Musical accompaniment: Me, Myself, and I by Billie Holiday

Today is the last day of August! Can you believe it?

Here to wish it a fond farewell with us are Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, one of the most famous couples in literary history. Their relationship was tumultuous and fiery. They were jealous of each other yet each clung to the other desperately.

vintag.es

No one mentions the Roaring 20s and forgets Scott Fitzgerald. His writing defined those wild years.

Zelda is often called Scott’s muse but she often felt more like an uncredited coauthor. Many of her husband’s greatest achievements borrowed liberally from her diaries and letters.  Zelda once bitterly remarked,  “It seems to me that on one page I recognized a portion of an old diary of mine which mysteriously disappeared shortly after my marriage, and, also, scraps of letters which, though considerably edited, sound to me vaguely familiar. In fact, Mr. Fitzgerald (I believe that is how he spells his name) seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home.”

Zelda certainly couldn’t have produced a literary masterpiece on her own. But, without her, I doubt Scott could have either.  Imperfect as they were, they defined an era together.