Matthew Joseph Bruccoli

Background

Matthew Joseph Bruccoli was born in 1931 into an ethnic Italian family in The Bronx, New New York

Education

He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1949. He studied at Cornell University, where one of his professors was noted Russian author Vladimir Nabokov, and at Yale University. He completed graduate work in English at the University of Virginia, earning a master"s degree and doctorate in 1960.

Career

He was the preeminent expert on F. Scott Fitzgerald. He also wrote about writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe and John O"Hara, and was editor of the Dictionary of Literary Bruccoli"s interest in F. Scott Fitzgerald began in 1947 when he heard a radio broadcast of Fitzgerald"s short story "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz". That week he tracked down a copy of The Great Gatsby, "and I have been reading it ever since," he told interviewers.

Bruccoli taught at the University of Virginia and the Ohio State University early in his career.

He settled at the University of South Carolina, where he earned tenure and taught for four decades. He lived in Columbia, South Carolina, where, according to his New York Times obituary, he "cut a dash on campus, instantly recognizable by his vintage red Mercedes convertible, Brooks Brothers suits, Groucho mustache and bristling crew cut that dated to his Yale days.

His untamed Bronx accent also set him apart."

Over the course of his career, Bruccoli wrote more than 50 critical books on F. Scott Fitzgerald and other literary figures. His 1981 biography of Fitzgerald, Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, is considered the standard Fitzgerald biography.

He has edited many of Fitzgerald"s works, from This Side of Paradise to Fitzgerald"s unfinished final novel, The Last Tycoon.

lieutenant had first been published posthumously in 1941. Edited by Bruccoli, it was published in a new version in 1993 as The Love of the Last Tycoon, part of a collection by Cambridge University Press. Bruccoli also edited Zelda Fitzgerald"s only novel Save Maine the Waltz.

She was married to Scott.

Bruccoli owned the artist"s copy of Celestial Eyes, the cover art by Francis Cugat which appeared on the cover of the first edition, and most modern editions, of The Great Gatsby. In 1969, Bruccoli befriended Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald, the daughter of the Fitzgeralds.

In 1976, Bruccoli and Scottie Fitzgerald Smith published The Romantic Egoists, from the scrapbooks that F. Scott and Zelda had maintained. These had included numerous photographs and book reviews.

The collection is valued at nearly $2 million.

Bruccoli was general editor of the "Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography," published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. As part of this series, he produced F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Descriptive Bibliography and, with Richard Layman, Ring West. Lardner: A Descriptive Bibliography (1976). Bruccoli had written a working draft of the Lardner book in the summer of 1973 before giving it to" his then-graduate-research-assistant Layman to work on checking lieutenant

Layman displayed so much aptitude for the assignment that a collaboration seemed obligatory."

Along with Layman, who became recognized as a Dashiell Hammett scholar, and businessman C. East. Frazer Clark, Junior., Bruccoli launched the Dictionary of Literary The 400-volume reference work contains biographies of more than 12,000 literary figures from antiquity to modern times.

Bruccoli continued working at the University of South Carolina until being diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died on June 4, 2008.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Last of the Novelists: F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Last Tycoon

    ( Re-creating the author’s intention from the manuscripts...)

  • Dictionary of Literary Biography: James Gould Cozzens:A Documentary Volume

    (This award-winning multi-volume series is dedicated to ma...)

  • Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald (REV)

    (The standard work on Fitzgerald, revised, enlarged, and u...)

  • The Composition of Tender is the Night

    ( Working with the complete collection of Tender is the N...)

  • Joseph Heller: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)

    (Joseph Heller (1923-1999) became a major American author ...)

  • Joseph Heller: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)

    (Joseph Heller (1923-1999) became a major American author ...)

  • The Composition of Tender Is the Night: A Study of the Manuscripts

    (A complete study of the book including holographic pages ...)

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)

    (A research archive documenting Fitzgerald's career and li...)

  • James Gould Cozzens: A Life Apart

    (The dust jacket has a minor blemish at the heel of the sp...)

  • Nelson Algren: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)

    (Book by Bruccoli, Matthew Joseph, Baughman, Judith)

  • The Fortunes of Mitchell Kennerley, Bookman

    (Notes, photos, index, bibliography, appendixes.)

  • Ross MacDonald (HBJ Album Biographies)

    (Biography, American Studies, Literary Studies)

  • James Dickey: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)

    (A very extensive and thorough bibliography. Covers Separa...)

  • Scott and Ernest: The Authority of Failure and the Authority of Success

    (Dust jacket design by Jack Ribik. Bruccoli reevaluates th...)

  • Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald

    (Book by Matthew J. Bruccoli (Edited by))

  • Raymond Chandler: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)

    (First edition. Definitive work to date. xvi, 149 pages. c...)

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald on Authorship

    ("F. Scott Fitzgerald on Authorship" assembles Fitzgerald'...)

  • James Gould Cozzens, a Documentary Volume(Hardback) - 2004 Edition

    (New)

  • Ring W. Lardner: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh series in bibliography)
  • Kenneth Millar/Ross Macdonald. A checklist. Compiled by Matthew J. Bruccoli. Introduction by Kenneth Millar, etc.
  • Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald by Matthew J. Bruccoli (Edited by) (1983-01-01) Paperback
  • (The Sons of Maxwell Perkins: Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and Their Editor ) Author: Matthew J. Bruccoli Jun-2004
  • Classes on Ernest Hemingway.
  • James Gould Cozzens: A Life Apart
  • Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F.Scott Fitzgerald by Bruccoli, Matthew J. (2002) Paperback
  • Scott and Ernest: The Authority of Failure and the Authority of Success by Matthew J. Bruccoli (1978-03-01)
  • Ross Macdonald/Kenneth Millar: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography) by Matthew J. Bruccoli (1983-12-06)
  • The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald
  • Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F.Scott Fitzgerald by Matthew J. Bruccoli (30-Jun-2002) Paperback
  • The Sons of Maxwell Perkins: Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and Their Editor
  • Scott & Ernest the Authority of Failure
  • (F.Scott Fitzgerald on Authorship ) Author: Matthew J. Bruccoli Sep-1996
  • Ross Macdonald/Kenneth Millar: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)
  • James Gould Cozzens: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography)
  • The Fortunes of Mitchell Kennerley, Bookman by Matthew Joseph Bruccoli (1986-09-01)
  • (Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F.Scott Fitzgerald ) Author: Matthew J. Bruccoli Sep-2002
  • Raymond Chandler: A Descriptive Bibliography (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography) by Matthew Joseph Bruccoli (1979-05-03)

Membership

There he was a founding member of the fledgling Manuscript Society, graduating in 1953.

Connections

Father:

Joseph M. Bruccoli

Mother:

Mary (Gervasi) Bruccoli

Spouse:

Arlyn Shuey Firkins

child:

Josephine Arlyn Bruccoli

child:

Mary Firkins Bruccoli

child:

Joseph Matthew Bruccoli

child:

Arlyn Barbara Bruccoli