F. Scott Fitzgerald always believed that the novel was the only
worthy outlet for his artistic genius. Even though he is mainly known for
his novels today, they did not sell as expected during his lifetime. To
provide for his family and to save mo
ney in order to be able to take time
off for novel writing, Fitzgerald became a commercial fiction writer. The
magazines which he wrote for were generous with those writers who
were willing to play by their rules, yet, Fitzgerald was not happy with this
situation. Publishing in mass-circulation magazines left him guilt ridden
and earned him a reputation as a writer who squandered his talent and
sold out to the magazine market. Fitzgerald's attempt to be both a literary
artist and a professional writer and the lasting conflict this desire caused
in Fitzgerald's professional life has been largely ignored. To clarify this
conflict, the paper will delve into details about Fitzgerald's business
connections with renowned magazines and with his publisher, Scribners,
to highlight the role the slick magazine market and that of publishers'
policies played in Fitzgerald's literary career.
