MovieChat Forums > The Great Gatsby (1974) Discussion > anybody read Zelda?

anybody read Zelda?

posted 14 years ago by lschwartz106
3 replies | jump to latest

everytime I visit the library I notice Zelda's collected writings. is she any good?
and anybody read about the intense vitriol that took place between Papa Hem and Francis in Paris?
nobody can describe a woman's confusion like Francis.
nobody can describe a man's confronting of all he fears like Hem.

the two were antithetical artists.

both were refined at heart,
both chose to exercise different parts of themselves.

Francis would have been quite bored at a Bull Fight.
Papa would have been quite bored at a Flapper party.

and too that most people who live in the North Egg of Great Neck today have never read The Great Gatsby

Torrence

[–] BoomerMovieFan 14 years ago

Was she a great writer? Probably not. But she was capable and an astute observer.

There were mutual accusations that F. Scott "lifted" some of his wife's writings to include in his own and she did the same to him.

If you have the opportunity to read it, try Nancy Milford's biography, ZELDA. When it was first published, ca. 1970, it was very popular. By then, Zelda Fitzgerald had become a footnote in literary history. It was the right biography at the right time.

[–] ofumalow 14 years ago

Her posthumously published novel is a mess, of interest only for its (heavily) autobiographical content. That said, maybe in a different era her talent might have been developed rather than staying subservient to her husband's.

[–] SuCue 10 years ago

I've read her novel as well as a collection of her "girl" short stories. She was great at description but couldn't really handle plot development or pacing.