I've run out of courthouse trivia questions, so I need to branch out some here. Here is a picture of a house where a Jazz Age novelist lived while he wrote his first novel. I had not read that novel, but I read it after visiting this house. I have to say that I think I had justifiably overlooked this book -- but I know that's heresy. (I must say the time wasn't completely wasted; there were several positive references to the Confederacy, so I have something to add my critique of Allan Johnson's pro-Confederate article in the Yale Law Journal back in 1921.) Who lived here and what novel was written there?
Now that CM (and Brent Staples via twitter) have identified this, I can add a little more about This Side of Paradise -- in addition to the fleeting references to the Confederacy -- a cemetery (with Union soldiers, no less!) also appears at the end: Amory, the "hero" of the novel,
wondered that graves ever made people consider life in vain. Somehow he could find nothing hopeless in having lived. All the broken columns and clasped hands and doves and angels meant romances. He fancied that in a hundred years he would like having young people speculate as to whether his eyes were brown or blue, and he hoped quite passionately that his grave would have about it an air of many, many years ago. It seemed strange that out of a row of Union soldiers two or three made him think of dead loves and dead lovers, when they were exactly like the rest, even to the yellowish moss.
One thing I was particularly happy about is that I was able to read This Side of Paradise for free -- it's in the public domain. And that set me to wondering when The Great Gatsby will enter the public domain. 2021 is the answer unless we get another extension of copyright. This also led me to a charming essay in The American Scholar on Fitzgerald's taxes. Apparently Gatsby is still returning about $500,000 per year in royalties to a trust set up for Fitzgerald's grandchildren.
Before living at 599 Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Fitzgerald lived for a time at 593 Summit Avenue (in the same string of town houses as 599). Even earlier he had lived at two spots on Laurel Avenue, 481 and 293 -- and later he lived in an apartment in The Commodore. The University Club, where Scott and Zelda partied is still there, in a very grand setting overlooking the Mississippi. There's a lot to see in case you have a few hours to spare next time you're in St. Paul.
This is Summit Terrace--599 Summit Ave in St. Paul, Minnesota. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived there when he wrote/rewrote This Side of Paradise.
Posted by: cm | June 23, 2016 at 03:26 AM
Cm, you are as always corrrct. That was fast! Very nicely done. Also, Brent Staples https://twitter.com/BrentNYT answered this on twitter.
There're several Fitzgerald houses, all within a few blocks of each other up on/near Summit Avenue in St. Paul. Dan Capra (Fordham Law) gave me the NY Times' article, which guided me all over St. Paul. There are five houses, I think, and an apartment building where Fitzgerald lived. A bunch of people writing about this say that the Fitzgeralds lived in modest homes -- and while it's true that the houses aren't as grand as some of the mansions around there, they look pretty darn nice to me. This is another instance in which interpretation turns on perspective -- and it may also put into perspective how Fitzgerald was able to get himself to Princeton but still feel in important ways not a part of the culture. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/travel/f-scott-fitzgerald-st-paul.html?_r=0
Posted by: Al Brophy | June 23, 2016 at 07:08 AM