The Lees of Happiness

Master the 40: The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

As F. Scott Fitzgerald's debut novel, This Side of Paradise, becomes a Jazz Age rage in 1920, the Chicago Tribune invites the twenty-three-year-old writer to contribute an original short story to its Blue Ribbon Fiction Sunday section. The result is "The Lees of Happiness," published that December on the heels of his first story collection, Flappers and Philosophers. Although Fitzgerald collected "Lees" in his second story collection, Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), it remains widely overlooked. Our debut episode delves into the main themes and character types in this tale of romantic devotion and sacrifice, exploring its peculiar obsession with dirt, rompers, and biscuits. We also discuss intriguing tastemakers of the day such as Burton Rascoe and Edward J. O'Brien, noting how wrong they were in their estimation of FItzgerald, and delve into the scandalous relationship between Tribune publisher J. M. Patterson and fiction editor Mary King.