John Steinbeck in 1939 Born

Critical reevaluation[edit]

Fans of Fitzgerald often leave mementos at his grave.^[128]

By the time of his death, Fitzgerald was essentially unknown to the general public. The few who were familiar saw Fitzgerald as an alcoholic, the embodiment of Jazz Age decadence.^[129] Well after his death, Scribners still had many unsold editions of The Great Gatsby from its first printing.^[122] As late as the 1940s, many of Fitzgerald's works were labelled period pieces, with critic Peter Quennell dismissing The Great Gatsby as having "the sadness and the remote jauntiness of a Gershwin tune."^[130]

Fitzgerald died before he could complete his fifth novel. His manuscript, which included extensive notes for the unwritten part of the novel's story, was completed by his friend, the literary critic Edmund Wilson.^[131][132] When Wilson published his finished version, titled The Last Tycoon,^{[note 5]} in 1941, he included The Great Gatsby within the edition, sparking new interest and discussion.^[133] The novel gained further popularity during World War II, when it was selected to be part of the Armed Services Editions, books which were printed for American troops. Through an arrangement with the Red Cross, some novels were even sent to Japanese and German POW camps. By 1945, over 123,000 copies of The Great Gatsby had been distributed among American troops.^[134] In 1960, New York Times editorialist Arthur Mizener declared that it was "probably safe now to say that it is a classic of twentieth-century American fiction."^[97] Into the 21st century, millions of copies of The Great Gatsby and his other works have been sold, and The Great Gatsby is required reading in many high school and college classes.^[135]

The popular resurgence of The Great Gatsby also led to greater admiration and appreciation for Fitzgerald himself. In the 1950s, Wilson, who had attended Princeton with Fitzgerald, noted that Fitzgerald had taken on "the aspect of a martyr, a sacrificial victim, a semi-divine personage."^[136] In 1960, William Troy labelled Fitzgerald "one of the few truly mythological creations in our culture."^[137] Adam Gopnik noted that, counter to Fitzgerald's famous claim that "there are no second acts in American lives," Fitzgerald has become "not a poignant footnote to an ill-named time but an enduring legend of the West."^[136] A mythos has evolved around Fitzgerald and his life. In a 2008 interview, Jay McInerney claimed that "people believe the myth of Fitzgerald is—that he was seduced by this world that he wrote about, and that he ultimately couldn’t separate his life and his art."^[138] Fitzgerald's momentary success and early death result in many seeing him as a tragic figure.^[139]