This lady though: Zelda Fitzgerald
 |
| Author: Therese Anne Fowler |
It all changed with the publishing of that novel, This Side of Paradise.
Her world will be never be the same.
She assumed another life, another identity. She would no longer be just that naive girl from Montgomery, Alabama; no longer just a judge's daughter, who almost always did what her father says.
She will eventually become the globe-trotting wife to the, then aspiring writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald [The Great Gatsby].
She is, and forevermore will be, Zelda Fitzgerald.
I first got interested in her, as with many of my pop culture interests, through Woody Allen's 2011 film, Midnight in Paris, spectacularly played by Alison Pill. Two beautiful Americans in Paris, having Tom Hiddleston, playing Scott Fitzgerald as her arm-candy.
That's why when I finally got my hands on this book, I expected Zelda to be the loud-mouthed, at times, unmannered southern belle that I've come to know and love in the movie.
But what I got, was a modern, free-spirited, and sensible, woman. It was even revealed that she became a volunteer for the Red Cross with her sister Marjorie.
Zelda seemed like your pretty average; came from a well-to-do family, teenager. She came off as somewhat bratty and whiny in the film, but in Fowler's novel, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, she seemed quite responsible and mature. Maybe a little revealing on her outfits here and there; and sometimes mischievous but nothing out of the ordinary hormonal teenage girl.
It was during a ballet recital that led to her meeting, Lt. Scott Fitzgerald.
She was instantly in awe of the writer. They shared a similar interest of reading books.
"I wanted him to tell me more about how he'd done it, written an entire novel, and about what he liked to read, and I wanted to tell him what I liked to read, and then we could talk about things from those books."
--Zelda, on meeting Scott at the Montgomery Country Club, 1918
She will eventually try her luck at writing as well. Once The Beautiful and Damned came out, Zelda was asked, as to everyone's surprise, by the New York Tribune to write a review for her husband's book. She agreed and got a fifteen dollar check for it. In another instance, she helped Scott write a play and many other short stories which received a lot of earnings. It's important to note though, that Zelda was mostly, if not entirely uncredited in these works. Most of them were published under Scott's, more renowned name.
When they moved to France, Zelda then took up another hobby, painting. It was during this time that she spent most of her days on the beach, just sitting on the sand, and drifting to reflections and inspirations.
"The first time I lost track of myself, truly lost all trace of me, the girl I'd been, the woman I thought I was becoming, would happen here in Saint-Raphael, while I was wrapped in the benevolent warmth of a Mediterranean summer."
Towards the end of her life she went back to her first love, dance. This was the time when her marriage with Scott was taking its toll, both physically and emotionally. It was the 1920s and it can be said, that if a man had a wife like Zelda, someone as beautiful, smart, and talented, that he better watch out. He should tread carefully, aware that his wife might one day eclipse over his own manly-ness by her utter and immense wonderfulness. This was just unacceptable in the 1920s. Or at least what the book seems to present as the reason behind Zelda's uncredited talents. It was the times in which she lived and her husband, Scott. Though in marrying him; Zelda was able to realize and discover her artistic interests, these all remained as they were, just potentials, nothing more.
Acknowledgement, easily might look like a very self-centered endeavor. But I don't think one can live fully without it entirely. We, men and women, we dream, we wish, to belong and to be affirmed by others. In some ways, marriage is an affirmation too, of another, of one's beloved.
Comments
Post a Comment