educated at the Newman School and at Princeton. This Side of Paradise, his first novel, was published in 1920 to instant acclaim. He soon after married Zelda Sayre, and the two became the most famous American couple of the Jazz Age—as known for Fitzgerald’s writing as their legendary debauchery. Until 1931 they divided their time among New York, Paris, and the Riviera. When they were forced by money and health problems to return to the States, Fitzgerald became a writer for Hollywood movie studios. He died in 1940 while working on his unfinished novel of Hollywood, The Last Tycoon. His other works include The Beautiful and Damned, Flappers and Philosophers, Tales of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby, All the Sad Young Men, Tender Is the Night, and Taps at Reveille.<br/><br/>“The glorious spirit of abounding youth glows throughout this fascinating tale . . . It could have been written only by an artist who knows how to balance his values, plus a delightful literary style.” —New York Times