Zelda Fitzgerald, as is revealed by numerous personal books and letters, wore many labels in her life. She was “the original flapper girl” and “the spirit of the Jazz Age.” Married to the celebrated writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (author of The Gireat Giatsby), she was by turns his muse and the woman who ruined his life. In her later years she was “Crazy Zelda”.
Accurate as all these descriptions may be, they do not tell the whole story. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she was noted for her beauty and high spirits in dancing. In July 1918, at a country club dance, Fitzgerald was hooked immediately by the beautiful and charming 18-year-old Zelda who out-shined(使逊色)other beauties with her distinguished ballet. A light affection evolved into a lengthy long-distance pursuit of weekly letters, with Fitzgerald aware of her uncommitted dating of other men. He courted her after his discharge from the Army in February 1919, but Zelda had doubts. Her fiance wasn't rich and there was no guarantee he’d ever be famous. His short stories didn’t sell. His apartment was a dump. Zelda gave back the ring. Hoping to fix the “no money” part of his problem. Fitzgerald quit the job and started to rewrite novels for success and money so that he could win back his girl. Finally, he made it! On March 20, 1920, his novel This Side of Paradise got published and Zelda agreed to marry him.
However, their marriage was troubled by wild drinking, fighting, infidelity(不忠实)and bitter recriminations. Emest Hemingway, whom Zelda disliked, blamed her for Scot’s declining literary output, though she has also been portrayed as the victim of an overbearing husbano Actually. Zelda was also creative, pursuing both dancing and writing. Some scholars have portrayed Zelda as a creative talent ignored by the patriarchal(男权的)society of the day. Her inspiration was even drawn by her husband in literary creation-Scott used their relationship as material in his novels, even borrowing episodes from Zelda’s diary and applying them into his fictional writings. She detested(讨厌)her husband’s practice: “Mr. Fitzgerald-I believe that is how he spells his name-seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home.” To seek an artistic identity of her own value, as she put it “I wish I could write a beautiful book to break those hearts that are soon to cease to exist.”
Nevertheless her unique personality was starting to seem more unbalanced than charming. The couple-like the rest of the nation-was living on borrowed time. In October 1929 the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression. Six months later, Zelda suffered her first nervous breakdown. After being diagnosed with schizophrenia（精神分裂), she was increasingly confined to specialist clinics, and since then has departed with her husband. Zelda died later in a fire at her hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, putting an end to her flamboyant(绚丽夺目的)life. A young woman, especially one in the 1920s, who was against traditional dress and behavior.
【小题1】Where will you most probably find this article?| A．In a newspaper. | B．In a literary magazine. |
| C．In a prepared speech | D．In a research report. |
| A．Ideal partnership | B．Unbalanced love relationship. |
| C．Love-hate relationship. | D．Mutually-jealous relationship |
| A．copying | B．adaption |
| C．reference | D．imagination |
| A．Fitzgerald successfully won Zelda’s heart by reading her his novels and writing her weekly letters. |
| B．Hemingway disliked Zelda because of her female identity and talent that outshined her husband. |
| C．Zelda was glad to be her husband’s muse and provided him with literary materials. |
| D．The “Crazy Zelda” died without Fitzgerald’s companion after severe schizophrenia. |
