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The Great Fitzgerald
了不起的菲茨杰拉德
Fitzgerald’s path as a writer was clear by the time he was 13-that was his age when his first story was published in the St. Paul Academy newspaper. Despite, or perhaps because of, his passion for writing, Fitzgerald was a mediocre student from his earliest days at Princeton University. It was during this time he began work on his first novel, a work that would ultimately be titled “This Side of Paradise."
13歲那年，菲茨杰拉德在圣保羅學院報上發表了第一篇短篇小說，開啟了他的文學創作之旅。盡管菲茨杰拉德癡迷于寫作，但也為其所累，致使他在普林斯頓大學的成績平平。正是這段日子里，他開始創作第一部長篇小說，最終命名為《人間天堂》。
When the United States entered the first World War in 1917，Fitzgerald quit school and enlisted in the Army. He trained at a camp just a few miles from Louisville, Kentucky. The camp represented a turning point of sorts for Fitzgerald: his first rejection from a publisher came while he was there and he met Zelda Sayre, the woman who would be his wife until his dying day.
1917年，美國加入了第一次世界大戰，此時菲茨 杰拉德選擇退學入伍。他的訓練營離肯塔基州的路易斯維爾只有幾英里的路，他在這里經歷了兩次人生的轉折點：第一次遭出版商退稿，結識了他的伴侶珊爾達·賽 瑞。
With the war was over, Fitzgerald returned to his parents' house. He revised his first novel “The Romantic Egotist” and renamed it “This Side of Paradise”. It was a contemporary work that spoke to a self-indulgent generation. This book was accepted and published in 1919.
戰爭結束后，菲茨杰拉德回到父母的住處。他修改了第一部小說《浪漫的自大狂》并將其命名為《人間天堂》。這部小說出版于1919年，以當時的社會為背景, 描寫了當時自我放縱的一代人。
The 1920s proved the most influential decade of Fitzgerald's development. “This Side of Paradise” became a national bestseller, as did “The Great Gatsby”, his best-known work. The setting of the Great Gatsby is New York City and Long Island during the 1920s. It is a work that seriously examines the theme of aspiration in America and defines the classic American novel.
20世紀20年代是菲茨杰拉德創作生涯中最重要的十年。《人間天堂》稱為全美暢銷小說，隨后問世的作品《了不起的蓋茨比》也風靡一時。《了不起的蓋茨比》 將故事背景設定在20年代的紐約和長島，小說深刻地討論了關于美國夢的主題，成為美國小說的經典。
The Great depression began in the fall of 1929 and for Fitzgerald, the loss was much more than financial. Around that time, Zelda, his wife, was diagnosed as schizophrenic, a condition with which she had struggled for most of her adult life. She had to be sent to a Baltimore hospital in 1930; she would remain hospitalized for most of the rest of her life. Fitzgerald rented a nearby house in which he wrote “Tender is the Night”, which reflected the bleakness he felt in his life.
1929年秋天開始，美國經濟陷入大蕭條，而菲茨杰拉德損失的不僅僅是金錢。當時，他的妻子珊爾達被確診為患有精神分裂癥，這是她成年后一直未能擺脫的噩夢。1930年，菲茨杰拉德把妻子送到巴爾的摩的一家醫院接受治療，珊爾達在那里度過余生大部分時光，而菲茨杰拉德在附近租了一處住所并開始創作《夜色溫柔》。 這部作品反映了他當時內心的沮喪和對生活的失望。
Fitzgerald’s work and legend has inspired writers ever since he was first published. It was written in a New York Times editorial after his death that Fitzgerald “was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a ‘generation’. He might have interpreted them and even guided them, as in their middle years they saw a different and nobler freedom threatened with destruction.”
自第一篇文章發表以來，菲茨杰拉德的作品和傳記一直啟發并鼓舞著后來的作家。他逝世后，《紐約時報》 刊登了一篇社論，稱菲茨杰拉德“做出了自己都沒有意識到的貢獻，因為無論是在現實世界里，還是在文學領域中，他開啟并引導了新的‘時代’。他不但是這代人的詮釋者，也是領路人，正是在菲茨杰拉德的帶領下， 這代人在人到中年時重新認識了岌岌可危卻更為崇尚的自由”。
Into the 21st century, Fitzgerald’s reputation continues to grow. Millions of copies of The Great Gatsby and his other works have been sold, and “Gatsby” a constant bestseller, is required reading in many high school and college classes.
進入21世紀后，菲茨杰拉德名聲不減。他的許多作品還十分熱銷，其中，《了不起的蓋茨比》不但長期在暢銷書單上榜上有名，而且成為許多中學和大學課程的必讀書目。
