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les collections aristophil
84
FITZGERALD FRANCIS SCOTT
(1896-1940).
L.A.S., Westport (Connecticut) [vers le 22 mai 1920],
à Maxwell PERKINS ; 2 pages in-8 au crayon sur papier
bleu ; en anglais.
5 000 / 6 000 €
Lettre à son éditeur Maxwell Perkins.
[Maxwell PERKINS (1884-1947), le remarquable éditeur de la maison
Charles Scribner’s Sons, fut le découvreur et éditeur de Fitzgerald et
Hemingway, entre autres. La lettre de Fitzgerald , entre la publication,
chez Scribner’s, de son premier roman,
This Side of Paradise (L’Envers
du Paradis,
26 mars 1920), et celle de son premier recueil de nouvelles,
Flappers and Philosophers
(10 septembre 1920).]
Il le remercie de son billet et du contrat et de son courrier abondant.
Dieu merci, il écrit à nouveau.
The Ice Palace [Le Palais de glace]
paraît dans le
[Saturday Evening] Post
de cette semaine ; il est curieux
de voir si ça prendra. Il sera en ville dans la semaine et passera le
voir. Il n’a pas vu l’éditorial sur [l’écrivain William Dean] HOWELLS,
et ne savait même pas qu’il était décédé… Et d’ébaucher une « idée
pour une note littéraire » à propos de la réception de son roman :
Dans les trois premières douzaines de comptes rendus du livre de
Fitzgerald, 360 lignes différentes furent citées intégralement par
divers critiques (ceci est en effet un livre propice à la citation, plein
d’épigrammes et d’observations, chaque phrase ciselée-finie. Quelle
ligne de foutaise !) Cependant il trouve par son album de coupures
que le chiffre 310 est correct…
FITZGERALD FRANCIS SCOTT
(1896-1940).
Signed autograph letter, Westport (Connecticut) [circa
22 May 1920], to Maxwell PERKINS; 2 pages in-8 format,
pencil on blue paper; in English.
5 000 / 6 000 €
Letter to his publisher Maxwell Perkins.
F. Scott Fitzgerald writes to the editor who published
This Side of
Paradise
concerning the reviews of his first Novel which established
him as a writer.
Maxwell Perkins was the legendary editor at Scribner’s. Fitzgerald was
very fortunate, at the beginning of his literary career, to win the loyal
friendship and generous support of editor Maxwell Perkins. A reserved,
respectable, reliable New Englander, Perkins gave Fitzgerald excellent
literary advice. He was encouraging and provided a constructive
response that allowed Fitzgerald to improve his work.
Fitzgerald repaid Perkins’s generosity by recommending to Scribner’s
many little-known and extremely promising writers such as Ring
Lardner, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and Franz Kafka, to name
just a few. As Fitzgerald’s career progressed, Perkins assumed the
additional roles of substitute parent, father confessor, social worker,
psychiatric adviser, and medical mentor. He was one of the few people
who maintained his friendship with Fitzgerald until the very end.
“Thanks for your note and the contract & for numerous mail. I am, thank
the good Lawdy Gawd writing again. The Ice Palace is in this week’s
Post. I’m curious to know whether it’ll take. I’ll be in town within the
week & will drop in. I haven’t seen the Howells editorial, didn’t even
know he was dead.” On the facing page and with a different pencil,
Fitzgerald writes the title, “Idea for a Literary Note”. He then records
the number of quotes taken from his work used in the reviews for his
first novel,
This Side of Paradise.
The contract Fitzgerald mentions
is probably for his first collection of short stories,
Flappers and
Philosophers,
published in September 1920. He also remarks on
the first appearance of one of his best stories, “The Ice Palace.”
This
Side of Paradise,
published in the spring of 1920, was the novel that
made Fitzgerald famous and opened to him magazines of literary
prestige, such as Scribner’s, and high-paying popular ones, such as
The Saturday Evening Post. The novel was a revelation of the new
morality of the young.