
Fitzgerald had moved into Asheville’s Grove Park Inn that April after transferring his wife Zelda, a psychiatric patient, to nearby Highland Hospital. It was the same month that Esquire published his essay “The Crack Up”, in which he confessed to a growing awareness that “my life had been a drawing on resources that I did not possess, that I had been mortgaging myself physically and spiritually up to the hilt.”
Fitzgerald’s financial and drinking problems had reached a critical stage. That summer he fractured his shoulder while diving into the hotel swimming pool, and sometime later, according to Michael Cody at the University of South Carolina’s Fitzgerald Web site, “he fired a revolver in a suicide threat, after which the hotel refused to let him stay without a nurse. He was attended thereafter by Dorothy Richardson, whose chief duties were to provide him company and try to keep him from drinking too much. In typical Fitzgerald fashion, he developed a friendship with Miss Richardson and attempted to educate her by providing her with a reading list.”
It’s an curious list. Shakespeare is omitted. So is James Joyce. But Norman Douglas and Arnold Bennett make the cut. Fitzgerald appears to have restricted his selections to books that were available at that time in Modern Library editions. At the top of the page, Richardson writes “These are books that Scott thought should be required reading.”
- Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser
- The Life of Jesus, by Ernest Renan
- A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen
- Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson
- The Old Wives’ Tale, by Arnold Bennett
- The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiel Hammett
- The Red and the Black, by Stendahl
- The Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant, translated by Michael Monahan
- An Outline of Abnormal Psychology, edited by Gardner Murphy
- The Stories of Anton Chekhov, edited by Robert N. Linscott
- The Best American Humorous Short Stories, edited by Alexander Jessup
- Victory, by Joseph Conrad
- The Revolt of the Angels, by Anatole France
- The Plays of Oscar Wilde
- Sanctuary, by William Faulkner
- Within a Budding Grove, by Marcel Proust
- The Guermantes Way, by Marcel Proust
- Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust
- South Wind, by Norman Douglas
- The Garden Party, by Katherine Mansfield
- War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
- John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley: Complete Poetical Works
Note: We have provided links to texts available online. Most appear in our collection, 600 Free eBooks: Download to Kindle, iPad/iPhone & Nook. Courses on Fitzgerald and contemporaries can be found in the Literature section of our Free Online Courses collection.
via The University of South Carolina
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this list out of drinking, …. i dont know showes a self loving side
Sono fiera di aver letto molti dei titoli consigliati!
oh! now I know this diễn đàn seo
I wonder. Did she read them?
I worked at Grove Park Inn. They actually left the bullet hole in the ceiling from his gunshot. I’ve seen it.
Nineteen thirty six! He should have been in NYC or Akron to hear Bill W & Dr Bob… such a short life for such a talented guy. And to think, he knew he was lacking in spirituality… he was right there, right on the precipice of practicing what he needed to know to recover.
Grand Uncle Scott, spare me Douglas, Renan, Bennett, Hammett, Jessup, France, Wilde, and Douglas. Given your vision, add Hemingway, please, Thackeray, and Joyce.
now I know this nghe thuat duong pho
Fitzgerald was the Man!!! Interesting list!! People have to understand, or at least I feel, that you should not read (no pun intended) too much into these lists. Just enjoy the insight and information. For fun tick off how many of the books you have read, and if you feel the need run out and read a couple items if you want too. READ!!!!! READ EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!
my great aunt Nina Jory was reported as being a nurse with Scott Fitzgerald. She certainly took out American citizenship. Have you any information on this subjet
Its a really informative and comprehensive post.
Thanks for Sharing.
You really deserve an appreciation.