Tender Is the Night - Francis Scott Fitzgerald

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Tender Is the Night is a classic novel by the American writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1934. The title of the novel and the epigraph are taken from John Keats' Ode of the Nightingale. Fitzgerald began work on the work in 1925; the design and title of the future book underwent significant changes several times. The manuscript of several chapters of the first version of the novel Tender Is the Night, in which the protagonist Francis Melarkey, the Hollywood sound engineer, travels with his mother in Europe, has been preserved. On the Riviera, they get acquainted with the company of rich compatriots, Melarki falls under their influence and eventually kills his mother.

In the summer of 1929, the writer began writing the second version of the novel Tender Is the Night, putting into action Rosemary Hoyt and her mother, who meet on the ocean liner of Hollywood director Levellin Kelly and his wife Nicole. From this version there are two chapters in manuscript. The creation of the third variant of the novel Tender Is the Night began in 1932, Fitzgerald developed a plan for the novel, outlined the time of action, the age of the characters, the main plot points, including the motive of mental disorder Nicole. The novel was completed by the end of 1933 and then received its final name. The piece was published in Scribner’s Magazine in January – April 1934.

Following the comments of critics that the chosen structure of the novel violates its logical and chronological sequence, Fitzgerald, in December 1938, invited Scribner’s publisher to rework the book, but did not finish this work. There is a copy of the novel with the pencil marks of the author, following which the well-known critic and friend of Fitzgerald Malcolm Cowley rebuilt the novel. This version of the work was published in 1951.