Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
The Book Oblivion online community is starting a book club and we invite you to be a part of it.
Our first choice is Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler. Historical fiction is always fun, even if only for the name dropping that occurs every other page. Our goal with this novel is to revisit the ever seductive jazz age to learn a little about a widely known, but perhaps deeply misunderstood, literary muse. To call her just a muse even shows how reductive history has been when it comes to understanding Zelda.
I look forward to pretending to be a fly on the wall for the private conversations between Scott and Zelda and imagine how they fell in love. Word on the literary streets is that she and Ernest Hemingway despised each other. The novel is suppose to unveil some of the mysteries behind their ugly interactions. There is a very real piece of human nature that is so fascinated by peering into the lives of famous people. I’m intrigued.
The question I really want answered is simply: was she crazy? She spent years in and out of sanatoriums, but because of the time period in which she lived, I can’t help but wonder if the social circumstances surrounding her artistic mind contributed more to her supposedly neurotic tendencies than mental illness did. There is a whole slew of women’s literature from the time that details the oppression women suffered. What blows my mind as a lover of literature is how so much of what these women wrote is taught in courses like: Women and Madness. So again, was she crazy or brilliant? Inquiring minds want to know.
Zelda was given all the credit of an inspirational muse in the early years of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary career but now she has a reputation for being the reason her husband wasn’t more prolific. What is fairly well-known is that a marriage that started with fireworks ended in mutual destruction. What happens to a love like that? It’s hard to say if there will be a happily ever after ending, but don’t let that deter you from reading along.
I hope you’ll join us this fall in reading about one of the most famous couples in all of literary history.
Get your book on Amazon: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler. You can check out the reading schedule HERE, and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for all the fun HERE.
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