Save Me the Waltz
Zelda Fitzgerald
Save Me the Waltz
Zelda Fitzgerald's novel of the same marriage, written in 1932 during the years the later letters cover.
Read our takeDear Scott, Dearest Zelda
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda
by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald
More than three hundred letters between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald, from their courtship in Alabama to the clinic years, edited in 2002.
- 2002
- 400
- Exuberant
- Melancholy
- intimate
- autobiographical
- voice-driven
- episodic
About F. Scott Fitzgerald
About the volume
Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda collects more than three hundred letters that F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald wrote to each other across more than twenty-two years.[1] Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks, both Fitzgerald scholars, edited the book, and the couple's granddaughter Eleanor Lanahan wrote the introduction. St. Martin's Press published it in New York in April 2002.[2][3] According to the jacket, more than three quarters of the letters had never been published or were out of print.[4]
The volume, in more detail
The early letters date from their engagement in 1919, when Zelda Sayre was eighteen and living in Montgomery, Alabama. F. Scott Fitzgerald was in New York trying to earn enough to marry her.[2][5] The letters carry on through the marriage, the years in France, and the long period after 1930 when Zelda Fitzgerald was in and out of clinics.[6]
Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks taught literature at the University of Maryland. The editors added headnotes that set each letter in context, and footnotes that identify people and places.[6] Zelda Fitzgerald's spelling and punctuation are printed as she wrote them, with the editors' corrections in square brackets.[2]
Some of the letters had appeared before, and biographers such as Nancy Milford had quoted or summarised others. The book gathers them in one volume.[6] The editors argue that it is no more fair to say F. Scott Fitzgerald drove his wife mad than to say she drove him to drink.[6]
What's inside
The letters are printed in date order and grouped by period, from the courtship to the last years. Each letter has a number, a short description of the original, and where known the place it was written.[2]
The courtship letters come first. Zelda Sayre writes from Montgomery about the town, the soldiers coming home and her family. F. Scott Fitzgerald was working in New York to earn enough to marry her.[2][5]
The married years in America and France follow, from Westport and New York to Great Neck, the Riviera, Rome and Paris.[6][5]
A new stage begins in 1930, when Zelda Fitzgerald was treated at Prangins in Switzerland. From then on the letters follow her through clinics in Switzerland and the United States, and him through Baltimore, North Carolina and Hollywood.[2][5]
The book has photographs from the F. Scott Fitzgerald papers at Princeton University Library, a bibliography and an index.[2][3]
Themes and analysis
The letter from Prangins
Letter 51 runs to forty-two handwritten pages. Zelda Fitzgerald wrote it in about September 1930 at the Prangins clinic in Nyon, Switzerland, on writing paper embossed with her first name.
Most of the letter is a list of memories, each starting with "There was" or "We". She goes through New York, Westport, the drive south to Alabama, St. Paul, Great Neck, the Riviera, Rome and Paris in roughly the order they happened. The editors' footnotes identify many of the people she mentions.
The Paris lines include the flat at 14 rue de Tilsitt in 1925, rides in the Bois de Boulogne at dawn, and a night playing puss-in-the-corner at the Ritz. She also remembers nights in Montmartre and trips to the markets with Gerald and Sara Murphy.
The letter printed just before it ends on the same page. In it Zelda Fitzgerald says that The Beautiful and Damned, her husband's 1922 novel about their marriage, was all true.
Montgomery in 1919
Letter 24 was written in May 1919 in Montgomery. Zelda Sayre describes the town decorated for the return of the Fourth Alabama, a regiment that had served in France. She says Montgomery looks like Mardi Gras.
She also mentions photographs of herself in her costume for a local "Folly Ball", and the book prints one of them. Near the end she writes that her family plans to spend July in Asheville, North Carolina.
An editors' footnote adds that Zelda Fitzgerald was later a patient at Highland Hospital in Asheville, in the 1930s and 1940s. She died there in a fire in 1948.
Quotes from Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda
I've tried so many times to think of a new way to say it—and its still I love you—love you—love you—my Sweetheart—
I wish the Beautiful and Damned had been a maturely written book because it was all true. We ruined ourselves—I have never honestly thought that we ruined each other
The nearest I ever came to leaving you was when you told me you thot I was a fairy in the Rue Palatine but now whatever you said aroused a sort of detached pity for you.
Why we recommend it
The marriage in their own words
Biographies of the Fitzgeralds quote these letters in pieces. Here both sides are printed in full and in order.
Zelda Fitzgerald as a writer
Her letters are funny, direct and full of unexpected images. Many readers find them the best writing she left.
The Paris years remembered
The long 1930 letter from Prangins lists their Paris life scene by scene: the rue de Tilsitt flat, the Bois de Boulogne at dawn, the Ritz and Montmartre.
Careful notes
Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks identify the people, places and stories in the letters, so a reader does not need a biography open alongside.
What this book explores
Bring it to book club
- The early letters are full of plans and teasing. Which later letters still sound like the girl writing from Montgomery in 1919?
- The Prangins letter lists their life as a string of scenes. What does Zelda Fitzgerald choose to remember, and what does she leave out?
- The editors say neither spouse caused the other's illness. Do the letters support that view?
- F. Scott Fitzgerald paid for her treatment and managed her care. How do his letters show that role?
- Read the letters next to Save Me the Waltz. Which passages did she turn into fiction?
Timeline
1918
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre meet at a country club dance in Montgomery, Alabama, in July.
1919
Zelda Sayre and F. Scott Fitzgerald write to each other during their engagement, she from Montgomery and he from New York.
1920
The couple marry in New York on 3 April.
1930
Zelda Fitzgerald enters the Prangins clinic in Switzerland on 5 June. In the autumn she writes him a forty-two-page letter of memories.
1940
F. Scott Fitzgerald dies in Hollywood in December.
2002
St. Martin's Press publishes Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda in April, edited by Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks. Bloomsbury publishes it in London in September.
2003
Paperback editions follow from St. Martin's Griffin in New York and Bloomsbury in London.
2019
Scribner reissues the book in paperback and as an ebook on 23 July.
Book editions
- Hardcover
- St. Martin's Press
- 2002
- 9780312268756
- Hardcover
- Bloomsbury
- 2002
- 9780747560333
- Paperback
- St. Martin's Griffin
- 2003
- 9780312282332
- Paperback
- Bloomsbury
- 2003
- 9780747566014
- Paperback
- Scribner
- 2019
- 9781982117122
- Ebook
- Scribner
- 2019
- 9781982117139
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
Tender Is the Night
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel of a marriage and a wife's illness, drawn from the years of the clinic letters.
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The Beautiful and Damned
The 1922 novel that Zelda Fitzgerald says, in a 1930 letter, was all true.
Read our takeThe Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Fitzgerald
The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald
Prints a smaller selection of her letters to him, with her novel, play, stories and essays.
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A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway's memoir of Paris, with his account of both Fitzgeralds.
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Letters to Anaïs Nin
Another writer couple's letters from the same Paris decade, edited after their deaths.
Read our takeDear Scott, Dearest Zelda: frequently asked questions
What is Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda?
A book of more than three hundred letters between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald. Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks edited it, and St. Martin's Press published it in 2002.
Who wrote the introduction?
Eleanor Lanahan, the granddaughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald. Her mother was their only child, Scottie.
Were the letters published before?
Some were. According to the jacket of the first edition, more than three quarters of the letters had never been published or were out of print. Biographers had quoted or summarised others.
What years do the letters cover?
More than twenty-two years, from their courtship in Montgomery to the last years before F. Scott Fitzgerald's death in 1940. From 1930 onwards most of Zelda Fitzgerald's letters were written from clinics.
Do the letters describe Paris?
Yes. A forty-two-page letter from the Prangins clinic in 1930 goes through their Paris years: the flat on the rue de Tilsitt, the Bois de Boulogne at dawn, the Ritz and Montmartre.
Which edition is in print?
Scribner's paperback of 2019, ISBN 9781982117122, and the matching ebook. The first edition was a St. Martin's Press hardcover of April 2002.
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1↑Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Scribner paperback, publisher page
WebsiteSimon & SchusterUsed forScribner's page for the 2019 paperback: over three hundred letters and the edition details.
4↑Dear Scott, dearest Zelda (St. Martin's Press, 2002), catalogue record and jacket description
WebsiteInternet ArchiveUsed forCatalogue record with the jacket description of the first edition.
7Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda, edition records
WebsiteOpen LibraryUsed forEdition records for the Bloomsbury and St. Martin's Griffin printings.
8Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda
LettersF. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald, 2002Used forThe primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.
i
Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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