Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896–1940), an American novelist, short-story writer, and screenwriter, was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota; was educated at preparatory school in New Jersey; and briefly attended Princeton University, where he nurtured his love of writing. Fitzgerald launched an advertising career in New York City and began selling short stories, but it was his excursions to Europe, notably Paris, that fueled his literary ambitions.
Fitzgerald's successful debut novel, This Side of Paradise, was followed by The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night. Lured to Hollywood with the promise of a more lucrative career as a Hollywood screenwriter, Fitzgerald was inspired to write The Last Tycoon, which was unfinished at the time of his death and published posthumously.