Jazz Age novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. Fitzgerald was the self-styled spokesman of the “Lost Generation,” Americans born in the 1890s who came of age during World War I. He finished four novels, left a fifth unfinished, and wrote dozens of short stories that feature themes of youth, despair, and age. ALS, one page, 7.25 x 4.75, no date. Fitzgerald writes to Mme. White. In full: “Can you manage to get those French translations (or rather corrections) back to me through Mrs. Owens Thursday or Friday? Even if incomplete I should have them back. With best wishes, F. Scott Fitzgerald.” In very good condition, with intersecting folds (one touching signature), toning along trimmed edges (top edge closely trimmed, just touching last word of greeting), small area of mirroring from premature folding, and two marginal paperclip stains and tiny edge tears. The faults scarcely detract from the appearance of the letter, whose writing is exceptionally bold and clear.
Even a revered author has his shortcomings, and it appears that French was Fitzgerald’s undoing. Though he enjoyed his travels to Paris and the French Riviera, he was far from being a master of the Romance language, hence his need for “corrections” to his translations. Interestingly, his only child, journalist Frances Scott Fitzgerald, had been quoted as saying that his "horrendous French" and "atrocious accent" was no secret—creating a French-English hybrid of sentences. His troubles with French were alluded to via the character Dick Diver in the novel Tender Is the Night, with Diver’s inability to speak the language became a symbol of his failure and the subject of ridicule by his wife. A brief yet remarkably insightful message from Fitzgerald as he took strides to avoid bad translations and perhaps conceal his own inadequacies. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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