At a glance
- Age
- 44
- Born
- September 24, 1896
- From
- Saint Paul
- Lives in
- Saint Paul
- Nationality
- United States
Biography
The phrase "Jazz Age" came into common use largely because he put it into circulation — the title of his story collection *Tales of the Jazz Age* helped fix the label on a decade, and his novels became the standard account of its flamboyance and excess. That is what most readers still come to him for: the writer who described a period of American money and appetite while living inside it.
The output was substantial. Four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories, produced by a man who wrote fiction, essays and stories across all three forms. Born in Saint Paul in 1896, he found success and money in the 1920s, but it did not hold. Critical acclaim arrived only after his death in 1940.
The gap between those two facts is why his career gets quoted so often. He is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century — a judgement he never heard delivered.
The output was substantial. Four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories, produced by a man who wrote fiction, essays and stories across all three forms. Born in Saint Paul in 1896, he found success and money in the 1920s, but it did not hold. Critical acclaim arrived only after his death in 1940.
The gap between those two facts is why his career gets quoted so often. He is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century — a judgement he never heard delivered.
