The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald

by Zelda Fitzgerald, Matthew J. Bruccoli (Editor), Mary Gordon (Introduction)

This comprehensive collection of Zelda Fitzgerald’s work—including her only published novel, Save Me the Waltz —puts the jazz-age heroine in an illuminating literary perspective.

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald has long been an American cultural icon. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, this southern belle turned flapper was talented in dance, painting, and writing but lived in the shadow of her husband F. Scott Fitzgerald’s success.

This meticulously edited collection includes Zelda’s only published novel, Save Me the Waltz , an autobiographical account of the Fitzgeralds’ adventures in Paris and on the Riviera; her celebrated farce, Scandalabra ; eleven short stories; twelve articles; and a selection of letters to her husband, written over the span of their marriage, that reveals the couple’s loving and turbulent relationship. The Collected Writings affirms Zelda’s place as a writer and as a symbol of the Lost Generations as she struggled to define herself through her art.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Essays, Literary Fiction, American, Collections

521 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, born Zelda Sayre, was a novelist and the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was an icon of the 1920s—dubbed by her husband "the first American Flapper". After the success of his first novel This Side of Paradise (1920), the Fitzgeralds became celebrities. The newspapers of New York saw them as embodiments of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties: young, rich, beautiful, and energetic.

Zelda Sayre grew up in a wealthy and prim southern family. Even as a child her audacious behavior was the subject of Montgomery gossip. Shortly after finishing high school, she met F. Scott Fitzgerald at a dance. A whirlwind courtship ensued. Though he had professed his infatuation, she continued seeing other men. Despite fights and a prolonged break-up, they married in 1920, and spent the early part of the decade as literary celebrities in New York. Later in the 1920s, they moved to Europe, recast as famous expatriates of the Lost Generation. While Scott received acclaim for The Great Gatsby and his short stories, and the couple socialized with literary luminaries like Ernest Hemingway, their marriage was a tangle of jealousy, resentment and acrimony. Scott used their relationship as material in his novels, even lifting snippets from Zelda's diary and assigning them to his fictional heroines. Seeking an artistic identity of her own, Zelda wrote magazine articles and short stories, and at 27 became obsessed with a career as a ballerina, practicing to exhaustion.

The strain of her tempestuous marriage, Scott's increasing alcoholism, and her growing instability presaged Zelda's admittance to a sanatorium in 1930. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia. While in a Maryland clinic, she wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, Save Me the Waltz, which was published in 1932. Scott was furious that she had used material from their life together, though he had done the same, such as in Tender Is the Night, published in 1934; the two novels provide contrasting portrayals of the couple's failing marriage.

Back in America, Scott went to Hollywood where he tried screenwriting and began an affair with the movie columnist Sheilah Graham. In 1936, Zelda entered the Highland Mental Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. Scott died in Hollywood in 1940, having last seen Zelda a year and a half earlier. She spent her remaining years working on a second novel, which she never completed, and she painted extensively. In 1948, the hospital at which she had been a patient caught fire, causing her death. Interest in the Fitzgeralds resurged shortly after her death: the couple has been the subject of popular books, movies and scholarly attention. After a life as an emblem of the Jazz Age, Roaring Twenties, and Lost Generation, Zelda Fitzgerald posthumously found a new role: after a popular 1970 biography portrayed her as a victim of an overbearing husband, she became a feminist icon.

Reviews

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really appreciated the chance to read all of Zelda's writing in one place, and going into it I had admittedly low expectations that were far exceeded. Reading her novel, included in this collection, was very enlightening and touching. It tells her side of her story - its her own life in her own words, and her writing is intuitive, descriptive, and at times devastating. It did seem clear that it was incomplete, however, it just seemed like it wasn't quite all there, which we know is likely the case since her husband had her make serious cuts to the book. Her letters to Scott are heart-breaking. Her short stories are insightful, and her articles are light little puff pieces that speak to the times. The only thing I didn't read is her play because I don't have patience for plays. Overall this book gave me a much better sense for who Zelda was and I honestly can't believe more people haven't read her only novel.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zelda Fitzgerald The Collected Writings Edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli. Introduction by Mary Gordon. 480 pages. Charles Scribner's Sons.

I love to read... so I read for many reasons: entertainment, knowledge, and just pleasure. Every author should be recognized for their creativity. As a reader, I dive into every novel to briefly escape reality, and god forbid, sometimes reality is frightening, so I may spot a phrase, or two, that I have read elsewhere, and seldom think of an author plagiarizing a wife's diaries!

So who wrote the beautiful endless words I love to read, it is not my worry, if someone plagiarized their work, or not, while I'm reading it. It does make one wonder, if in Zelda's place, what she could have done, where credit was due.

“I am really only myself when I'm somebody else whom I have endowed with these wonderful qualities from my imagination.”
― Zelda Fitzgerald

"Twilights were wonderful just after the war. They hung above New York like indigo wash, forming themselves from asphalt dust and sooty shadows under the cornices and limp gusts of air exhaled from closing windows, to hang above the streets with all the mystery of white fog rising off a swamp." ― Zelda Fitzgerald???

Although it took a several years to finish, I found this book fun and interesting to read!!! I have lots of books with bookmarks placed years ago! Do you do the same?

[Isla McKetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book seems to have been collected to resolve the question, "How deeply was Scott involved in Zelda's writing?" which is, of course, unanswerable without handwritten drafts. There is obvious overlap between Zelda and Scott's writing--starting with the subject matter (they both drew heavily from their lives). There are also commonalities of listing and description, but there are also strong differences. Scott's work is tight and strongly plotted. Zelda's meanders a bit and is full of wild imagery and super-creative word use. Overall, Save Me the Waltz and a few of the short stories are the only keepers, and even then, not the best work I've ever read. The play is unintelligible and Zelda's letters to Scott are so very plaintive and sad.

If you want to write a dissertation on Zelda and Scott, this is your book. If you want to explore the best of Zelda, read Save Me the Waltz.

As to the "controversy," I think Zelda was a writer in her own right, but a beginning one who was deeply inspired by and influenced by the work of her husband. I wish she had finished her second novel. It would have been interesting to see her develop as a writer.

[Michael Fredette · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the University of Alabama Press, the most comprehensive volume of the work of Zelda Fitzgerald comprised of her sole novel Save me the Waltz, a farcical comedy Scandalabra, various short stories (largely attributed to F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, but in fact written by Zelda), essays, and letters. Save Me the Waltz is an autobiographical novel about her relationship with Scott and time abroad in France, and was a source of personal and professional tension because it was drawn from the same source material as his major novel Tender is the Night. Scandalabra was lengthy and absurd and production quickly folded. The short stories and nonfiction are worth a look and the supplementary material from Mary Gordon and Matthew Bruccoli are of interest.

[Joanne J · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to believe how Zelda has been short-changed in literary circles. Compared to Samuel Beckett, I would much rather read Zelda. But she has to be read like poetry. Her writing is different, challenging, but uniquely creative. She deserves a place in the lexicon. I wish she had had the courage to go out on her own, leaving her husband to his demons.

[Stephanie Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

“But I was born in the ballet.” 💖🩰
Zelda wrote in such an unpredictable style. Her husband’s work is clear and concise (his prose is stunning), but there is an aura of spontaneity in Zelda’s fiction that I find intriguing. I hope she gains greater recognition as an author herself, rather than an author’s wife. She deserves it. 📖

[Luke]

Contains 'Save me the Waltz' (1932)

[cygnus 🥀]

she was a diva and she deserved better honestly.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of this in other versions. Save me the waltz is amazing. It's great for my collection so I have all the magazine stories now. Intro by Scottie is priceless in itself. A must have for Fitzgerald fans.

[Katie Winkler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoying this. I can't believe I've never read Zelda's work. Her play Scandalabra is very funny!

[Quinn Collard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've long known that Zelda did plenty of writing (and other creative pursuits) of her own, but hadn't managed to find more than brief excerpts of her work to read before acquiring this compendium in preparation for a trip that would be including a visit to her and Scott's grave. The quality of the shorter writings collected here was definitely uneven, with some of them considerably better than others, but her sole novel, "Save Me the Waltz," was interwoven with sparkling and sometimes strikingly unusual (particularly a lot of her metaphors) bits of prose, and fellow readers who are familiar with both her husband's work and the realities of their lives will surely find plenty of interesting opportunities to compare the two with her semi-fictionalized detailing of some of the same material here.

[Maranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the complete writings of the iconic Zelda Fitzgerald. Often remembered as wife of the great American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and for her later mental illnesses that kept her in and out of institutions for the latter years of her life, she was also a great artist in her own right. She painted and was an amateur ballerina (who wanted to go pro). Of course she also wrote rather extensively, in diaries, in letters, in reviews and articles, in short stories, a play, and one novel. All of these (excepting her diary) are collected here, and we can see how her voice impacted the writing of her husband. We can see that she truly was the heroine of his novels and stories. We also get to see their relationship from her perspective, especially in her novel Save Me the Waltz! This is a must read for all the lovers of the 1920’s, and all literature buffs.

[Rashidul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zelda Sayre. What a lovely name.
.
Zelda's writings are hard I gotta admit. It was difficult to follow her thoughts at times as she tended to ramble on different things. "Save me the waltz" her only published novel is really good. The novel is basically based on the time spent together by Zelda and her husband in France riviera. The novel also reflected Zelda overworking herself in trying to be a successful dancer and aiming to move out of the shadow of her husband’s accomplishments.
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It's sad that Zelda did not really get the support she needed from her husband in regard to her writing career. She could have been a successful writer alongside him that's for sure, had he not ridiculed, scrutinised and demotivated her.

[Kaitlin Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a delightful window into the world of one of the most celebrated women of her era. Zelda had a mastery of decribing scenes in vivid depictions. The letters were tragic, the articles insightful, the short stories were alright, and Save me the Waltz was a fun read. All around, an author that I wish could have expanded and honed her craft; soneone who could have easily been as celebrated as her husband with the right mentors.

[Lehcar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guys… it doesn’t usually take me over a year to read a book but I didn’t want to finish reading this one. Zelda Fitzgerald only published one book and one play. This has just about everything she ever wrote in one book. Including short stories, articles, and letters. How do you finish the works of one of your favorite authors and simply go on with your life? The way she writes is so close to me. Here’s to that page of Save Me the Waltz, and moons, and moths.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...it is very sad and utterly meaningless and the only real emotion I have which will bear inspection is an overwhelming desire to expose the charlatanism and ignominious harlotrys of what we so eruditely refer to as our civilizations."

"Darling: I want to go to fabulous places where there is absolutely no conception of the ultimate convergence of everything- I Love You."

[Chere J · Rating 4 out of 5]

So sad to experience her gradual decline through her writtings.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Zelda's writing the only reason it is not 5 stars is because Scandalabra was just not good.

[TamBams · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had a hard time following her train of thought. It jumped around from moments of clarity to confusion. The letters were much more interesting and easy to read.

[Cassie Hessong · Rating 5 out of 5]

F. Scott could NEVER.
Hence, why he had her involuntarily committed to the asylum where she would die in a fire.
What a prince.

[Peyton]

Obviously there’s a morbid fascination with this but some good, haunting stuff. The Jazz Age….exhausting, annoying and not romantic! She deserved better.

[Megan DeGuzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

On her husband's book: "...wetting will not spoil the pages; in fact, if one finds it growing dry, simply dip the book briskly in warm water."

[Amoreena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspired by Asheville ghost tours to read! So good!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puts F. Scott to shame.

[Israel Lawton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely genius. Madwoman.

[Feisty Harriet · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is really hard for me to rank this book which includes Zelda's novel, "Save Me the Waltz," and a play, "Scandalabra," and a few short stories. I personally thought "Scandalabra" was hilarious, her dialog and stage direction are flawless (with a few iffy bits of the actual plot). The novel, however, seems....tortured. She seems tortured. The story is highly autobiographical and deals with Alabama (Zelda) as she and her artist husband travel around the US, then to Europe, with their young daughter in tow. In Paris Alabama starts ballet and dreams so hard of being a prima belladonna...but her husband doesn't want her to, and dancing is hard, and there is tension, which, finally, she overcomes and gets cast as the lead in an Italian ballet core. Now, Zelda started dancing in Paris while Scott was writing, and he hated her dancing, and when she got cast in an Italian troupe he refused to allow her to go to Italy and dance, and she didn't, and she spent most of the rest of her life in and out of hospitals/asylums, more or less controlled by Scott and his desire for her to not succeed as an artist because HE was the artist in the family. "Save Me the Waltz" was heartbreaking, especially knowing more about Zelda's life and her relationship with Scott, however, it wasn't written very well. Whether that is because Scott edited it heavily prior to publication, or because it was heavy and emotional and Zelda was more successful at lighthearted dialogue, I don't know. I dont know if we'll ever know. "Scandalabra" does not have many personal or autobiographical details, but was better written and really quite hilarious. I'm not sure why it had so little success as a play (6 shows, then closed forever). I feel like if "Scandalabra" is where Zelda's talent shines, "Save Me the Waltz" shows just how controlled she was by Scott, both in it's autobiographical aspects, and in the parts that stray from Zelda's life (her success as a dancer in Italy, husband and child by her side, something she desperately wanted).

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough overview of Mrs. FSF's literary efforts, including, most famously, her lone novel, SAVE ME THE WALTZ, plus several short stories and essays. The real interest for me is her little-known play, SCANDALABRA, disastrously produced in Baltimore in the mid-30s. It's an absurdist work that could have been a really interesting bit of experimentation had she been able to exert a bit more control of her material. The book is incomplete only because Zelda's final effort, CAESAR'S THINGS, remains unpublished (though many scholars have written about it). The intro by Mary Gordon here offers a balanced take on Zelda's talent: she had great descriptive powers but little sense of plot or structure. No, her husband did not steal her stuff. They did from time to time collaborate and he was not above attaching his name to works of hers when it could fetch more money. Overall this is best read alongside Nancy Milford's famous biography ZELDA.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel "Save Me the Waltz" had a lot of promise, but it seems that Zelda's more famous husband tried to hold her back to save his massive ego. Had she been alive today, Zelda could have received better medical care for her condition and probably topped her hubby in sales. (Turns out even Hemingway might have been intimidated by her talent also and that was why he bullied her.)
While a lot of Zelda's prose is quite zany, I found her literary voice to be unique with a style all its own. Not all great, but definitely not all bad either. Her short stories were quite good, just a little uneven in some areas.

[Mandi Bean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zelda Fitzgerald clearly had talent as a writer. However, her moments of lucidity are few and far between, so reading her novel became a chore; it was tiresome, frustrating, and often confusing. She wrote beautiful albeit rambling prose that reads wonderfully but is near impossible to comprehend. The collection is outstanding because it offers a layered and complex look at Mrs. Fitzgerald. It's fascinating and tragic to explore her troubled mind.

Readers are often split between Scott and Zelda. I've always supported Scott, but I'm glad I read Zelda's work. My criticisms will be less harsh because she was troubled by her mental illness. It prevented her from achieving her full potential.

[Shiloh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool to have a definitive collection of Zelda's work. Her imagery is exciting and different, but given to strange trips and lost thoughts. A bit of a chore to read at times, but I go on because she was the silent partner in a literary collaboration. It willfully builds on the work of her famous husband, and is a commentary for her life and times in the spotlight. So, without her life being what it was, would her art be relevant? Or does it matter?