I want to find a source for a remembered quotation from Zelda
Fitzgerald "Melancholia is as good as any other state, I suppose". I
think it was quoted (without provenance) in a poem or collection of
poems in the 1970's, possibly Erica Jong, maybe Robin Morgan. I want
to find the original statement, if it exists. Thanks very much.
Greetings waupaca-ga:
I gave your question a good try, but no luck. Frankly, I'm getting a
little melancholy myself because the quote you cited does ring a bell
with me, and I recently read the classic biography ZELDA, by Nancy
Milford.
I leafed through the Milford book, but couldn't find the quote. I also
tried several search strings, but had no luck Online.
It is possible that this quote was uttered by one of F. Scott
Fitzgerald's characters, as several of his most notable female
characters -- especially Daisy in THE GREAT GATSBY -- were thoroughly
based on Zelda. Zelda herself wrote some fiction and this line may
have come from a character she created.
I will continue to leaf through ZELDA and, if I find the quote and its
source, I'll certainly post it here. IF this quote did come from
Zelda, my best guess is she wrote it in a letter. (She wrote numerous
letters while undergoing treatment at sanitariums.)
It is also possible that this quote came from someone else and, over
time, it wound up being (incorrectly) attributed to Zelda Fitzgerald,
though it certainly sounds like something Zelda would have said.
Sincerely,
nancylynn-ga the Fashion Spot - Zelda Fitzgerald::
15 postsZelda Fitzgerald icons from the past. Zelda met Scott Fitzgerald in 1918 while he was stationed at an army post near Montgomery.
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f95/zelda-fitzgerald-64471.htmlHOME |
Dear Nancy Lynn -- Thank you so very much for your effort. I think my
memory of this quote, faulty as it may be, predates the Milford book,
though that of course wouldn't stop it appearing in Milford. I will
certainly post here if I do manage to answer my own question.
Possibly the quote rings a different sort of bell, not of memory but
of universal sympathy. It's the 'I suppose' that wrenches; the
resignation. Thank you again for your efforts.
I do have a volume of Zelda F collected writings (Bruccoli ed; I keep
thinking Broccoli) but didn't find it there, in a scan -- that volume
includes some letters, not sure how complete. Some of the letters are
staggeringly sad -- something to read when Beckett seems too cheery.
Regards, Richard Zelda Fitzgerald by David Levine - The New York Review of Books::
Zelda Fitzgerald. This drawing originally appeared with Caesar's Things * ( September 24, 1970). Browse the gallery by year:
http://www.nybooks.com/gallery/7016HOME |
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