Call Number:

C0634

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 6 boxes
• 2.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Arthur Mizener Papers on F. Scott Fitzgerald, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1941-1982 (inclusive) and 1947-1951 (bulk)

Creator:

Mizener, Arthur

Form:

Correspondence -- 20th century

Abstract:

Consists of correspondence, manuscripts, and printed material relating to the Fitzgerald biography The Far Side of Paradise (1951) by the literary critic, editor, biographer, author, and educator Arthur Mizener.

Arthur Mizener (1907-1988) graduated from Princeton University in 1930, earned a masters at Harvard University, and then returned to Princeton to receive his doctorate in 1934. Mizener taught English at Yale University, Wells College, and Carleton College before becoming Cornell University's Mellon Foundation Professor of English in 1951. He later retired from teaching in 1975.

Mizener's most popular work was the first biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Far Side of Paradise (1951). Credited with renewing interest in its subject, the profile was the first account of Fitzgerald's life to be published. Mizener subsequently published three more books on Fitzgerald. His other writings include another biography of a literary figure, The Saddest Story: A Biography of Ford Madox Ford (1971), and essays on writing and literary criticism, such as The Sense of Life in the Modern Novel (1964).

The collection consists primarily of correspondence, manuscripts, and printed material relating to F. Scott Fitzgerald that Mizener used in preparation of his Fitzgerald biography The Far Side of Paradise (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951). Included is correspondence between Mizener and family, friends, acquaintances, and professional colleagues of Fitzgerald, such as Judge John Biggs, Ludlow S. Fowler, Sheilah Graham, Ginevra King, Harold Ober, Maxwell Perkins, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Frances "Scottie" Smith (daughter), and Lionel Trilling. There are forty letters (1948-1952) by Mizener to his editor at Houghton Mifflin, Paul Brooks, about the biography. The collection also contains the original typed manuscript with holograph corrections of the book , as well as essays, reviews, and a radio address about Fitzgerald for the Voice of America (1963). In addition, there are reviews of Mizener's book The Saddest Story: A Biography of Ford Madox Ford (1971), Fitzgerald's paperweight, Mizener's copy of The Far Side of Paradise with his handwritten and typed corrections for a revised edition, and an autograph letter by A. C. Chapman to Mizener concerning Fitzgerald.