Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Beloved for the novels This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Great Gatsby (1925), F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) was an American novelist and short story writer. This Side of Paradise made him an overnight celebrity and gave him the financial stability to marry. Fitzgerald supported himself financially by publishing short stories in magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and Esquire. Considered a member of the Lost Generation, Fitzgerald moved in 1924 to France with his wife and fellow writer Zelda. When her health deteriorated, the couple moved back to the United States. His writings and life have come to epitomize the extravagant culture of the 1920s Jazz Age.

A Luckless Santa Claus

F. Scott Fitzgerald
This short story (1912) is from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s (1896–1940) prep school days, published when he was just 16 years old. On Christmas Eve, idle aristocrat Harry Talbot is challenged by his fiancée to give away $25 in one evening, but “real charity” proves comically difficult.