F. Scott Fitzgerald The life of Francis Scott Fitzgerald is an example of both sides of the American dream: the joys of young love, wealth, and success, and the tragedies associated with success and failure. Fitzgerald, named after another famous American, a distant cousin who wrote the Star Spangled Banner, was born in St. Paul Minnesota on September 24, 1896. The son of a wicker furniture salesman (Edward Fitzgerald) and an Irish immigrant with a lot of money. (Mary McQuillan), Fitzgerald grew up in a Catholic, upper-middle-class environment. Fitzgerald began writing at an early age. His high school newspaper published his crime novels, encouraging him to pursue writing rather than academics. He dropped out of Princeton University to join the Army and continued to pursue his obsession. At 21 he submitted his first novel for publication and Charles Scribner's Children rejected it, but with words of encouragement. Beginning a pattern of constant revision that would characterize his writing style for the rest of his career. The U.S. Army stationed him near Montgomery, Alabama in 1918, where he met and fell in love with Zelda Sayre. Three years after the wedding, after the birth of their first and only child, Scottie, Fitzgerald completed his best-known work: "The Great Gatsby." The extravagant life made possible by such success, however, had its price. Constantly living at different times in different cities in Italy, France, Switzerland and eight United States, the Fitzgeralds tried with all their might to escape or do something about Scott's alcoholism and Zelda's mental illness. Zelda suffered several breakdowns both physical and mental and sought treatment in and out of clinics from 1930 until her death. Things were looking up for Fitzgerald towards the end of his life: he won a contract in 1937 to write for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood and fell in love with Sheilah Graham, a film journalist.