[danko]

It's interesting how this article conflicts the narrative (and indeed, Fitzgerald's own narrative) about his life. The narrative was that they lived fabulously until the simultaneous stresses of the the stock market crash and Zelda's mental breakdown in 1929. Turns out that at least from an income perspective, he was doing quite well up until the moment he died. But Zelda's healthcare costs ruined him anyway, and he cognitively backed himself in a corner in terms of making adjustments.

It reminds me of a quote from another famous author, one Charles Dickens:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

[dang]

He gave that line to Mr. Micawber and of course was intimately acquainted with poverty, but by the time Dickens wrote that he was as rich as a 19th century rock star. Indeed he made piles of money by touring—writers used to moonlight as performing artists. Once movies came out, that dried up, so they wrote screenplays instead, like Fitzgerald.

[njharman]

Ending with (non-adjusted)$35,000 in the bank is hardly "ruined".