The Great Fitzgerald
了不起的菲茨杰拉德
Fitzgerald’s path as a writer was clear by the time he was 13-that was his age when his first story was published in the St. Paul Academy newspaper. Despite, or perhaps because of, his passion for writing, Fitzgerald was a mediocre student from his earliest days at Princeton University. It was during this time he began work on his first novel, a work that would ultimately be titled “This Side of Paradise."
13岁那年，菲茨杰拉德在圣保罗学院报上发表了第一篇短篇小说，开启了他的文学创作之旅。尽管菲茨杰拉德痴迷于写作，但也为其所累，致使他在普林斯顿大学的成绩平平。正是这段日子里，他开始创作第一部长篇小说，最终命名为《人间天堂》。
When the United States entered the first World War in 1917，Fitzgerald quit school and enlisted in the Army. He trained at a camp just a few miles from Louisville, Kentucky. The camp represented a turning point of sorts for Fitzgerald: his first rejection from a publisher came while he was there and he met Zelda Sayre, the woman who would be his wife until his dying day.
1917年，美国加入了第一次世界大战，此时菲茨 杰拉德选择退学入伍。他的训练营离肯塔基州的路易斯维尔只有几英里的路，他在这里经历了两次人生的转折点：第一次遭出版商退稿，结识了他的伴侣珊尔达·赛 瑞。
With the war was over, Fitzgerald returned to his parents' house. He revised his first novel “The Romantic Egotist” and renamed it “This Side of Paradise”. It was a contemporary work that spoke to a self-indulgent generation. This book was accepted and published in 1919.
战争结束后，菲茨杰拉德回到父母的住处。他修改了第一部小说《浪漫的自大狂》并将其命名为《人间天堂》。这部小说出版于1919年，以当时的社会为背景, 描写了当时自我放纵的一代人。
The 1920s proved the most influential decade of Fitzgerald's development. “This Side of Paradise” became a national bestseller, as did “The Great Gatsby”, his best-known work. The setting of the Great Gatsby is New York City and Long Island during the 1920s. It is a work that seriously examines the theme of aspiration in America and defines the classic American novel.
20世纪20年代是菲茨杰拉德创作生涯中最重要的十年。《人间天堂》称为全美畅销小说，随后问世的作品《了不起的盖茨比》也风靡一时。《了不起的盖茨比》 将故事背景设定在20年代的纽约和长岛，小说深刻地讨论了关于美国梦的主题，成为美国小说的经典。
The Great depression began in the fall of 1929 and for Fitzgerald, the loss was much more than financial. Around that time, Zelda, his wife, was diagnosed as schizophrenic, a condition with which she had struggled for most of her adult life. She had to be sent to a Baltimore hospital in 1930; she would remain hospitalized for most of the rest of her life. Fitzgerald rented a nearby house in which he wrote “Tender is the Night”, which reflected the bleakness he felt in his life.
1929年秋天开始，美国经济陷入大萧条，而菲茨杰拉德损失的不仅仅是金钱。当时，他的妻子珊尔达被确诊为患有精神分裂症，这是她成年后一直未能摆脱的噩梦。1930年，菲茨杰拉德把妻子送到巴尔的摩的一家医院接受治疗，珊尔达在那里度过余生大部分时光，而菲茨杰拉德在附近租了一处住所并开始创作《夜色温柔》。 这部作品反映了他当时内心的沮丧和对生活的失望。
Fitzgerald’s work and legend has inspired writers ever since he was first published. It was written in a New York Times editorial after his death that Fitzgerald “was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a ‘generation’. He might have interpreted them and even guided them, as in their middle years they saw a different and nobler freedom threatened with destruction.”
自第一篇文章发表以来，菲茨杰拉德的作品和传记一直启发并鼓舞着后来的作家。他逝世后，《纽约时报》 刊登了一篇社论，称菲茨杰拉德“做出了自己都没有意识到的贡献，因为无论是在现实世界里，还是在文学领域中，他开启并引导了新的‘时代’。他不但是这代人的诠释者，也是领路人，正是在菲茨杰拉德的带领下， 这代人在人到中年时重新认识了岌岌可危却更为崇尚的自由”。
Into the 21st century, Fitzgerald’s reputation continues to grow. Millions of copies of The Great Gatsby and his other works have been sold, and “Gatsby” a constant bestseller, is required reading in many high school and college classes.
进入21世纪后，菲茨杰拉德名声不减。他的许多作品还十分热销，其中，《了不起的盖茨比》不但长期在畅销书单上榜上有名，而且成为许多中学和大学课程的必读书目。