Wikipedia:Featured article review/Zelda Fitzgerald/archive1

Zelda Fitzgerald

Zelda Fitzgerald (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

• Featured article candidates/Zelda Fitzgerald

• Featured article review/Zelda Fitzgerald/archive1

Notified: JayHenry, Pantherpuma, Nikkimaria, Scartol, DrKay, AlexiusHoratius, HAL333, Dunks58, Valetude, Merry medievalist, Willthacheerleader18, Zziccardi, WikiProject Alabama, WikiProject Women writers, WikiProject Biography, WikiProject Women's History, talk page notification 19 March 2021

Flask please notify WP:BIO and WikiProject Womens’ History— both are listed on article talk. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 04:14, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

SandyGeorgia Done. — Flask (talk) 04:56, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Review section

As noted on the article's Talk Page nearly a year ago and not addressed, this Featured Article is in a poor state and has a number of issues which would require considerable effort to fix. The article was approved for FA status nearly fifteen years ago in 2008 when standards were more lax, and the Wikipedia user who created the article JayHenry has been inactive for over a decade. I shall list a small sample of the issues:

First, the article fails the FA criterion to be "well-researched." The use of a single source—Nancy Milford's 1970 biography—for the overwhelming majority of the article is insufficient to say the least. Much scholarly research about Zelda Fitzgerald has been undertaken by Sally Cline, Matthew J. Bruccoli, Deborah Pike, James L. West III, and many others since Milford's 1970 biography, yet very little of this newer research appears in this article. Consequently, various claims in the article are over fifty years out-of-date. For example: The article recounts Milford's hypothesis that F. Scott Fitzgerald forced Zelda to rewrite her novel Save Me the Waltz. However, early drafts of Zelda's novel were later analyzed by scholars, and the alterations demanded by F. Scott Fitzgerald were determined to be fewer than Milford supposed (Bruccoli 1991, p. 4). "The revisions Scott finally demanded were actually relatively few, and that the disagreement was quickly resolved, with Scott recommending the novel to Perkins" (Bryer & Barks 2009, p. 164). Accordingly, the article needs to be rewritten both to update such outdated claims and to include a more diverse array of sources.

Second, the article gives a misleading impression of her life. Currently, the article gives the misleading impression that Zelda's final decades were akin to the doomed Dauphin of France. Yet much of Zelda's later years were not spent imprisoned in mental institutions. She actually lived in Montgomery and held a variety of jobs. She had only just returned to the mental institution where she died in a hospital fire. Furthermore, the article gives undue weight to Zelda's novel Save Me the Waltz and implies its failure forever crushed her spirits. Yet, after writing the novel, Zelda embarked upon a career as a playwright and wrote the stage play Scandalabra in Fall 1932 (Bruccoli 2002, p. 343). The play was produced and staged in Baltimore (see her daughter Scottie's preamble in The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald, 1991). She drafted a second novel Caesar's Things and painted dozens of beautiful paintings. Yet, whereas Save Me the Waltz is given an entire section, there is inadequate coverage of these other important undertakings.

Third, the article fails the FA criterion to be "comprehensive." The article omits many events in the life of the subject. For example: Despite using Nancy Milford's 1970 biography as its primary source, the article ignores pivotal events in Milford's biography, especially regarding Zelda's mental health deterioration. There are no detailed references to her attempts to kill both herself and her child (see Milford 1970, p. 156). These omissions give the misleading impression that Zelda was hospitalized without due reason. Even more odd is the article's implications about Zelda's institutionalization (i.e., "Scott placed her in..."). As documented in her many biographies and her letters, Zelda often insisted on being hospitalized over Scott's objections (see Bruccoli 2002, p. 320: "Zelda insisted that she wanted to be hospitalized"). Scott objected because—as a miser—he didn't want to pay any hospital bills. Hence, it is peculiar how the article omits key events and phrases other events in a way that give a wrong impression.

Fourth, the article fails the FA criterion to be "well-written." Its prose is neither engaging nor of a professional standard. Sentences are inserted haphazardly; events are presented outside of chronological order; the subject and her husband are often interchangeably and confusingly referred to as "Fitzgerald". The article needs a thorough prose audit by the Guild of Copy Editors.

Fifth, the article fails to convey why the subject is notable. Zelda Fitzgerald is often hailed by cultural historians as "the High Priestess of the Jazz Age," and yet the article does not adequately convey why she is historically notable other than as the wife of a famous author. By omitting or occluding many key events in her life, the article does not convey why so many scholars regard Zelda Fitzgerald to be a Jazz Age icon.

In sum, I do not believe this article should qualify as a Featured Article in its current state. This article needs a lengthy, painstaking and complete rewrite as its current iteration gives an incomplete and inaccurate picture of Zelda Fitzgerald's fascinating life. Given that the bulk of the article was written using a single source, this rewrite will be a colossal task as it needs to draw upon at least half-a-dozen reputable biographies in order to fulfill the FA criteria of being comprehensive and well-researched. — Flask (talk) 01:52, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Taking a look at Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Zelda Fitzgerald the issue of sourcing was raised then, and in the 14 years since more sources are available. I see that Linda Wagner-Martin has published a biography that may or may not have been available to JayHenry and one of Cline's biographies was published in 2012, four years after the FAC. Updating sources is par for the course with our older FACs. Anyway, I'd like to rewrite this and think it's doable but a.) am currently committed to helping with J. K. Rowling FAR; b.) am a very slow worker. So it's up to the coords as to whether to hold and wait or go ahead with the delisting process. Victoria (tk) 17:46, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Maybe Flask would agree to have this put on hold until J. K. Rowling is done; I think that would be less than a month. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:55, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

I think this article would be better off de-listed as a FA so that Victoriaearle, HAL333, myself, and others could extensively rewrite it over a period of several months. I, too, am a slow worker, and a "well-written," "well-researched," and "comprehensive" FA about Zelda Fitzgerald would necessitate reading and synthesizing about a dozen authoritative biographies about the Fitzgeralds (i.e. Mizener, Turnbull, Bruccoli, Wagner-Martin, etc). Each of these sources often contradict each other in key details (e.g., whether or not Zelda and Scott were physically unfaithful during the early years of their marriage, etc.), and one must sift through mounds of conflicting information. Although a great deal of relevant details could be recycled from other articles such as Save Me the Waltz, Tender Is the Night, This Side of Paradise, etc., there is so much information that needs to be added, and much of that information lies within scholarly mine-fields. The ongoing scholarly debates about whether Zelda was the victim of sexual abuse by her father; the role of formerly enslaved African-Americans in the Sayre household; the question of how much the Sayre family's ties to the Ku Klux Klan protected Zelda from societal sanction in Mongomery, etc., are just a few examples of those mine-fields. Even if we rewrote this article over several months, I'm not sure the revamped article would meet current Featured Article standards. — Flask (talk) 18:57, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

I didn't realize there was a plan in place to delist and then take to FAC. Sorry for stepping in. In that case, I'll let it go. Just to say, though, in terms of what's needed, I do understand. Unwatching this and the Zelda articles now. Victoria (tk) 19:48, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

• Move to FARC per above, there have not been efforts to improve the article during the FAR. (t · c) buidhe 05:45, 24 January 2022 (UTC)
• Move to FARC per concerns above. Hog Farm _Talk 21:57, 24 January 2022 (UTC)
• Move to FARC concerns above still remain. Z1720 (talk) 16:42, 27 January 2022 (UTC)

FARC section

Issues raised in the review section include sourcing, comprehensiveness and prose. DrKay (talk) 17:05, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

• Delist - GamerPro64 06:36, 7 February 2022 (UTC)
• Delist no major edits since Jan. 12, lots of dubious tags, as well as some page number issues in citations. Z1720 (talk) 03:17, 8 February 2022 (UTC)
• Delist - significant work needed per FAR nomination. Hog Farm _Talk 02:38, 11 February 2022 (UTC)
• Delist significant work would be needed to get this up to FA criteria (t · c) buidhe 13:36, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
• Closing note: This removal candidate has been delisted, but there may be a delay in bot processing of the close. Please leave the {{featured article review}} template in place on the talk page until the bot goes through. DrKay (talk) 15:26, 13 February 2022 (UTC)