beautiful fools. r. clifton spargo. (118)

after reading "z", i discovered a handful of novels dedicated to zelda fitzgerald have been published recently (i am assuming) to run on the coat tails of baz lurhman's "the great gatsby" release.  and of course, adoring zelda as i do, decided to read all of them.  the second one i chose was "beautiful fools" by r. clifton spargo.

"beautiful fools" as it said on the cover is about the last of affair of zelda and f. scott fitzgerald.  as i learned in "zelda", the fitzgeralds took a trip to cuba  (after zelda did not go on the institution's cuba trip),and  though they did not know it at the time, it would be their last trip together.  this novel is a fictional tale about that trip, though the complexity of their relationship was based on truth.  and of course the title, is from "the great gatsby", words scott took from zelda's lips at scottie's birth and put them on daisy's lips.  and though it was zelda's wish for scottie to be a beautiful fool, it's safe to say that both zelda and scott were beautiful fools so the title is appropriate.

the trip to cuba is disastrous from the start.  zelda saw it as an opportunity to save their marriage by proving she was well, while scott used it as a means to escape his life in hollywood and his mistress.  spargo created a handful of incidents that exasperated their already strained relationship.  scott meets some shady characters and puts zelda and him in some sticky situations, i won't spoil it but lets just say there is a barroom brawl and some cockfightings. but zelda does create a handful of awkward situations herself, including a trip to a clairvoyant.  however, regardless of the events that occur, scott and zelda would have had a troubling time regardless due to their relationship woe.

as i discussed in the post for "z", fowler discussed how people are divided into camp zelda or camp scott, however, spargo did an excellent job in "beautiful fools" of demonstrating how scott and zelda were both guilty of ruining their marriage.  as i read i was frustrated with zelda's neediness and erratic behavior and scott's drinking and money-wasting.  they were both on self-destruct mode.  as wonderful as they started off in their youth, they both had an equal hand in their demise.  which again reminded me of my very own zelda-scott relationship, i once had a disastrous trip to mexico with the same friend i talked about in the "zelda" post.  just like scott and zelda, drinking added a lot of drama to our trip. after the trip, we both spent time convincing ourself the other was responsible for the drama that occurred but looking back, we really were both to blame.  oddly enough, we did manage to scrape our trip together by putting aside our differences.  and even though i though it was the end of our friendship, it survived it.  (though only for a year or so after).  but even with all of its drama, i can look back at the trip and not be bitter and recognize it as experience that occurred at no fault of anyone but just the way life went.

the trip ends with zelda (though thought of as fragile because of her condition) taking charge and taking care of scott and the mess he gets them in.  and i guess that is what i admired about the fitzgeralds in this story. they were not perfect but they managed because they truly loved each other.  as scott in the novel said, "she was the only thing he truly loved in the world but his love was twisted and wounded  and he could never again make it a simple, straightforward thing."  and that is what happens with love sometimes, it gets injured but does not seize to exist.  and at our lowest points that love will be strong enough to help us endure.

i enjoyed "beautiful fools" more than "z" because spargo is the better writer.  while fowler's zelda felt forced, spargo's zelda was as colorful as i assumed the real one would be based on all i have read so far.  my only critique is that i got tired of all the war and fascist talk but i mean those topics were probably on the tips of everyone tongues during that time.  but all in all, a novel, i would assume scott and zelda would not be ashamed to appear in.

the last tycoon. f. scott fitzgerald. (115)

i have read all of f. scott's fitzgerald's novels with the exception of "the last tycoon".  i skipped it because it was published posthumously.  novels that are published after an author's death seem incomplete to me.  sure there are notes and outlines that can help complete it but what if while the author was writing a new idea struck him/her than those outlines and notes would be pointless.  a novel should have the author's stamp of approval before it is released to the world.  

however, after reading nancy milford's "zelda", i decided to give in and read "the last tycoon".  while reading "zelda" i realized that all of fitzgerald's novels are pretty much autobiographies so i needed to read "the last tycoon" to get a glimpse into his life when he was in hollywood and zelda was institutionalized.  also milford mentioned that the love interest in "the last tycoon" was not based on zelda but fitzgerald's mistress at the time, sheliah graham.  due to this i felt i had to read fitzgerald take on his affair.  in addition to this it would also help give some background for my next fitzgerald read "beautiful fools" a novel by r. clifton spargo about a trip scott and zelda.  the trip takes place during the time period scott was living in hollywood and graham was his mistress.

though zelda did not know of graham, she knew kathleen was not modeled after her, as all of the previous fitzgerald female characters had been.  milford explained in her book that zelda did not like the heroine of "the last tycoon", kathleen.  and maybe all of my recent zelda reading has made me biased but i also did not like kathleen.  kathleen was unworthy of stahr's love, there was no piazza or wow to her other than her resemblance to his dead wife, minna.  oddly enough, milford explained that graham had a striking resemblance to zelda.  (i will expand on this in a bit).  there seemed to be no real chemistry between stahr and kathleen other than a physical attraction.  also kathleen seemed to have no backbone or heart, she didn't read as mysterious but a coward.   i didn't like how she kept her engagement a secret from stahr. i felt like  she played with stahr's emotions because she liked being in proximity to power.  the narrator explained how kathleen was "un-hollywood" but she still played games like she was part of the hollywood set.  kathleen was also a bit of a bore, she had relationships with interesting men but was not interesting herself.  maybe fitzgerald would have developed her more but as kathleen is, she does not deserve to be the object of stahr's affection.

however, if you read "the last tycoon" as autobiographical than the lack of actual chemistry between stahr and kathleen is a good thing because it demonstrated that fitzgerald's love for graham was superficial.  in the novel, stahr is a widow and his initial attraction to kathleen is because she looked like his dead wife.  as mentioned before, in real life graham looked like zelda, though zelda was not dead, her institutionalization must have felt like her death to fitzgerald.  stahr does not seem to be in love with kathleen but rather with the sentiment that she arose in him based one her likeness to minna.  it must have been the same for fitzgerald and graham.  as shown in milford's book, zelda's institualtionalizations was a burden on fitzgerald but he still loved her.  and though i do not condone fitzgerald's infidelity, i do not think he really loved graham.  i think she was a placeholder for his actual feelings for zelda, just as kathleen was for minna.  fitzgerald like stahr was not content with life and grasped onto a girl to hopefully find fulfillment.  even more odd, fitzgerald died without resolving his novel just like stahr died so we never get a resolution on his affair with kathleen.  however, i am going to say that stahr and kathleen's relationship would have amounted to nothing because like zelda for scott, minna was stahr's true love.  (i can and will admit that my interpretation of stahr's superficial love for kathleen is my need to have scott and zelda be the true love i think of it as, i mean i know they were a mess but there was something magical about them.)

"the last tycoon" also focused on hollywood and it's politics, not only in terms of the country (their is talk anout who is "red") but also within studios.  it was interesting to read about it though i didn't find it completely enthralling.  i also liked the narrator, cecilia, she reminded me of nick from "the great gatsby" both have an endearing naivety to them though cecilia does have a bit of a conniving streak.  

i also enjoyed reading the notes f. scott fitzgerald left for it.  it's amazing to see all the prework that goes into writing a novel.  i was shocked that he gave himself a word limit.  he wanted to keep it short like "the great gatsby".  i also loved how his characters have such depth backgrounds though we might not be shown all of it, fitzgerald at least saw them as a complete person.

i do wish fitzgerald was able to finish it.  i am not sure it would have been on the level of "the great gatsby" but i think not would have made for an excellent film.  one was made in 62, i think, i want to see it but it probably would have been better if it was based on a completed novel,