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| Original cover of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel Tender is the Night, 1934. |
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| F. Scott Fitzgerald, probably late 1920's, as he was writing the novel that would become Tender is the Night. |
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| F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, early 1930's. |
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1934 novel Tender is the Night is a powerful and beautiful book that stands
next to The Great Gatsby as his other
masterpiece. Much like Gatsby, Tender is
the Night was underrated upon its original publication and has only grown
in stature throughout the years.
Tender is the Night tells
the story of Dick and Nicole Diver’s marriage and Dick’s subsequent descent
into alcoholism. The novel opens on the beach of the French Riviera. We first
see the Divers through the eyes of Rosemary Hoyt, an eighteen year-old actress
so young that “the dew was still on her.” (p.4) Rosemary becomes fascinated
with the Divers very quickly, especially the charming Dick. Rosemary imagines
that the Divers’ glamourous lives are free from worries: “Rosemary envied them
their fun, imagining a life of leisure unlike her own. She knew little of
leisure but she had the respect for it of those who have never had it. She
thought of it as a resting, without realizing that the Divers were as far from
relaxing as she was herself.” (p.99)
Rosemary is absent from the novel during the beginning of part
II, as the narration flashes back to flesh out Dick’s backstory. We see him as
a young psychologist who meets Nicole Warren, successfully treats her, and
falls in love with her. Part III of the novel is set several years after Part
I, and we witness Dick’s dissipation.
Because The Great
Gatsby, published in April, 1925, had
not become the huge success that Fitzgerald thought it would be, he quickly
started work on a follow-up, optimistically thinking that he could deliver
another novel soon, with his first target date being the fall of 1926. However,
Tender is the Night went through an
extraordinarily long and painful gestation period, and it was not published
until April, 1934, nine years to the month after Gatsby. During those nine long years many things happened to
Francis Scott Fitzgerald, and many of the events of his life would help to shape
the plot of Tender is the Night. As
Fitzgerald biographer and scholar Scott Donaldson wrote in his essay on the
composition of Tender is the Night, “The
novel could not possibly have achieved the power of its final form without the
passage of nine years between inception and completion.” (Fitzgerald and Hemingway: Works and Days, p.126) Fitzgerald himself
said to a friend, “The man who started the novel is not the man who finished
it.” (Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, by
Matthew Bruccoli, p.365)
Fitzgerald always worked extremely hard at his writing, but
his previous novels had come together much quicker than Tender is the Night. It’s telling of Fitzgerald’s struggle with
writing the novel that “progress, lack of” is one of the longest categories for
Tender is the Night in the index of
Matthew Bruccoli’s biography of Fitzgerald, Some
Sort of Epic Grandeur.
Fitzgerald’s alcoholism, which was always problematic,
spiraled out of control during the years he was writing Tender is the Night. During
that same period his marriage to Zelda Sayre was rapidly disintegrating, and
she also suffered a series of mental breakdowns, in 1930, 1932, and 1934.
It’s overly simplistic to say that Fitzgerald was Dick
Diver, and Zelda was Nicole Warren Diver, but there were certainly
similarities. Fitzgerald always mined his own life and his own experiences, and
Zelda’s as well, for his fiction, and he did so in Tender is the Night.
In Arthur Mizener’s 1965 edition of his biography of
Fitzgerald, The Far Side of Paradise, Mizener
reprints notes that Fitzgerald made about characters in Tender is the Night. Some of these notes further underscore the
connection between Fitzgerald and Dick Diver, as Fitzgerald wrote, “For his
external qualities, use anything of Gerald, Ernest, Ben Finny, Archie Mcliesh,
Charley McArthur or myself. He looks,
though, like me.” (The Far Side of
Paradise, p.348) The Ernest in the quotation is Hemingway, and Gerald is
Gerald Murphy, another likely model for aspects of Dick Diver. Gerald and Sara
Murphy were wealthy American expatriates who lived in France in the 1920’s and
were renowned for their parties and the wide social circle of artists they knew.
Scott and Zelda were good friends of the Murphys’, although Scott’s bad
behavior did get him ejected from several of the Murphys’ parties, and
Fitzgerald dedicated Tender is the Night to
them. Certainly the bon vivant Dick Diver of Part I of Tender is the Night owes a large debt to Gerald Murphy, although
Murphy did not slide into dissipated alcoholism the way Diver did.
Under notes for Nicole Diver, Fitzgerald wrote: “Portrait of
Zelda—that
is, a part of Zelda.” (Paradise,
p.350) It seems clear that Fitzgerald used some of Zelda’s characteristics in
creating Nicole Diver, but even in this note he makes it clear that he used only
a part of Zelda, and not her whole personality.
While I think that Dick Diver is not simply a stand-in for
F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are several interesting similarities between author
and character. In the beginning of the novel, Diver is described as someone who
gives “carnivals of affection” to people. (p.27) Sober, Fitzgerald was an
extremely charming man, and there are many stories about the effect his
personality had on people. Andrew Turnbull was a biographer of Fitzgerald’s who
also knew him. Fitzgerald rented a house on the Turnbull’s property in Maryland
in 1932, when Andrew was 11 years old. Turnbull wrote of him: “Fitzgerald
focused on you—even riveted on you—and if there was one thing you were
sure of, it was that whatever you happened to be talking about was the most
important matter in the world.” (Scott
Fitzgerald, p.225) Turnbull also wrote of him: “…there was always something
of the magician in Fitzgerald. He was the inventor, the creator, the tireless
impresario who brightened our days and made other adult company seem dull and
profitless. It wasn’t so much any particular skill of his as a quality of
caring, of believing, of pouring his whole soul and imagination into whatever
he did with us.” (Turnbull, p.229)
In a 1938 letter Fitzgerald wrote about Diver: “Dick’s curiosity
and interest in people was real—he
didn’t stare at them—he glanced at them and felt
them.” (Fool for Love, by Scott
Donaldson, p.196) Although this is a subjective judgment, I would bet that
Fitzgerald was like that too. He was a highly sensitive man who was fascinated
by people and would often pepper them with questions at parties.
Fitzgerald mined his real life in the passages describing
Dick Diver’s father. Fitzgerald’s father Edward died in 1931, and in an
unfinished essay, “The Death of My Father,” Fitzgerald reflected on his
importance to his own upbringing:
“I loved my father—always
deep in my subconscious I have referred judgements back to him, to what he
would have thought or done. He loved me—and felt a deep responsibility for me—I
was born several months after the sudden death of my two elder sisters and he
felt what the effect of this would be on my mother, that he would be my only
moral guide. He became that to the best of his ability. He came from tired old
stock with very little left of vitality and mental energy but he managed to
raise a little for me.” (A Short
Autobiography, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2011, p.118)
This passage is repeated almost word for word when Dick learns
of his father’s death:
“Dick loved his father—again and again he referred
judgements to what his father would probably have thought or done. Dick was
born several months after the death of two young sisters and his father,
guessing what would be the effect on Dick’s mother, had saved him from a spoiling
by becoming his moral guide. He was of tired stock yet he raised himself to
that effort.” (Tender is the Night, p.203)
When a young Dick Diver is asked about his plans, he
replies, “I’ve only got one, Franz, and that’s to be a good psychologist—maybe
to be the greatest one that ever lived.” (p.132) This quote mirrors what Fitzgerald
said to his friend Edmund Wilson—Wilson recalled Fitzgerald saying to
him, after they had attended Princeton together, “I want to be one of the
greatest writers who have ever lived, don’t you?” (Fool for Love, p.37)
Dick Diver is also a habitual flirt, as was Fitzgerald. “He
was in love with every pretty woman he saw now, their forms at a distance,
their shadows on a wall.” (p.201) Fitzgerald’s infatuations could begin with
just a glance as well. The actress Carmel Myers recalled introducing Fitzgerald
to a woman at a party in Hollywood. Fitzgerald’s first words to the woman were,
“I love you, I love you, I love you.” (Fool
for Love, p.53)
The most obvious parallel between Dick Diver and Fitzgerald
is their drinking. During the period he was writing Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald’s drinking became extremely problematic.
Fitzgerald had always been a heavy drinker, but now his alcoholism was taking a
toll on his friendships and his ability to focus on his writing. One of the
most beautiful, sad lines in Tender is
the Night is when Nicole says to Dick, “But you used to want to create
things—now
you seem to want to smash them up.” (p.267) I think this line rings true for
Fitzgerald as well. For whatever reason, Fitzgerald behaved in very
self-destructive ways and lost many friendships because of this, especially
during the period when he was writing Tender
is the Night. Fitzgerald biographer Scott Donaldson wrote: “In his papers
at Princeton are at least three lists of snubs, with the longest of them naming
a total of sixty-six people who had snubbed him during the 1925-29 period. To
have been put down by so many in so short a time suggests (1) that some of the
snubs were imaginary rather than real, though it was during these years that he
and Zelda became personae non gratae because
of their drinking and quarreling, and (2) that out of masochism or self-hatred
he was actually courting the disapproval of others.” (Fool for Love, p.181)
When he was drunk, Fitzgerald’s personality underwent a
radical transformation. The charming and intelligent man disappeared and he became
belligerent and mean. Fitzgerald tried the patience of Gerald and Sara Murphy,
as he threw ashtrays at one party and deliberately broke wineglasses at
another. The incident at the end of Tender
is the Night, the nadir of Dick Diver’s descent into drink, where he gets
into a fight with an Italian taxi driver, and gets beaten up and taken to jail,
actually happened to Fitzgerald himself. (Fool
for Love, p.164-5)
Another subject of Tender
is the Night is marital infidelity, which was yet another issue that the
Fitzgeralds dealt with. Both Scott and Zelda were attractive people who enjoyed
flirting, but a serious threat to their marriage developed during the summer of
1924. As Scott was finishing up The Great
Gatsby, Zelda was spending more and more time with French aviator Edouard
Jozan. Whether or not Zelda and Jozan actually had a physical affair is a
subject of debate among Fitzgerald scholars, but whatever the particulars were,
their relationship created a great deal of tension between Scott and Zelda. Scott
wrote years later in his notebooks, “That September 1924, I knew something had
happened that could never be repaired.” (The
Notebooks of F. Scott Fitzgerald, p.113) Scott had a relationship with actress
Lois Moran, who was only seventeen when they met in 1927. Moran became the
model for Rosemary Hoyt in Tender is the
Night, who is in many ways presented as Nicole Diver’s opposite.
Insanity is another prominent theme in Tender is the Night, and yet another way that Fitzgerald’s
turbulent personal life found its way into his fiction. Zelda’s breakdowns
prompted Scott to make mental health a theme of the novel. Nicole’s sister Baby
Warren asks Dick, “Well, how can anyone tell what’s eccentric and what’s
crazy?” (p.151) This quote seems especially apropos of Zelda and Scott’s
behavior, both drunken and sober. Is it crazy or eccentric to throw yourself
down a flight of stone steps? (Zelda) Is it crazy or eccentric to burn your
clothes in a bathtub in a fit of jealousy? (Zelda) Is it crazy or eccentric to
jump into the fountain in front of the Plaza Hotel? (Scott) Is it crazy or
eccentric to throw ashtrays at a fancy dinner party? (Scott) The list could go
on and on.
Zelda actually wrote her own novel during the time Scott was
laboring over his long-awaited book. Titled
Save Me the Waltz, it was written in
only a month or two while Zelda was undergoing treatment at Johns Hopkins. The mere
existence of the book deeply angered Scott, as he did not know Zelda was
writing a novel, and was probably jealous that Zelda had written her book so
quickly while he was laboring through numerous drafts and revisions of his own
novel. Save Me the Waltz added
considerably to what was now a state of continual tension and resentment
between Scott and Zelda. Scott was
hopeful that Save Me the Waltz would
earn enough money so he could discharge his debt to Scribner’s, who had been advancing
him money throughout the writing of Tender
is the Night. That did not happen, as Save
Me the Waltz was published in October, 1932 to little fanfare and not much
interest from the book-buying public.
As befitting the difficult writing, even the title of Tender is the Night was a long time in
coming. The book went through many
possible titles. Among the early titles were Our Type, The World’s Fair, The Melarky Case, and The Boy Who Killed His Mother. (Works and Days, p.120) Even as the novel
took shape, the title still kept changing, from The Drunkard’s Holiday, to Doctor
Diver’s Holiday, to Richard Diver, and
then finally, to Tender is the Night, from
a line in John Keats’ poem, “Ode to a Nightingale.” (Works and Days, p.135)
Tender is the Night was
published to generally positive reviews, and the book sold respectably, but, as
usual, not as well as Fitzgerald had hoped. Fitzgerald scholar Matthew Bruccoli
wrote of the reception of Tender is the
Night, “As a consequence of Fitzgerald’s commercial magazine work and his
playboy image it had become increasingly difficult for critics to appraise the
serious novelist…Fitzgerald’s wastrel reputation impeded the recognition of his
best work.” (Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, p.366)
Fitzgerald’s disappointment over the sales of Tender is the Night led him to second-guess
the novel’s structure, and by late 1938 or early 1939 he was attempting to
re-structure the book in chronological order, thinking this might make it more
appealing to readers. After Fitzgerald’s death, Malcolm Cowley used
Fitzgerald’s notes for his planned re-structuring as the basis for the 1951
revision of Tender is the Night. Today
Cowley’s version is out of print, and most scholars and critics prefer
Fitzgerald’s original 1934 version of the novel. Fitzgerald’s tinkering with Tender is the Night may show his
insecurities, but it is also further proof of his dedication to his craft and
his seriousness about writing. He was constantly rewriting and editing, making
numerous changes to the novel between the magazine serialization in Scribner’s and the final book
publication.
Scott Donaldson wrote of Tender
is the Night, “It was a novel undervalued in its own time, one whose
reputation has developed over the decades.” (Works and Days, p.138) Now Fitzgerald fans put the novel alongside The Great Gatsby as one of Fitzgerald’s
masterpieces.
Towards the end of the novel, Fitzgerald writes of Nicole: “She
felt the nameless fear which precedes all emotions, joyous or sorrowful,
inevitable as a hum of thunder precedes a storm.” (p.294) This is just one of
the many beautiful, moving sentences from a novel written by an author who felt
so deeply the pain and ecstasy of human existence, and described it all so
well.
