F. Scott Fitzgerald Full name Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. (1896 — 1940) A famous American novelist and short story writer. F. Scott Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. He is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He wrote four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night; (the last, unfinished novel The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published posthumously), numerous short stories, many of which treat themes of youth and promise, and age and despair. The Great Gatsby (1925) follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan and explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess.