F. Scott Fitzgerald

            Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota to father Edward Fitzgerald, and mother Mary (Mollie) McQuillan. His parent's great pride in his father's ancestry led to Francis being named after his second cousin three times removed, none other than the author of the National Anthem. Francis attended Princeton, married a woman by the name of Zelda Sayre, and traveled all over the world many times. These events, and many more related to them, helped to shape the life and times of Fitzgerald as well as his writings.
             Prior to attending Princeton, Fitzgerald was enrolled in the Newman School, a Catholic prep school in New Jersey, where he met a man by the name of Father Sigourney Fay. Fay encouraged Fitzgerald's ambitions for achievement. Fitzgerald went on to become a member of the Princeton Class of 1917, however, he tended to neglect his schoolwork and studies in order to pursue his love of literature. Fitzgerald contributed to the Princeton Tiger and also wrote lyrics for the Princeton Triangle Club musicals. Fitzgerald, after being put on academic probation and not being likely to graduate, joined the Army in 1917, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry. During this time, Fitzgerald did not see it likely he would survive the war; he hastily wrote his first novel entitled The Romantic Egotist. He later received a letter from Charles Scribner's Sons, whom he had sent his novel to for publishing, rejecting his novel. His novel was praised in this letter and Francis was told to resubmit it after revising the novel further.
             In June of 1918, Fitzgerald was stationed at Camp Sheridan, which was close to Montgomery, Alabama. While there, he fell in love with eighteen-year-old belle and youngest daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court Judge Zelda Sayre. After meeting Zelda, he became even more intent on having his novel published, so he re-wrote it and sent it in yet again, but he was rejected once more.