F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended Princeton University from 1913 to 1917 but left before graduating to serve in the army. While stationed near Montgomery, Alabama, Fitzgerald met Zelda Sayre. After leaving the army, Fitzgerald published his first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920). The book was an instant success. He and Zelda married that same year and in 1924 they moved to southern France. Fitzgerald is famous for his descriptions of the Jazz Age of the 1920s. His novel The Great Gatsby (1925) is considered an American classic. His other novels include The Beautiful and Damned (1922) and Tender Is the Night (1934). His short stories are collected in Flappers and Philosophers (1920), Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), and All the Sad Young Men (1926). Fitzgerald died of a heart attack while working as a screenwriter in Hollywood. He was 44 years old.
