Zelda Fitzgerald And The French Aviator

Zelda Fitzgerald and the French Aviator

In an attempt to improve their deteriorating marriage, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald made the decision in 1924 to relocate to Europe. Soon after their arrival in the French Riviera, Scott began working feverishly on what would be The Great Gatsby, leaving him little time for family bonding. Servants tended to their only daughter, Scottie, and Zelda, with few other responsibilities, spent her days sunbathing, swimming, and playing tennis. At least this was the case up until she became acquainted with a young French aviator.

A local casino owner introduced the couple to a group of French naval officers that were stationed in nearby Fréjus. This was the first contact the Fitzgeralds

Leadership, athletic prowess, a smart military air were precisely those qualities Scott Fitzgerald lacked. It was as if Jozan and Fitzgerald were opposite sides of a coin, each admiring each other’s abilities, gifts, talents, but the difference in the equipment they brought to bear in life was clear.[1]

Soon after their introduction, Zelda and Edouard began spending more and more time together and it is most likely the allure of Edouard’s foreign characteristics which attracted her most, seeing that he was clearly the complete opposite of Scott.

At the beginning, Scott did not appear threatened by, what he viewed as, the friendship between the two. Eventually everyone in St. Raphael was aware of her affair with the aviator, but Scott remained oblivious as he was deeply immersed in his writing. It was apparent to everyone, including the Fitzgerald’s closest friends, in Edouard and Zelda’s interactions – spending hours on the beach together during the day and dancing with one another in the local casinos at night – that it was something more than mere friendship. Sheilah Graham recounts a conversation with F. Scott Fitzgerald in which he said, “I liked him and was glad he was willing to pass the hours with Zelda…It gave me time to write. It had never occurred to me that the friendship could turn into an

The Fitzgerald’s already deteriorating marriage was further wounded by this liaison. It could be considered that she used Jozan as a tool to prevent further intimacy between Scott and herself seeing that she was extremely unfulfilled in her marriage. In uncovering this information, Scott apparently challenged Jozan to a duel and even bought a pistol. Sheila Graham says, “According to Scott, they each fired a shot but neither harmed the other. While he was telling me this, I had the feeling that the whole episode was to provide material for his book, and this did.”[3] He used this experience and his pain in his writing; particularly in Tender is the Night and The Great Gatsby, where the theme of infidelity is ubiquitous.[4] Even though Zelda threatened Scott with divorce and apparently attempted suicide by taking an excessive amount of sleeping pills, her dependence on her husband forced her to abandon Jozan and remain Mrs. Fitzgerald. Scott failed to recognize this evidence as an indication of a troubled marriage and he continued to work hard on his novel. In a letter to Maxwell Perkins Fitzgerald explained this period as “a fair summer. I’ve been unhappy but my work hasn’t suffered from it. I am grown at