Save Me the Waltz
Her only novel, first published by Scribner's in 1932, about a Southern judge's daughter who marries a painter and trains as a dancer in Paris.
The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Fitzgerald
The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Fitzgerald's novel, play, eleven stories, twelve magazine pieces and a selection of her letters to F. Scott Fitzgerald, in one volume.
- 1991
- 480
About Zelda Fitzgerald
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeThe Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald gathers her published work in one book. Matthew J. Bruccoli edited it, and the novelist Mary Gordon wrote the introduction. Scribner published it in New York in 1991.[1] The book contains her only novel, Save Me the Waltz, her play Scandalabra, eleven short stories, twelve articles and a selection of her letters to F. Scott Fitzgerald.[2][3] Several of the stories first appeared under his name or under both their names.[4]
The story, in more detail
Matthew J. Bruccoli was the leading scholar of the Fitzgeralds, and he taught at the University of South Carolina. He had written or edited more than twenty books about them.[2] His collection gave readers Zelda Fitzgerald's writing on its own terms, apart from the legend of the couple.[2][5]
Zelda Fitzgerald's first paid piece of writing was a joking review of her husband's novel The Beautiful and Damned. The New York Tribune printed it on 2 April 1922.[6] The review opens the section of articles, followed by her magazine essays of the 1920s and 1930s.[3]
The book was well reviewed. The New York Times Book Review praised its wit and its painterly descriptions.[2] The University of Alabama Press, in her home state, published a paperback in 1997 that is still in print.[2]
What's inside
The book opens with a preface by Matthew J. Bruccoli and an introduction by Mary Gordon. Next come the full text of Save Me the Waltz and the play Scandalabra: A Farce Fantasy in a Prologue and Three Acts.[3]
The eleven stories begin with Our Own Movie Queen, The Original Follies Girl, Southern Girl and The Girl the Prince Liked. Next come The Girl with the Talent, A Millionaire's Girl, Poor Working Girl and Miss Ella. The last three are The Continental Angle, A Couple of Nuts and Other Names for Roses.[3]
The twelve articles begin with Friend Husband's Latest, her 1922 review of The Beautiful and Damned, and Eulogy on the Flapper. The articles also include Paint and Powder, Show Mr. and Mrs. F. to Number, and Auction, Model 1934, which Esquire printed under both Fitzgeralds' names in July 1934. The last is titled On F. Scott Fitzgerald.[3][7]
The book closes with a selection of her letters to F. Scott Fitzgerald, written across their marriage.[2]
Themes and analysis
The stories of the French years
The Fitzgeralds returned to Europe in March 1929, and by early April they had a flat on the rue Mézières near Saint-Sulpice in Paris. Early that year F. Scott Fitzgerald had helped Zelda Fitzgerald plan a series of stories about types of young women for the magazine College Humor.
The series ran from The Original Follies Girl in July 1929 to Poor Working Girl in 1931. Every story carried the byline F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Matthew J. Bruccoli judged that she wrote them and her husband only polished them.
Part of the reason she wrote so much that year was money for ballet. Her lessons with Lubov Egorova in Paris cost 300 dollars a month, and she wanted to pay for them herself.
A sixth story, A Millionaire's Girl, went to the Saturday Evening Post under F. Scott Fitzgerald's name alone and earned 4,000 dollars. Their agent, Harold Ober, admitted he felt a little guilty about dropping her name. All six stories are in the collection under her name.
Scandalabra
Zelda Fitzgerald wrote her play in the autumn of 1932, after her husband asked her not to write a novel about mental illness while he finished his own. She called Scandalabra a farce fantasy.
In the play a rich man leaves his fortune to his nephew, on condition that he lives a wild life. The nephew and his wife try hard at it and then decide they would rather be good, which is what the uncle wanted all along.
Harold Ober sent the play to Broadway producers, who were not interested. The Junior Vagabonds, an amateur theatre group in Baltimore, staged it for a week from 26 June 1933, with sets designed by Zelda Fitzgerald. The dress rehearsal ran five hours, and F. Scott Fitzgerald cut the script overnight.
Two versions survive: a longer one deposited for copyright in 1932, and a shorter one at Princeton. The shorter text was first printed in 1980 in a limited edition of 500 copies.
Why we recommend it
Her writing, in one book
The novel, the play, the stories and the essays, some printed under her husband's name at the time, now all under hers.
The stories of the French years
The College Humor stories came out while the Fitzgeralds lived in France, and part of the money paid for her ballet lessons with Lubov Egorova in Paris.
Her journalism
From her joking 1922 review of The Beautiful and Damned to her flapper essays, the articles show a quick, funny voice.
A careful edition
Matthew J. Bruccoli, the leading Fitzgerald scholar, edited the texts, and the University of Alabama Press keeps the paperback in print.
What this book explores
Bring it to book club
- Several of these stories first appeared under F. Scott Fitzgerald's name. Can you tell her voice from his?
- Her 1922 review jokes about her husband using her diary. How serious is the joke?
- The College Humor stories each describe a type of young woman. Which types does she admire, and which does she mock?
- Scandalabra is about a man paid to live badly. How does it answer The Beautiful and Damned?
- Read the letters after the novel. Which scenes did she turn into fiction?
Inside the book
Scandalabra
A farce in a prologue and three acts, written in 1932 and staged by an amateur company in Baltimore in June 1933.
The College Humor stories
Five stories about types of young women, published from 1929 to 1931 under both Fitzgeralds' names. Also collected in Bits of Paradise.
Timeline
1922
The New York Tribune prints her review of The Beautiful and Damned on 2 April, her first paid piece of writing.
1929
College Humor prints The Original Follies Girl in July, the first of her stories about types of young women.
1932
Scribner's publishes Save Me the Waltz on 7 October. The New Yorker prints The Continental Angle on 4 June, and Scribner's Magazine prints A Couple of Nuts in August.
1933
The Junior Vagabonds stage Scandalabra in Baltimore from 26 June.
1980
Scandalabra is printed for the first time, in a limited edition of 500 copies.
1991
Scribner publishes The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
1997
The University of Alabama Press publishes the paperback in March.
2013
Scribner issues the collection as an ebook on 6 August.
Book editions
- Hardcover
- Charles Scribner's Sons
- 1991
- 9780684192970
- Paperback
- Collier Books
- 1992
- 9780020198833
- Hardcover
- Little, Brown
- 1992
- 9780316902953
- Paperback
- Abacus
- 1993
- 9780349105109
- Paperback
- University of Alabama Press
- 1997
- 9780817308841
- Ebook
- Scribner
- 2013
- 9781476758923
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
Save Me the Waltz
Zelda Fitzgerald
Bits of Paradise
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bits of Paradise
The 1973 book of twenty-one uncollected stories, nine of them hers, printed beside her husband's.
Read our takeDear Scott, Dearest Zelda
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda
The full two-way correspondence, of which this book prints a selection.
Read our take
Flappers and Philosophers
F. Scott Fitzgerald's first story collection, published in 1920, the year they married.
Read our take
The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald: frequently asked questions
What is in The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald?
Her novel Save Me the Waltz, her play Scandalabra, eleven short stories, twelve articles and a selection of her letters to F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Who edited it?
Matthew J. Bruccoli, the leading scholar of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald. The novelist Mary Gordon wrote the introduction.
Did F. Scott Fitzgerald take credit for Zelda Fitzgerald's stories?
Some went out under his name or both names because the magazines insisted on his name. Five College Humor stories carried both names, and A Millionaire's Girl ran under his alone. All of them are printed here as hers.
Is Scandalabra in the book?
Yes, in full. The play was staged in Baltimore in June 1933 and printed on its own only in a 1980 limited edition.
Which edition should I buy?
The University of Alabama Press paperback of 1997, ISBN 9780817308841, is the one in print. Scribner also sells an ebook.
Does it include the famous flapper essay?
Yes. Eulogy on the Flapper, from Metropolitan Magazine in 1922, is among the twelve articles.
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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 The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1↑The collected writings (Scribner, 1991), Library of Congress catalog record
Official recordLibrary of CongressUsed forLibrary of Congress record for the 1991 first edition.
4↑Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, by Matthew J. Bruccoli, Paris and the Riviera
WebsiteText archiveUsed forMatthew J. Bruccoli on the College Humor stories, the joint bylines and the ballet lessons.
5↑The F. Scott Fitzgerald Society — Zelda Fitzgerald biography
WebsiteThe F. Scott Fitzgerald SocietyUsed forThe F. Scott Fitzgerald Society's biography of Zelda Fitzgerald.
6↑A Fitzgerald Chronology — Bruccoli Collection
ArchiveUniversity of South Carolina LibrariesUsed forUniversity of South Carolina chronology: the 1922 review and the 1933 production.
7↑Catalog of Copyright Entries: book and periodical renewal records, transcribed
Official recordNew York Public LibraryUsed forCopyright renewal entries giving the magazine dates of her stories and sketches.
8Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, by Matthew J. Bruccoli, Save Me the Waltz and Tender Is the Night
WebsiteText archiveUsed forMatthew J. Bruccoli on Scandalabra and its Baltimore production.
9The collected writings, edition records
WebsiteOpen LibraryUsed forEdition records for the Collier, Little, Brown and Abacus printings.
10Scandalabra (Bruccoli Clark, 1980), edition record
WebsiteOpen LibraryUsed forEdition record for the 1980 limited edition of Scandalabra.
11The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald, Scribner ebook, publisher page
WebsiteSimon & SchusterUsed forPublisher's page for the 2013 Scribner ebook.
12The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald
EssaysCharles Scribner's Sons, 1991Used forThe book itself.
13The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald
NonfictionZelda Fitzgerald, 1991Used forThe primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.
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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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