F Scott Fitzgerald

Winter Dreams Illustrated F Scott Fitzgerald

"Winter Dreams" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that was first published in Metropolitan magazine in December 1922 and later collected in All the Sad Young Men in 1926. The story, frequently anthologized, is regarded as one of Fitzgerald's finest works "for poignantly portraying the loss of youthful illusions." In the Fitzgerald canon, the story is considered to be in the "Gatsby-cluster" as many of its themes were later expanded upon in his famous novel The Great Gatsby in 1925. Writing his editor Max Perkins in June 1925, Fitzgerald described "Winter Dreams" as "a sort of first draft of the Gatsby idea." The short story was based upon Fitzgerald's unsuccessful romantic pursuit of socialite Ginevra King. A wealthy heiress from a Chicago banking family, Ginevra enjoyed a privileged upbringing and was feted in the Chicago social scene as a member of the elite "Big Four" debutantes during World War I.