Random thoughts. I’ve been fortunate to schlep all over the states and a lot of Europe, through gigging and general rambling, but recently I realized I’d never made it to Montgomery. Alabama. I know it’s not Rio or the French Riveria, but it is only four hours down the road and its history always intrigued me. There’s the slave hub history, the Civil War, Hank, Zelda, Nat Cole, Rosa, MLK, civil rights, and more.
As part of this adventure, I began with a F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald pilgrimage. Zelda was from Montgomery and while they never owned a home, they did live in a place in Cloverdale for a spell. It’s since been turned into a museum, with two airbnbs above – The Scott Suite and the Zelda suite. So I chose the former. This is where he wrote “Tender is the Night,” which is pretty cool. I wrote while I was there, as well.
In Montgomery, the spin on them is more Zelda oriented, which would be as you would expect, since she grew up there, childhood friends with Tallulah Bankhead, and daughter to a prominent judge in a respected family. Apparently, she was intelligent, vivacious and popular; a first edition of her novel and her paintings were on display in the museum, alongside Scott’s work. Incidentally, my favorite item in the museum was the stamp collection F. Scott and his daughter worked on together.
Speaking of that, it’s odd to me that there has been some revisionist history spinning the tale that F. Scott was threatened by her, didn’t support her creative pursuits, and contributed to her mental health issues. I tend to agree with Hemingway (for a change), that it appeared she was jealous of the attention to his talent, which was tremendous, and he paid the price. First, he had to make enough money for her to agree to marry him, then, he had to constantly churn out short stories to keep the bills paid – first for their lavish lifestyle but later, to raise their daughter while Zelda was hospitalized, covering both his daughter’s school bills, and Zelda’s inpatient care. Seems like today that should be considered heroic – for all his flaws, he put his daughter and wife first.
Anyway, the takeaway from digging into all this on a visceral level, is that they had deep love for each other, and fought through alcoholism and mental health issues, respectively, to try to create beauty, in art and life. So, bless them for going for it. Like anything, it helps to cut people slack and be thankful for the good things they do while they are here. And he’s still probably my favorite American writer – elegant prose with deep characterization and understanding of the human condition. It stands to reason.
Doug Hoekstra 