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Yvette Denner
The 1920s are often called the Jazz Age.To
what extent did the novels and the lifestyle
of F. Scott Fitzgerald reflect or define this
label?
Essay
Yvette Denner
1
The 1920s are often called the Jazz Age. To what extent did the novels and the
lifestyle of F. Scott Fitzgerald reflect or define this label?
In her book on American culture in the 1920s, Lynn Dumenil mentions that a key
image of the period was leading “a fast life, propelled by riches and rapidly changing
social values” (Dumenil 1995: 7). This is not entirely true. In fact, the 1920s, also
known as the “Jazz Age” were a decade of contradiction: there was progress and
prosperity on the one hand and depression and isolation on the other. The women’s
suffrage and the Prohibition Act both passed in 1919 are somehow a characteristic
introduction to the following ten years of contradiction in American history. One of the
decade’s best known writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald, born on 24 September 1896 in St.
Paul, Minnesota, celebrated his breakthrough after the release of his first novel This
Side of Paradise in 1920 (Bruccoli 1981:13). His success literally came overnight and
from then on his life changed completely (Allen 1931:90). Even though he was part of
the fun generation which was so typical of the 1920s, he also embodied the
characteristics of a moralist (Boyer 2009: 546). Fitzgerald’s life had been coined by
ups and downs and by the end of the 1920s he caused his own downfall.
Considering historical as well as biographical background information, this essay will
provide an answer to the following question: To what extent did the novels and the
lifestyle of F. Scott Fitzgerald reflect or define the Jazz Age?
There are many definitions on the term jazz, and right in the middle of
the Twenties, J. A. Rogers formed one of them. He stated that "the true spirit
of jazz is a joyous revolt from convention, custom, authority, boredom, even
sorrow from everything that would confine the soul of man and hinder its riding
free on the air" (Rogers 1925: 665). This sentence describes not only the spirit
of jazz, but also what the Jazz Age was about. In general, the Jazz Age
spanned between the May Day riots in 1919 and the stock market crash in
1929. Still fed up with the events of WWI, the generation of the Jazz Age
showed no interest in politics at all (Fitzgerald 1931: 130). Although the daily
lives of urban white middle and upper classes transformed immensely due to
new inventions in technology such as automobiles, electric irons, refrigerators,
and radios, it was not the rule (Dumenil 1995: 6). In fact, there were two sides
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of the coin. The average American led a much more modest life and the
farmers never recovered from the post-war depression (Dumenil 1995: 8).
Among this disadvantaged group were also industrial workers, blacks,
Hispanics, and recent immigrants whose main intention it was to maintain their
economic survival (Boyer 2009: 545). Hence, besides the optimism resulting
from a prospering economy, there were still negative components that made
the 1920s also a decade of isolation and negativism. The Red Scare, the rise
of the Ku Klux Klan, and prohibition formed that counterpart (Dumenil
1995:152).
Although Fitzgerald is known for the coinage of the term “Jazz Age”, his novels
do not focus specifically on jazz music. In fact, his knowledge of music was very
limited. However, Fitzgerald was one of the first among white American writers to
include perceptive reactions to jazz performance in his literary work. After all, the
twenties were an age of the development of African-American jazz musicians in
Harlem, such as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, or Duke Ellington (Boyer 2009:
547). In his essay “Echoes of the Jazz Age”, Fitzgerald explained that “the word jazz
...has first meant sex, then dancing, then music. It is associated with a state of
nervous stimulation...” (Fitzgerald 1932: 132). Sex was no longer a taboo and the
Freudian ideas enjoyed a revival, too (Boyer 2009: 545). Fitzgerald had in some way
been equalized with the content of This Side of Paradise. The novel can be
depicted as a revolutionary, avant-garde, and daring work which encouraged the
young generation to pursue the pleasure of life. People connected him with the “Jazz
Age” and viewed him as the exemplar of the post-war generation (Mizener 1949: xv).
In his stories and novels, Fitzgerald often mentioned the flappers, boyish looking,
erotically dressed dancers who represented the female daring and growing
independence of the time (Dumenil 1995: 7). His wife Zelda Sayre whom he married
in 1920 embodied those characteristics to a certain extent. She was beautiful,
independent, and responded to Fitzgerald’s ambitions. Furthermore, she could
identify with her husband’s strive for metropolitan glamour, success, and fame
(Bruccoli 1981: 91). However, when Zelda fell sick with mental illness at the end of
the 1920s, their marriage was significantly challenged which resulted in their
contemplation of a divorce in 1933 (Bruccoli 1981: 348-355). Although a divorce
never eventuated, they separated and Zelda ended up spending a great part of her
life in hospitals (Bruccoli 1981: 483). Hence, the lives of the Fitzgerald’s had not
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always been coined by jauntiness and can easily be compared to the Jazz Age which
was also characterized by contradictions.
As Gertrude Stein put it, Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise had been a “bible
of flaming youth” (Stein 1933: 268). The Jazz Age which started as a “children’s
party” ended up in “a whole race going hedonistic” (Fitzgerald 1931: 132).
Overwhelmed by his sudden rise and public acknowledgement, the following years in
Fitzgerald’s life were characterized by excessive parties and extended voyages to
Europe what made him a member of the so-called Lost Generation (Bruccoli 2001:
13). This term describes young artists and writers of the Twenties whose works
consisted of the complete identification with the spirit of the time. They were part “of
the
breathless, energetic, super-active times” in which people were living in the
Twenties, a state of mind that was expressed through music, art as well as literature
(Koenig 2002: 302). The young writers thematized the disillusionment and cynicism
resulting from the Great War and therefore shaped an explanation for the escapism
that finally led to the excesses of the Jazz Age (Dumenil 1995: 7). Furthermore, they
turned into expatriates and spent a great deal of the Twenties in Europe, basically in
Paris. Ernest Hemingway and Langston Hughes also belonged to that group (Boon
2006: 55). Fitzgerald picked that new born spirit up and put it into words. He called it
“the world’s most expensive orgy” which included flappers and jazz hounds who were
engaged in a never-ending pursuit of pleasure (Dumenil 1995: 76). In The Great
Gatsby (1925), Fitzgerald chose to write on empty, rich, and superficial characters
whose pursuit of excitement and experience stood in contrast with their attempt in
finding some meaning in their modern lives. Obviously Fitzgerald knew exactly what
he was writing about, for he lived that very same life as well (Dumenil 1995: 150).
However, that was only one facet of Fitzgerald’s character. Apparently, Fitzgerald
was not able to deal with his sudden success and in the second half of the 1920s his
excessive lifestyle resulted in financial problems, alcoholism, and decreasing
success. When his last novel written in 1934 was also a complete failure, Fitzgerald
fell into deep depressions and alcohol addiction (Bruccoli 1981: 6). A final attempt in
writing The Last Tycoon resulted in a heart attack and Fitzgerald’s death in 1940
(Breitwieser 2000: 372). In regards to his personality, one could say that Fitzgerald’s
whole nature was coined by contradictions which were largely caused by his alcohol
abuse. On the one hand, he was a caring husband and father, a man who wanted to