Stewart O’Nan on “West of Sunset”

Guest: Stewart O’Nan

In his new novel, West of Sunset, STEWART O’NAN looks at the last three years of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life. Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood in 1937 to write for the movie studios. He was struggling financially, supporting his daughter in private school and Zelda in a sanatorium, and was suffering from depression and alcoholism. Living at the Garden of Allah hotel on Sunset Boulevard, Fitzgerald worked on scripts and began his final book which he never finished, The Last Tycoon. In this hour of Radio Times, Marty talks to Stewart O’Nan about his interest in Fitzgerald and the challenges of fictionalizing a historical life. O’Nan has written fourteen novels, including The Odds and Emily, and Last Night at the Lobster.