F. Scott Fitzgerald: Under the Influence by E. Ray Canterbery


F. Scott Fitzgerald: Under the Influence
Title : F. Scott Fitzgerald: Under the Influence
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1610830040
ISBN-10 : 9781610830041
Language : English
Format Type : Kindle Edition
Number of Pages : 416
Publication : First published March 1, 2006

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an artist of extraordinary literary talent who tried to synthesize the ideas and events around him and give them personal expression. And, he was more than that. He and Zelda were personal participants who defined and helped to shape much of what is American. Their lives and American life are so intertwined that they seem impervious to an unwinding. They defined the Jazz Age through self-advertisements; then, Scott gave the epoch its name. Americans generally were obsessed with clever advertising and easy money in a booming stock market. But there is more, much more.


F. Scott Fitzgerald: Under the Influence Reviews


  • John

    This biography explores Fitzgerald's life throught the lens of the writers and thinkers who influenced him. There were several influences of Fitzgerald's thinking that I had not heard of before reading the book. Canterbery gives us a chronological narrative of Fitzgerald's life and paces the book into the periods that Fitzgerald spent with his "Golden Girls" the three most important women in his life Genevra, Zelda, and Sheilah. Canterbery gives due time to the juicy stories of Fitzgerald's life but this biography goes much more deeply into the forces that shaped Fitzgerald's writing. At times the coverage of the people that Fitzgerald was studying strays too far from the subject but overall I enjoyed this distinct portrait of Fitzgerald.

  • Dan

    Gawkily written, and weirdly determined to make Fitzgerald into an intellectual. The most recent full biography, I think.

  • H.L. Gibson

    See my full review at
    www.hlgibsonauthor.com