Researching and writing biography requires time and the assistance of many. Sometimes the work takes so long to complete, those crucial to the project do not survive to see the manuscript published. Upton Brady is one of those individuals, a man of singular intelligence who was my toughest and best critic, and whose astute editing and knowledgeable comments taught me much about writing. This book is better than it would have been otherwise, because of his suggestions.
I had not planned to write another study of the Fitzgeralds, but sometimes an author has no choice, and the subject chooses her, rather than the other way around. I am tempted to believe I was destined to write this story and followed where the subject took me. The topic could never have been broached without the assistance of Martine Jozan Work, who spoke to me over many years about her father and generously shared his papers, documents, and photos. After decades of innuendo about Edouard Jozan and Zelda Fitzgerald, the family desired a balanced view, and I intended to approach the subject in an unbiased manner, so it was an amicable match. I also benefited from insights offered by two of Jozan’s countrymen: Louis Hourcade, son of Edouard’s close friend, Jean Hourcade, and Robert Feuilloy, secretary general of the French Retired Naval Pilots’ Association. To John Lomaki and Ann Spies goes my appreciation for assistance with translations of their correspondence.
In the course of research, I interviewed many people, some while I was a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, others during the 1980s and ’90s, and most recently during this last decade. Many with whom I spoke are now deceased, and I have worked from notes of those conversations. The following people generously shared recollections: Scottie Fitzgerald Lanahan, Rosalind Smith, Andrew Turnbull, Charles Angoff, Archibald MacLeish, Lawton Campbell, Helen Blackshear, Tom Johnson, Landon Ray, Dr. Basil T. Bennett, Dr. Otto Billig, Pierre Jozan, Robert Taft, Peyton Mathis III, and Anton Haardt. I am grateful to William T. Carpenter, Wendy S. Smith, and Larry Grace from the DuPont Edge Moor Plant outside Wilmington, Delaware, who provided access to what was Ellerslie, the estate on which the Fitzgeralds lived during 1927.
No biography based on original materials is possible without the help of archivists and librarians, and I have many to thank. The most comprehensive sources for my research were the personal papers and unpublished materials of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald in the Special Collections Division of Firestone Library at Princeton University. I spent much time there, and the quality of their collection is comparable only to the professionalism of the staff. For assistance with images, special appreciation goes to Annalee Pauls and Margaret Rich in photo duplication.
Then, there are staff historians, curators, and archivists at research libraries and historical societies who provided valuable assistance: Norwood Kerr at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Mark Wilson at the University of Auburn, Clarke E. Center Jr. with the W. S. Hoole Special Collections of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, the Minnesota Historical Society, Duke University Medical Archives, Westport Historical Society, Association of French Retired Navy Pilots, Emil Buehler Naval Aviation Library, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Wilmington Historical Society, Edgemoor Dupont Archives, Pyrantee Historical Library, Marine Nationale Service Historique, ARDHAN Aeronavale, Asheville Citizen-Times, Montgomery Advertiser, American Psychiatric Association Library, H. L. Mencken Collection at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Sheppard Pratt Hospital Archives, George Jean Nathan Collection at Cornell University, and the Sara Haardt Collection at Goucher College. Of all locations where I did research and writing, the Saint Lawrence University Library deserves special thanks for providing me space to work on this book and two previous ones. I am particularly indebted to Michael Anzo, director of libraries; Theresa O’Reilly, administrative secretary; Julia Courtney from Interlibrary Loans; and Tish Munt, public services coordinator. If I have left anyone out, I offer apologies and the assurance that I valued their assistance.
I owe much gratitude to now retired literary agent, Betsy Nolan, who sold my previous Fitzgerald biography, Sometimes Madness Is Wisdom: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald: A Marriage to Ballantine Books at Random House and provided unflagging support for this one. She spent years advocating my work, believed in it from the start, and never gave up on this project. All authors desire such a person in their corner, and I was fortunate to be among her clients. I am grateful for her introduction to my present agent, Kimberley Cameron, who was equally supportive and tenacious in placing my manuscript with the publishing house of Rowman & Littlefield. There, it has been a fortuitous experience to work with senior acquisitions editor Stephen Ryan, who skillfully shepherded this manuscript through several versions to present it to the reading public in the most effective way.
All along I have been supported by family and friends who bolstered my spirits and offered continual encouragement. They knew what I hoped to accomplish and understood it would take time. I thank Jacqueline Goodman, who never questioned when I would finish the book and was supportive throughout; Nelly Maude Case, who reminded me that Beethoven took thirty years to set Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” to music; Donna H. Kennedy, Annemarie Bacon, and Will Recker, who reformatted this manuscript many times, transmitted photos, and were always there to be of assistance; my brother, Ronald Finne, who supported me spiritually and financially; fellow writers Marion Meade and Aileen Vincent-Barwood, who shared broad knowledge and experience; Barbara Brennan; Ann Ratner; Brenda Yarcag; Adam Jaffe; Zelig Pintow; Cypre Tannenbaum; Mary Burgess Avrakotos; Deede Tonelli Raylove; Sue Roughton; and Susan Scanlon.
A biographer has to go many places, and I was fortunate to have my daughter, Sophie (Dre), travel with me to southern France and take some of the photographs that appear in this book. Along the cobbled alleyways of Frejus, hilltop villages with sun-warmed medieval walls, and towering plane trees shading San Raphael’s harbor, I was able to retrace Zelda and Jozan’s steps to construct a narrative linked with the Riviera’s romantic appeal.
It is gratifying when a manuscript reaches completion but also sorrowful, since the author must say farewell to someone she cares deeply about. So lastly, I thank this remarkable woman, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, with whom I have had an enduring interest over half a century, for the privilege of being able to write about her extraordinary life.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint material.
Harold Ober Associates Incorporated and Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.:
From The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald © 1922 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 147, 181, 161, 243, 234–35.
From The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald © 1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 17, 131, 182.
From Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald © 1933 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 39, 300, 301, 323, 341.
From The Last Tycoon; An Unfinished Novel © 1941 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 127, 136, 164.
From The Last Tycoon (The Love of the Last Tycoon) © 1995 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, p. 73.
From Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald in The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald. Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed. © 1991 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 33, 79, 81, 97, 92, 86, 84, 88, 89, 90, 91, 94, 95, 96, 285.
From “Show Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald to . . .” in The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald. Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed. © 1991 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, p. 422.
From “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald in Babylon Revisited and Other Stories © 1960 by Charles Scribner’s Sons.
From “Image on the Heart” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, originally published in McCall’s Magazine 63, no. 7 (April 1936), pp. 8, 52. Republished by Alma Books as Image on the Heart and Other Stories, 2016, Alma Books, Cast-leyard, Richmond, Surrey, England. © 1936 by Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Letters from F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald:
F. Scott Fitzgerald to Edmund Wilson, London, England, July, 1921, F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters. Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed. © 1995 Simon and Schuster.
F. Scott Fitzgerald to Harold Ober, Capri, Italy, March, 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters, Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed. © 1995 Simon and Schuster.
F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gerald and Sara Murphy, Encino, California, September 22, 1939, F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters. Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed. © 1995 Simon and Schuster.
F. Scott Fitzgerald to Zelda Fitzgerald, Hollywood, California, December 6, 1940, F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters. Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed. © 1995 Simon and Schuster.
Zelda Fitzgerald to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Baltimore, Maryland, April, 1932, The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald. Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed. © 1991 by Charles Scribner’s Sons
Zelda Fitzgerald to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Baltimore, Maryland, after June 30, 1930, The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald. Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed. © 1991 by Charles Scribner’s Sons
Illustration Credits:
Photos from the F. Scott Fitzgerald Archives at Princeton University Library: Photo used by permission of Harold Ober Associates as agents for the Fitzgerald Trustees; reproductions arranged through the Princeton University Library. Zelda on graduation from Sidney Lanier High School, Zelda with infant Scottie at White Bear Lake, Minnesota, Zelda, Scott, and Scottie in the Renault with the nanny, Southern France, 1924, Fitzgerald on the beach in southern France with Scottie, Zelda, Scott, and Scottie on steps at Villa Marie, Valescure, France, Zelda, Scott, and Scottie, shipboard, 1928.
Photos of Edouard Jozan used by permission of Martine Jozan Work.
Photos of hillside villages in southern France and other contemporary French photos used by permission of Sophie Dre Garner.