A personal story in Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night

Tender is the Night is the third book I’ve read by F Scott Fitzgerald, and probably one of his most well regarded outside of Gatsby. I recently watched a film titled Genius about the life of Thomas Wolfe, in which Wolfe says at one point that Scott’s writing is “safe” and doesn’t challenge the reader. That may be true, but Night is still brilliant.

Written at a time with Scott himself was struggling with alcoholism and also with his ailing wife Zelda, this novel tells the story of the Diver family. Dick Diver is a renowned psychologist who has married one of his patients, Nicole. Nicole comes from a wealthy family and Dick struggles with trying to provide for her in the way she is accustomed, without using her money. They are happy for the most part until Dick has an affair (first emotional, years later physical) with a young American actress named Rosemary. Throughout the course of the book, the reader tends to like Dick despite his shortcomings. Like Rosemary, we see him as a dashing young man, popular with everyone. However, I start to realize that of course his relationship with Nicole isn’t as healthy as it should be, as she adores him as her savior and can find no fault in him. We forgive him a lot, until it gets to a point that we realize he has been fooling us, along with everyone else around him. By the end of the book he is a drunk, no longer treats his wife well, and has become an outcast in society due to his rude behavior. Nicole, no longer a victim of her mental health problematic past, leaves him abruptly. When it happens, Dick isn’t even surprised.

This was the last novel Fitzgerald finished in his life, and it was obviously heavily influenced by his struggles in the late 20’s and early 30’s (the book was published in 1934). In 1930 and again in 1932 his wife spent time in a psychiatric ward, and perhaps by writing that Nicole survived the system and later thrived, Scott was hoping for the best for his own wife. A beautifully written novel from start to finish.