The fiction and life of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) embodied the "Jazz Age," a phrase coined by Fitzgerald himself to capture the excitement and glamour of America in the 1920s. For Fitzgerald, this decade represented the American Dream, a time when one might hope to gain wealth and thereby achieve happiness.

Fitzgerald was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and later attended Princeton University. After three years at Princeton, he left school and joined the army. While he was stationed in Montgomery, Alabama, he met his wife, Zelda Sayre. After being discharged from the army, Fitzgerald went to New York to make his fortune. There F. Scott and Zelda became known as madcap socialites. The Fitzgeralds moved to France in 1921, living in Paris and on the French Riviera, where they became part of a celebrated circle of American expatriates. After 1930, Zelda was frequently hospitalized for schizophrenia. Besides his wife's mental problems, financial difficulties plagued Fitzgerald in his later years. He died of a heart attack at the age of forty-four.

Part of the interest in Fitzgerald's work stems from the fact that the carefree, gin-drinking socialites in his fiction mirror his own life. In 1920, his first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published, followed by The Beautiful and Damned (1922), and his masterpiece, considered by some literary critics as the greatest American novel, The Great Gatsby (1925). After publishing Tender Is the Night (1934), Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood and turned to screenwriting. He published four short story collections: Flappers and Philosophers (1920), Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), All the Sad Young Men (1926), and Taps at Reveille (1935). In addition to being a shrewd social observer, Fitzgerald is also known for his literary artistry; his style of narrative point of view is often imitated.