(pictured in 1949) lived with Fitzgerald at the time he was writing the novel. Her input was sought by Edmund Wilson when he was editing the novel for publication. Fitzgerald first conceived the idea for the novel in 1931, when he met
Irving Thalberg in
Hollywood. Accordingly, Fitzgerald decided to set the novel in 1935, when Thalberg was still alive, so that more comparisons could be drawn between Stahr and Thalberg's lives. In preparation for writing the novel, Fitzgerald gathered all the information he could about Thalberg. Fitzgerald was initially calling the novel
The Love of the Last Tycoon: A Western. Fitzgerald planned the novel to be "constructed" and "dramatic" like
The Great Gatsby, working methodically on it and reading his progress each night to
Sheilah Graham. Fitzgerald incorporated his own experiences into the novel, such as his first meetings with Graham. Stahr and Kathleen's first meeting was inspired by Fitzgerald and Graham's first meeting; the two had met at a party and danced together. Indeed, Graham believed that the character of Kathleen was based on herself; she noted that Fitzgerald had written the character to feature many of her qualities, experiences and observations, including certain phrases that Graham had used herself. Graham contributed to certain scenes in the novel, including the seduction scene between Stahr and Kathleen. Originally, once Stahr began to tremble and lessen his grip on Kathleen, the scene ended without them having sex. Graham informed Fitzgerald that a woman who was in love with a man would be provocative and know how to arouse the man, and thus the two would consummate their relationship. Thus, Fitzgerald rewrote the scene to include Graham’s suggestion. Fitzgerald claimed that he would not see fellow contemporary writer
Ernest Hemingway until the novel had been published and was deemed a success. Fitzgerald told
Edmund Wilson that he had written the novel "with difficulty", but was optimistic of its quality, believing it to be his best book that would win back his readers. The novel was originally planned to be 50,000 words long, but at the time of Fitzgerald's death, the novel was expected to be 90,000 to 100,000 words long. Graham believed that the love story between Stahr and Kathleen was initially an "afterthought" when writing the novel, but grew in importance as the novel progressed. Fitzgerald planned the novel in nine chapters, numbered A to I. Fitzgerald wished to finish the novel by January 1941 and begin selling it by the fall of that year; however, he was behind schedule when he died in December 1940. Graham attributed this to two main reasons: firstly, the novel had expanded from what had originally been planned. Secondly, Fitzgerald could only work on the novel "in spurts", owing to his unstable financial situation, his ill health, and his necessity to take time off to write movie scripts so he would have enough funds to continue work on the novel. Fitzgerald was having trouble with writing the sixth chapter (numbered "F"), but had fixed the problems by the end of the night of his death. However, the novel was, according to Graham, "little more than half finished", while J. Donald Adams, writing for
The New York Times, notes that it was "something less than half the projected work", at around 60,000 words long. Fitzgerald's daughter,
Scottie, wrote that the unfinished novel was "almost the greatest tragedy" of his death: "It would have meant so much to him and to his career and to his reputation in the future."
Plans for remaining chapters At the time of his death, Fitzgerald had only completed the first draft of the novel up to the sixth chapter, with the remaining chapters consisting of outlines and notes only. In his notes for the sixth chapter, Fitzgerald had written "The Cummerbund", based on an anecdote of Graham's, in which she had decided not to marry a man because he wore a red
cummerbund, which had embarrassed her. Upon hearing the anecdote, Fitzgerald wrote it down and was evidently going to include it in the novel. In his notes for the following chapter (numbered "G"), a note read: "Last fling with Kathleen, Old stars in heat wave at
Encino." This was based on an "unbearably" hot day when Graham visited Fitzgerald at his house while other guests were there. Fitzgerald was to include a similar scene in the novel, with Stahr hosting a party for some of the "old stars" of the movie business. In the ninth and final chapter notes (numbered "I"), Fitzgerald had outlined plans for Stahr's funeral, which was to mirror that of
Jay Gatsby in his earlier novel
The Great Gatsby (1925), summarising the scene with a note that read "Johnny Swanson at funeral". According to Graham, Stahr's funeral was to be "pathetic in a totally different way" to Gatsby’s; while there were no mourners at Gatsby's funeral, there was to be every Hollywood-related person in attendance at Stahr's, each "vying for prominence". == Publication history ==