''The Far Side of Paradise: A Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald'' is a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

written by Arthur Mizener. Published in 1951 by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

in the US and

Eyre & Spottiswoode Eyre & Spottiswoode was the London-based printing firm that was the King's Printer, and subsequently, a publisher prior to being incorporated; it once went by the name of Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & co. ltd. In April 1929, it was incorporated as E ...

in the UK, it was the first published biography of Fitzgerald and is credited with renewing public interest in its subject. It dealt frankly with Scott's

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

and his wife Zelda's

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

. ''The Far Side of Paradise'' alludes to the title of F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, ''

This Side of Paradise ''This Side of Paradise'' is the debut novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1920. It examines the lives and morality of carefree American youth at the dawn of the Jazz Age. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive ...

'', which was published in 1920.

Publication history

The biography was published in two significant

editions Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...

. The first edition was published in 1951, while the second edition was published in 1965. In the second edition, Mizener notes that 'a good deal of published and of unpublished information about Fitzgerald has accumulated' since the 1951 edition. This resulted in Mizener having to rewrite the 'last two chapters' of the book in order to include the story of Fitzgerald's affair with

Sheilah Graham Sheilah Graham (born Lily Shiel; 15 September 1904 – 17 November 1988) was a British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist during Hollywood's "Golden Age". In her youth, she had been a showgirl and a freelance writer for F ...

, after the publication of Graham's memoir ''Beloved Infidel'', and to 'include all the new information .. published and unpublished, that is now available to me'.

Reception

Despite being noted by Mizener in the foreword for the first edition that he would not have 'attempted to write the book without the approval and help of Mr.

Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...

, who has given more time to my problems that I like to remember,' Wilson, a literary critic and close friend of the Fitzgeralds, later commented that the book's anecdotes distorted Scott and Zelda's relationship and personalities for the worse.Edmund Wilson on F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Budd Schulberg Budd Schulberg (born Seymour Wilson Schulberg, March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his novels '' What Makes Sammy Run?'' and ''The Harder They Fall;'' ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote in 1988 that the 'important' biography was 'timely, scholarly, but never dull'. He went on to add that: 'Mizener makes credible the almost incredible life of a man who had the world at his feet when he was 25 and at his throat when he was 40.'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Far Side of Paradise 1951 non-fiction books American biographies Houghton Mifflin books Eyre & Spottiswoode books F. Scott Fitzgerald