Original Publisher: Scribner / Simon & Schuster: 1934 (F. Scott Fitzgerald's fourth and final completed novel). My copy (see cover image) is edition published 1994 by Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Tender Is the Night (1934) is a tragic, semi-autobiographical novel, the fourth and final novel completed by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. It tracks the slow moral and professional integration of a brilliant American psychiatrist, and his wife. The setting is theFrench Riviera (and parts of Paris and Switzerland) during the post-World War I Jazz Age.
The Main Characters:
Dick Diver: A brilliant, charismatic, and promising young American psychiatrist whose charm and vitality gradually unravel through codependency and alcoholism.
Nicole Diver (née Warren): Dick’s heiress American wife, who enters Dick's care as a psychiatric patient suffering from schizophrenia after childhood sexual abuse by her father. She was originally his mental patient at a Swiss clinic and slowly recovers her independence as Dick declines.
Rosemary Hoyt: A young, blooming, naive American film star who enters the Divers' social circle on the French Riviera and falls in love with Dick, disrupting the couple's delicate equilibrium.
Tommy Barban: A hard-edged soldier of fortune who eventually becomes involved with Nicole.
The Plot
The story opens in the late 1920s on the sun-drenched French Riviera, where Dick and Nicole lead a lavish life among wealthy American expatriates. Dick is adored for his charm and healing presence. A flashback reveals that Dick met Nicole at a Swiss sanatorium. He fell in love with her and married her, acting as both her husband and her psychological anchor. However, her wealth and mental illness quietly consume his emotional energy and ambition. As Dick absorbs Nicole's trauma and emotional weight, he begins to drink heavily. His professional focus erodes, leading to a series of embarrassing public brawls, a brief affair with Rosemary Hoyt, and his eventual dismissal from a psychiatric clinic.
As Dick spirals into alcoholism and obsolescence, Nicole slowly grows stronger, more independent, and mentally stable. Empowered, Nicole has an affair with Tommy Barban, asks Dick for a divorce, and leaves him to marry Tommy. Dick drifts back to America, bouncing through a small-town medical practice in a state of quiet professional and personal ruin.
Key Themes and Deeper Meanings
The disintegration of a marriage, mental illness, the destructiveness of wealth and glamour, and shattered idealism.
A video of Tender is the Night, a nostalgic, bittersweet and tender song popularised by Tony Bennett. YouTube, uploaded by felixbautista. Accessed September 11, 2019.
Autobiographical Connection
The novel draws heavily on F.Scott Fitzgerald's own struggles with alcoholism and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald's severe mental health battles.
Film Adaptation
The 1962 film adaptation of Tender is the Night (directed by Henry King and starring Jason Robards and Jennifer Jones) is generally considered a melodramatic and simplified version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1934 novel rather than a faithful adaptation.
Interesting Reads
Arts Fuse Book Review for an in-depth literary appreciation of Fitzgerald's most personal novel.
Bauman Rare Books Blog for more info on how the novel mirrors Fitzgerald's own life and marriage.
Why readers relate to Tender is the Night
Readers relate to F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night because it captures the painful, universal experience of watching ambition and bright idealism slowly disintegrate over time. They find Dick Diver's slow tragic decline from a brilliant charismatic young psychiatrist to a broken alcoholic, pathetic man as it mirrors the failures of real life. The tension of his trying to be both a loving husband and a permanent therapist to Nicole resonates with anyone who has lost themselves while trying to care for a partner through severe trauma or mental illness. Furthermore, Fitzgerald describes the disillusionment of youth, contrasting the dazzling, golden promise of youth and wealth (embodied by Rosemary Hoyt and the 1920s expatriate scene) with hollow, fragile reality.
I personally connect with Tender is the Night for its deep mortal flaws. Rather than relying on one simple villain, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays characters whose human frailties cause them to hurt one another unintentionally. His humane approach replaces moral judgement with intense psychological empathy, exploring human brokenness with tenderness rather than condemnation.
Resources
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby (1993)
Brief biography of Mark Twain, American children's writer, famous for the adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, and Mark Twain quotes.
Children's writer and humorist Mark Twain is a fixture in American literature. He was a humorous writer who created two famous characters, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He is also known for his travel book The Innocents Abroad.
Through his two most popular and loved novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain captured his boyhood escapades along the Mississippi River.He was one of my favourite authors as a child. He lived life the way he wanted to live and passed on amazing lines of knowledge through his books. Who can't love his stories about the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? ... The joys of childhood when the world is full of wonders and children are free of the heavy responsibilities of adulthood.
Early Life of Samuel Clemens
Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri, the fifth of six children. The family was poor and his father suffered ill health. In 1839 they moved to Hannibal, a rapidly growing town in the Mississippi River, and there, Twain went to the local school.
When he was 12, his father died. Twain had to leave school to find work in which he apprenticed to a printer. At age 22, he became a river pilot at a time when there were a thousand or so boats a day on the Mississippi River. For four years, he enjoyed and loved his trade, but the American Civil War ended the river traffic.
Writing Career as Mark Twain
After the war, he became a full-time journalist in 1862, and soon began to use the pen name Mark Twain. At the age of 32, he published his first important story, and two years later, published his first successful novel, the humorous travel book The Innocents Abroad. It told the story of an excursion of American pilgrims to the Holy Land.
Twain's Marriage and the Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
In 1870, Twain married Olivia Langdon, with whom he had five children. He wrote his classic children's stories, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in his 40s. Twain had become increasingly disillusioned by modern life and personal tragedies, and the books provided an opportunity for him to relive his boyhood 'golden days' on the Mississippi.
Both
stories, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn,give a realistic picture of life around the Mississippi and are full
of adventure and humor. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, considered his
masterpiece, is noted for its accurate and sympathetic depiction of adolescent
life.
Twain's
Later Life
His later life was plagued with several financial problems. He was also pained by declining health and the death of his favorite daughter.
Mark Twain is regarded as a major literary figure in American history, with his classic books loved worldwide. He died at the age of 74, in Redding, Connecticut, April 21, 1910.
Mark Twain Books
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches, 1867
American novelist, short story writer, children's author, and poet best known for writing the novel Little Women and its sequels Good Wives, Little Men, and Jo's Boys
Brief biography Louisa May Alcott (b. Nov. 29, 1832 - d. Mar. 6, 1888, age at death 55).
Early Years
Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania. She suffered poverty and insecurity in her childhood. When she was only two years old, her father, Bronson Alcott, moved the family to Boston, where he ran a school that failed. Later, they moved again to Concord, Massachusetts.
Her first book , a collection of fairytales called Flower Fables, was written when she was 16, published later after six years. When she was 30, she served as a nurse during the American Civil War, and from this experience, she wrote Hospital Sketches, her second book. .
Her most famous book Little Women was published when she was 36. Along with its sequel, Good Wives, Little Women tells the story of the March family, a picture of a family full of humour and loving relationships. It is based on her own home life. Jo March, the main character, is a self-portrait, and Jo's three sisters are also based on Alcott's beloved sisters.
Legacy
Louisa May Alcott strongly felt that women should have voting rights. She became involved in movements that demanded changes in society, changes that carried through in some of her writings. Her legacy as a writer is anchored in her revolutionary approach to children's and young adult literature, her creation of independent female characters, and her pioneering business savvy as a female author.
Works by Louisa May Alcott
Flower Fables, 1854
Hospital Sketches, 1863
Moods, 1864
The Chase (originally, A Long Fatal Love Chase, written under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard), 1866
Little Women, 1868
Good Wives, 1869
An Old-Fashioned Girl, 1870
Little Men, 1871
Eight Cousins, 1875
Jo's Boys, 1886
A Garland for Girls, 1888
Published after her death:
The Inheritance, 1998
Image Credit:
Louisa May Alcott, Woolf. Public Domain
Resources:
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by
Ian Ousby (1993)
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by
Rosemary Goring (1994)
Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography. 3rd
Ed, ed. by Jennifer Uglow (1999)
(c) January 25, 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
American novelist, famous for Moby-Dick (or The Whale), and considered one of the most important figures in American literature.
Brief biography of Herman Melville (b. Aug. 1 1819 - d. Sept. 28, 1891, age at death 72).
Early Years
Herman Melville was born in New York City, the son of a wealthy merchant. His father died when he was 13, leaving the family in poverty. He left school to support family until he was 22, when he became a seaman on a whaling ship bound for the Pacific. He deserted the ship on the Marquesa Islands and lived with the islanders until another ship took him to Tahiti. He eventually landed in Hawaii and enlisted in the US Navy.
The writer and Influences
At the age of 25, he left the navy and wrote novels based on his experiences. He soon gained a reputation as an author of adventure stories. At 31, he moved to Massachusetts, where he became a close friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Melville had almost completed Moby-Dick when Hawthorne encouraged him to change it from a simple book about whaling to an allegorical and philosophical novel.
On one hand Moby-Dick is about Captain Ahab's search our of revenge for the fierce white whale, Moby-Dick, and details about whaling and a whaler's life. On another hand it is a story of a man's search for meaning in his life, and a tale of good versus evil. When Moby-Dick was published, it was not a success. It was only recognised as a masterpiece 30 years after Melville's death.
Legacy
Herman Melville's legacy is a posthumously rediscovered master whose novel Moby-Dick transformed into a cornerstone of world literature after decades of critical and commercial obscurity. Though Moby-Dick was slammed by critics and largely forgotten when Melville died in 1891, his epic was canonised in the 20th century as a supreme achievement in American symbolism, existential philosophy, and narrative scale.
Works by Herman Melville
Typee: A Peep at Polyneian Life, 1846
Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas, 1847
Mardi: 1849
Moby-Dick: 1851
The Piazza Tales: 1856
The Confidence-Man: 1857
Billy Budd, 1924 (Published after Melville died)
Image Credit:
Herman Melville, Public Domain
Resources:
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by
Ian Ousby (1993)
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by
Rosemary Goring (1994)
Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography. 3rd
Ed, ed. by Jennifer Uglow (1999)
(c) August 1, 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Brief biography of American novelist and teacher Saul
Bellow, Nobel Prize for literature in 1976. Considered one of America's finest writers. Famous for The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog and Humboldt's Gift. Considered
Early Life
Saul Bellow was born in Lachine,
Quebec, Canada on June 10, 1915, the son of immigrant Russian Jews from St. Petersburg. Bellow's father was a
businessman, who was not always successful. The young Bellow spent his childhood in Montreal, and in 1924, when he was nine, his father moved the family to the United States, in Chicago.Bellow, who spoke English, French, Hebrew and Yiddish, grew up, went to school and attended university in Chicago, and later, in Evanston, Illinois.
The Writer, Teacher, and Merchant Marine
After graduating at the age of 21, he decided
to become a writer, and abandoned his post-graduate studies at Wisconsin University. By this time Bellow had
married and needed to earn money. He began working as a teacher and helped compile the literature section of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, as well as writing novels.
During World War II, Bellow joined the merchant marine. He used this experience as the basis for his first novel, Dangling Man, published when Bellow was 29. It is about the thoughts and feelings of a man waiting to be drafted into the army. After the war Bellow returned to his life of teaching and writing. He become an American citizen in 1941.
Writing Theme and Criticism
Bellow often writes about people who feel that they do not belong in the world they live in, who feel that they are outsiders and do not fit in to the present environment full of absurdity and chaos as opposed to the intellectually and emotionally nourishing past. For this he was criticized by his detractors as conventional still clinging to the European novels of the 19th century. Many of his stories are both sad and funny at the same time. Typical of this is his novel Humboldt's Gift, a comic book about death that won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
Awards and Distinctions
He has won many awards for his work, including the Nobel Prize for literature in 1976 and the National Medal of Arts in 1998. He became an associate professor at Minnesota University, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship 1948, after which he traveled to Europe, in Paris and Rome.
He died at the age of 89, in Massachusetts,
USA,
on April 5, 2005.
Works by Saul Bellow
Dangling Man, 1944
The Victim, 1947
Adventures of Augie March, 1953
Seize the Day, 1956
Henderson the Rain King, 1959
Herzog, 1964
Mr Sammler's Planet, 1970
Humboldt's Gift, 1975
The Dean's December, 1982
More Die of Heartbreak, 1987
The Actual, 1997
Photo Credit:
Saul Bellow. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain. Photo portrait of Bellow from the dust jacket of Herzog (1964).
Resources:
Chambers Biographical Dictionary, New Edition,
edited by Una McGovern, Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by
Rosemary Goring, Larousse plc, 1994
(c) June 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Brief biography of American writer Gertrude Stein, famous
for Three Lives and the Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.
American writer and poet Gertrude Stein is
considered on of the great authors of the United States. She is best known
for the phrase "A rose is a rose is a rose" and famous for her books
Three Lives and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.
Even though
she lived most of her life in Paris,
Gertrude Stein is an important figure in American literature, primarily
significant in the development of modern art and literature. The famous phrase "A rose is a rose is
a rose" was written by Stein as part of the 1913 poem "Sacred
Emily" meant to be a woman's name. Later, Stein used variations on the
phrase in her other writings, the phrase often interpreted as "things are
what they are."
Early Life of Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny,
Pennsylvania on February 3, 1874, and lived in
Austria and France as a
child. Her father had become wealthy through his investments in street
railroads and real estate. She studied at Radcliffe
College and Johns Hopkins
University, where she was
a medical student.
Life in Paris
Stein was devoted to her artistic brother Leo
Stein, and when he went to live in Paris,
she deliberately failed her exams in order to leave university and be with him.
In Paris they
established a famous salon in 27 rue de Fleurus – a kind of private club where
intellectuals and artists met to discuss ideas in art and politics.
Paris with Great Artists
These were most exciting times in Paris, in which artists
such as Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso were experimenting with
new forms of painting. Stein wanted to create a literary version of the new
art. Three Lives, Stein's first novel and her first attempt to achieve this new
form of literature, was published when she was 35.
Life with Alice B. Toklas after Leo
Stein and her brother Leo gradually parted ways
to live their own lives. Another American woman writer living in Paris, Alice B. Toklas,
moved in with Stein in 1907 and became her lifelong companion. Their apartment
was a center of Parisian culture in the years between the two World Wars.
Prominent fellow-writer friends
Aside from the French artists, important
American writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson and Ernest
Hemingway were Stein's regular visitors. She wrote about those times in her
experimental book The Making of Americans.
Last Years
She died in 1946 from stomach cancer, aged 72. Stein
has a monument in New York,
on the upper terrace of Bryant Park.
Legacy
Gertrude Stein is credited with bringing the term "Lost Generation" into use.
During the 1930s, Stein and Toklas became famous with the 1933
mass-market publication of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. She and
Alice had an extended lecture tour in the United States during this
decade.
Works by Gertrude Stein
Three Lives, 1909
The Making of Americans, 1925
Lucy Church Amiably, 1930
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Four Saints in Three Acts, 1934
Lectures in America, 1935
Wars I have Seen, 1945
Browsie and Willie, 1946
The Mother of Us All, 1947 (published after she
died)
Photo Credit:
Gertrude Stein. NNDB.com / Public Domain
Resources:
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una
McGovern, Chambers (2002)
Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary
Goring, Larousse (1994)
(c) February 2009. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Brief biography of Henry David Thoreau. American writer, naturalist, political activist, critic, transcendentalist, famous for his book Walden and essay on
Civil Disobedience.
American author Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), is known for transcendentalism, a belief in the individual, and for his strong political views. He is the author of the famous Walden or Life in the Woods and the essay "Civil Disobedience." He was greatly influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and British writer Thomas Carlyle.
Early Life of Henry David Thoreau
David Henry Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts, US, the son of a pencil maker, John Thoreau and Cynthia Dunbar. His paternal grandfather was of French origin.Named after his paternal uncle, David Thoreau, he became Henry David after although, although
he never petitioned to make it legal.
Thoreau was educated a Harvard University when he was just 16. He graduated in 1837, at 20years old, the same year that Ralph Waldo Emerson gave his famous address urging American scholars to create a new culture separate from European influences. Thoreau became a good friend and follower of Emerson.
Simple Life at Walden Pond
At 27, he built a small cabin on Walden Pond near Concord, where he lived alone for over two years. He wrote about his time there, recording his daily thoughts and activities and described the environment going on around the pond.These observations and reflections became the source of one of his most important works, Walden, published when he was 37.
The book, however, went beyond just an observation for it had a message, a call for people to live simple lives, in harmony with nature and no surpluses of unwanted possessions.
Thoreau's Essay "Civil Disobedience"
When Thoreau was 29, he was imprisoned briefly for refusing to pay his taxes, which he did to express his opposition to slavery. This event in his life prompted him to write his essay "Civil Disobedience," in which he explained his belief that the government exists for the people, and therefore the people are more important.
Thoreau's Legacy
The beliefs and ideologies of Henry David Thoreau, most especially the importance of an individual and simple living, were great influence to 20th century prominent reformers who later adopted them, for example, Martin Luther King, who used them in his 1960s civil rights movement, Mahatma Gandhi (India),
and Leo Tolstoy (Russia.)
Thoreau died at the age of 44, on May 6, 1862.
Books by Henry David Thoreau
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, 1849
"Civil Diosobedience," Essay, 1849
Walden, 1858 (Life in the Woods)
Cape Cod, 1865 (published after he died)
A Yankee in Canada, 1866 (published after he died)
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