Fitzgerald Back From Riviera; Is Working On Novel
by Chicago Daily Tribune (Paris Edition), 9 April 1929
Describing the French Riviera as “the most fascinating amalgamation of wealth, luxury and general uselessness in the world,” Scott Fitzgerald, famous and still youthful American novelist, has returned to Paris after a short sojourn in Nice. He was accompanied by his wife and little daughter, “Scottie Jr.,” and will remain here until he has finished his latest book—the first in two and a half years.
“That's the why of my new novel,” said Mr. Fitzgerald. “It's about the Riviera, and that's all I can say about it today.”
The young author of This Side of Paradise and half a dozen other best-sellers didn't give the reporter a chance to ask questions. “As I said on leaving Nice,” he continued, “I have nothing to say about the Hoover Administration, the I'm Alone case, Prohibition in America, Col. Lindbergh or why I live abroad.”
He consented, however, to confide a bit of Riviera scandal. “The American artists' colony at Cagnes-sur-Mer is having a lot of trouble with the town postmaster,” he laughed. “Their cheques from home haven't been arriving fast enough, and you know what life is for Bohemians when cheques stop coming from home. Anyway, I hear they're going to have the postmaster fired for holding up their letters.”
The genial Mr. Fitzgerald advised Sinclair Lewis's new novel Dodsworth for “all Americans abroad who don't pay any attention to H. L. Mencken's criticisms.”
Published in Chicago Daily Tribune (Paris Edition) newspaper (9 April 1929). This text scanned from F. Scott Fitzgerald on Authorship, ed. M. J. Bruccoli with J. S. Baughman (Columbia: U of South Carolina P, 1996).
Not illustrated.