Cline Zelda Fitzgerald

Her Voice in Paradise
Main
ISBN: 978-0-571-30939-9
Verlag: Faber & Faber
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 528 Seiten

Zelda Fitzgerald, along with her husband F. Scott Fitzgerald, is remembered above all else as a personification of the style and glamour of the roaring twenties - an age of carefree affluence such as the world has not seen since. But along with the wealth and parties came a troubled mind, at a time when a woman exploiting her freedom of expression was likely to attract accusations of insanity. After 1934 Zelda spent most of her life in a mental institution; outliving her husband by few years, she died in a fire as she was awaiting electroconvulsive therapy in a sanatorium. Zelda's story has often been told by detractors, who would cast her as a parasite in the marriage - most famously, Ernest Hemingway accused her of taking pleasure in blunting her husband's genius; when she wrote her autobiographical novel, Fitzgerald himself complained she had used his material. But was this fair, when Fitzgerald's novels were based on their life together? Sally Cline's biography, first published in 2003, makes use of letters, journals, and doctor's records to detail the development of their marriage, and to show the collusion between husband and doctors in a misdirected attempt to 'cure' Zelda's illness. Their prescription - no dancing, no painting, and above all, no writing - left her creative urges with no outlet, and was bound to make matters worse for a woman who thrived on the expression of allure and wealth.

Sally Cline

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cline, Sally

Leseproben

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This is in no way an authorized biography but without the unstinting support of Zelda Fitzgerald’s granddaughter Bobbie (Eleanor) Lanahan, and through her the Fitzgerald family and Estate, it could not have been adequately researched. My most significant acknowledgement is therefore to Bobbie, herself a painter, for showing me Zelda’s paintings, analysing her artwork, sharing her knowledge, spending several weeks talking to me and giving me photographs and slides of Zelda’s paintings. For five years she has facilitated my access to the wide network of Fitzgerald friends and relations across the USA. Bobbie did not necessarily agree with my findings but with rare generosity she guided me, removed obstacles from my path and was a constant source of encouragement.

An initial interest in my work came from Henry Dunow of the Fitzgerald Estate, which was followed by unprecedented help from Zelda’s other granddaughter Cecilia Lanahan Ross who exchanged ideas and gave me the gift of Scottie’s memoir. I am further indebted to their father the late Samuel Lanahan, to their brother Samuel Lanahan Jnr and to Scott Fitzgerald’s nieces Courtney Sprague Vaughan and Pat Sprague Reneau, for photographs, paintings, memoirs and family information. I am most appreciative to Chris Byrne of the Harold Ober Literary Agency for his initial help over permissions and to Craig Tenney, also of Harold Ober, in the later stages.

I have been fortunate in being given seven awards for this biographical research. I owe special debts of gratitude to the British Academy for their Independent Scholar’s Research Award; to the Society of Authors initially for their Writer’s Award and in the last stages of the book for a further award; and to the Eastern Arts Board for three bursaries, all of which enabled me to travel and work in Europe and America with time to peruse archives, to live in cities inhabited by the Fitzgeralds and to view Zelda’s paintings in private collections and museums throughout the USA.

I thank Princeton University for their Fellowship and two years’ access to the Rare Books Department in the Firestone Library where the major Fitzgerald archives and photographs are held. The Rare Books Curator of Manuscripts, Don Skemer, shared with me his invaluable knowledge and came to my aid warmly and cleverly many times. Great gratitude is given to John Delaney (Chairman, Fellowship Committee), Ben Primer (Fellowship Committee) and to William Joyce (former Associate University Librarian) most especially for his generosity over permissions for the use of slides and photos. I thank also Jennifer Bowden, Chris Dupin, Charles Eyre Greene (Keeper of the Reading Room), Monica Ruscil, Jane Snedeker, Susan Waterman. For AnnaLee Paul’s hours of patient photoduplication and her lasting friendship I am very appreciative. Above all I thank Peggy Sherry, the Reference Librarian and Archivist, who gave me several months of professional help and who, together with Stuart Rich, made my long stay in Princeton feel like home. During my Princeton sojourn I was fortunate in meeting the scholar Raymond Cormier, who enlivened my days with fascinating ideas on Zelda and who untiringly maintained a further three-year stimulating correspondence.

I thank John Hurley and Jane Raper for helping me find accommodation in Princeton, Judy Thompson and Al and Betty Cohen for providing it, Ann and Mitsuru Yasuhara and Liz Socolow for their local knowledge and hospitality.

I wish to thank those Fitzgerald scholars and biographers who have gone before me from whom I received illuminating insights. They include the premier Fitzgerald scholar Matthew J. Bruccoli and his assistant Judith Baughman who were constantly courteous and informative, Jackson R. Bryer, Scott Donaldson (a memorable lunchtime talk on Hemingway and Fitzgerald), Koula Svokos Hartnett (five years’ discussions and communications), Nancy Milford (who put aside her own writing for a lengthy interview), Ted Mitchell for a riveting exchange of ideas over Caesar’s Things and Zelda’s death, Ruth Prigozy (who gave me food, drink, contacts, articles, information, advice and guidance), Frances Kroll Ring (two long interviews and two years’ correspondence), Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin (several Save Me The Waltz discourses), and James West. The late James Mellow’s biography of Zelda and Scott was a constant source of inspiration.

From the many people involved in the Fitzgeralds’ lives who showered me with kindness, conversation and counsel I would mention particularly Waverly Barbe, Tony Buttitta (who gave me two long interviews and a marvellous tea when he was gravely ill), Lucy Dos Passos Coggin, Carol Lobman Hart, the late Grace Gunter Lane, Ring Lardner Jnr, the late Ida Haardt McCulloch, Sally Wood Millsap, Mary Parker, the late Dr Irving Pine, Landon Ray, Budd Schulberg, Joanne Turnbull and Janie Wall. Exceptional help in the shape of family photographs, afternoon teas, tapes, slides, videos, letters, documents, memories and conversational enchantments came from Fanny Myers Brennan and the late Honoria Murphy Donnelly.

Institutions, librarians, curators, archivists, journalists, academics who have contributed information, interviews, materials include: Alabama Department of Archives and History; Anglia Polytechnic University Library, Cambridge; Arbury Court Library, Cambridge; Asheville Chamber of Commerce; Asheville Charter Hospital; Asheville Citizen Times; Asheville Fire Department; Atlanta Constitution and Journal; Atlanta Fulton Public Library; Birmingham Public Library, Alabama; Cambridge University Library; Lana Burgess (Assistant Curator, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts); Mitchell Dakelman (Hoorman Library, Wagner College, New York); Harvard University; Vincent Fitzpatrick and Averil Kadis (Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore) for wonderful photographs and information on the Menckens; Kim Korby Fraser (Ladies Home Journal, New York); Chandler W. Gordon (Captain’s Bookshelf, Asheville); Antonia Hodgson (for help with Dolly Wilde information); Chris Jakes and his team at the Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library, who provided weeks of help with archival microfilms; the John F. Kennedy Library; Journal of the American Medical Association; Frances Kessler (Esquire); Dr Levington, Medical Superintendent, Charter Hospital (formerly Highland Hospital); Nancy Magnuson (Librarian, Julia Rogers Library, Goucher College); Malaprop’s Bookstore, Asheville; Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore; Nancy McCall (Archivist, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions); the endlessly helpful out-of-print team at Micawber Bookstore, Princeton; Minnesota Historical Society; the Montgomery Advertiser; New York Public Library; Don Noble (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa); the Princeton Packet; Princeton University Bookstore team; Rebecca Roberts (Sara Mayfield Collection, University of Alabama); Shannon Scarborough (Birmingham News, Alabama); Kathy Shoemaker (Special Collections, Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta); Dr James Stephenson (Assistant Dean, University of West Virginia); Town Topics, Princeton; Troy State University, Montgomery; University of Georgia Library; J. Willis (New York Times); Ann S. Wright (Special Collections Librarian, Asheville Buncombe Library).

For manuscript reading, advice, networking, medical help, and encouragement of many kinds I thank: Tim Barnwell (for exceptional photos of the fire), Davina Belling, Larry Belling, Carl Brandt, Stephen Bristow, Heidi Bullock (Zelda’s art), the Cambridge Women Readers Group, Tracy Cams (for her enthusiasm over a Zelda lunch), Gwynneth Conder, Kirk Curnutt (discourse on fundamentalism and madness), Heather Dearnaley, Michelle Dodsworth, Kay Dunbar, Olga Foottit, Mary Gordon, Wayne Greenhaw, Katherine Grimshaw, Allan Gurganus (for the typed version of his talk on ‘Sacrificial Couples’), Ann Henley, Jan Hensley (for recovering news reports and making me tapes), Jane Jaffey, Joel Jaffey, Carol Jones, Jean Kesler, Stella King, Heidi Kuntz, Cheryl Lean, Alan Margolies, Nancy Marlen, Josie McConnell, Eileen McGuckian, Bonnie McMullen, Graham Metson, Jane Miller, Linda Patterson Miller, James Moody, Kathy Mullen, Erin Murphy, Andrea Porter, Aliye Seif, Ruth Shaw, Gail Sinclair, Keith Soothill, Deborah Thorn, Eleanor Vale (who in my absence sustained my house during a massive burglary with great courage), Nancy VanArsdale (many interesting talks in Asheville), Linda Wagner-Martin, Ralph Ward, Alison West, Alisa Hornung Weyman. I owe special thanks to Kathy Bowles and Chris Carling for their unending enthusiasm, encouragement and wise counsel.

The infectious optimism of several writers and artists has sustained me: I thank the Cambridge Women Writers Group (Joy Magezis, Chris Carling, Geraldine Ryan, Marion Callen), Julia Darling, Millicent Dillon (for six years’ long distance writerly support), Helen Dunmore (for the gift of her ‘Zelda’ poem), Kathryn Hughes, Christina Johnson, Neil McKenna, Cliff McNish, Marion Meade (for spirited discussions about Dorothy Parker), Wendy Mulford, Michelle Spring, and especially Marion Elizabeth Rodgers for her intriguing biographical insights into H. L. Mencken and Sara Haardt and her constant optimism. I am also grateful to Andrew Lownie and the stimulation of the Biographers’...