Zelda returned to Paris once more where she and her husband settled into a home on 14 Rue de Tilsitt (Bruccoli). This return to the city of lights had mainly been fueled by Zelda’s feverish desire to become a prima ballerina. She had always loved ballet, and had been relatively good, but in her youth her teacher led her to believe her talent was exceptional and that she could go further than probable. Ballet became an unhealthy obsession for her. Zelda practiced ten hours a day and seven days a week with abnormal intensity. Her behavior during this time of her life became increasingly odd. During parties she practiced ballet routines over and over to the same song on her victrola, she piled her clothes into a bathtub and set fire to them, and once she even gathered jewels from guests at a party, putting them in a pot to boil to “make soup”(“The Fitzgeralds”).

Suzanne Jones, University of Richmond