Page 1 - ZELDA: An American Muse

Who Was Zelda Fitzgerald?

She is thought of as the original wild child, a pearl-twirling party girl who died at the age of 47 after a fire broke out in the
North Carolina sanatorium where she was a patient. Now Zelda Fitzgerald, the southern belle turned jazz-age heroine, dubbed
“the first American flapper” by her famed author husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, gets a turn to be in the spotlight once again.

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was born in Montgomery, Alabama on July 24, 1900. The daughter of a prominent judge, Anthony
Dickinson Sayre (1858–1931), who served on the Supreme Court of Alabama, and Minnie Buckner Machen Sayre, she was
the youngest of five children and lived a youthful life of privilege. As a teenager, Zelda was a talented dancer and socialite
who challenged the norms of gender and social class during her time.. She was magnetic and extremely intelligent. Her
friends described her as fearless, daring, and attention-seeking.

In 1918, she graduated from Sidney Lanier High School and soon after she met F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance
in Montgomery. He was captivated by Zelda’s audacious spirit and brash risqué demeanor, but due to his inferior social
standing, the debutante declined his initial marriage proposal in 1919. Later that same year, Zelda accepted F. Scott’s
marriage proposal after Scribner’s agreed to publish his book, This Side of Paradise. The couple married on April 3, 1920 in
New York City—just one week after his first book hit the market. Due to the instant success of This Side of Paradise, the
duo became overnight celebrities and indulged in the exuberance of the Roaring Twenties.