Fitzgerald, F(rancis) Scott (Key) (b. Sept. 24, 1896, St. Paul, Minn., U.S.—d. Dec. 21, 1940, Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. novelist and short-story writer. Fitzgerald attended Princeton University but dropped out with bad grades. In 1920 he married Zelda Sayre (1900-48), daugh¬ ter of a respected Alabama judge. His works, including the early novels This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922) and the story collections Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) and All the Sad Young Men (1926), capture the Jazz Age’s vulgarity and dazzling promise. His brilliant The Great Gatsby (1925; film, 1926, 1949, 1974; TV movie 2001), a story of American wealth and corruption, was eventually acclaimed one of the century’s greatest novels. In 1924 Scott and Zelda became part of the expatriate community on the French Riviera, the set¬ ting of Tender Is the Night (1934; film, 1962). His fame and prosperity proved disorienting to them both, and he became seriously alcoholic. Zelda never fully recovered from a mental breakdown in 1932 and spent most of her remaining years in a sanitarium. In 1937 Scott moved to Hol-
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Fitzroy River ► Flagler I 679
lywood to write film scripts; the experience inspired the unfinished The Last Tycoon (1941; film, 1976). He died of a heart attack at age 44.
Fitzroy River River, eastern Queensland, Australia. Formed by the con¬ fluence of the Dawson and Mackenzie rivers, on the slopes of the East¬ ern Highlands, it flows northeast across the Broadsound Range and then southeast to enter the Coral Sea after a course of 180 mi (290 km). It is navigable 35 mi (56 km) from its mouth.
Fitzroy River River, northern Western Australia. It rises in the Durack Range and flows southwest through the King Leopold Ranges and the Geikie Gorge (where freshwater crocodiles are found). Turning northwest, it completes its flow of 350 mi (560 km), emptying into the Indian Ocean at King Sound. Sandbars and snags prevent navigation. Fitzroy Crossing, a town on the upper river, is in an area of large waterholes that sustain wildlife; just above it is the Geikie Gorge National Park.
Fiume question Vfyii-maV Post-World War I controversy over control of the Adriatic port of Fiume (modern Rijeka, Croatia). The secret Treaty of London (1915) had assigned Fiume to Yugoslavia, but the Italians claimed it at the Paris Peace Conference. In 1919 Gabriele D'Annunzio mustered a small force and occupied Fiume. After Italy concluded the Treaty of Rapallo (1920) with Yugoslavia, which provided for a free state, it sent a battleship to scare him off. When Benito Mussolini came to power, he pressed for a new treaty (1924) that recognized Fiume as Italian and the suburb of Susak as Yugoslav. After World War II, Fiume became part of Yugoslavia.
Five, The or The Mighty Five Group of Russian composers who, in the 1860s, banded together in an attempt to create a truly national school of Russian music. The Five were Cesar Cui (1835-1918), Aleksandr Boro¬ din, Mily Balakirev, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. A somewhat larger group around this core was referred to as “the Mighty Handful.”
Five Articles Oath See Charter Oath
Five Classics Chinese Wujing Five ancient Chinese books associated with Confucius. For more than 2,000 years they were invoked as authori¬ ties on Chinese society, government, literature, and religion. Chinese stu¬ dents usually studied the shorter Four Books before attempting the Five Classics, which consist of the Yijing (“Classic of Changes”), the Shujing (“Classic of History”), the Classic of Poetry, the Collection of Rituals, and the Chunqiu (“Spring and Autumn Annals”). The Five Classics were taught from 136 bc (when Confucianism became the state ideology of China) until the early 20th century. Proficiency in the texts was required for any scholar applying for a post in the vast government bureaucracy. After 1950 only select texts were taught in public schools. See Chinese EXAMINATION SYSTEM.
Five Dynasties Period in Chinese history betweeen the fall of the Tang dynasty (907) and the founding of the Song dynasty (960), when five would-be dynasties (the Hou Liang, the Hou Tang, the Hou Jin, the Hou Han, and the Hou Zhou) followed one another in quick succession in northern China. The period is also called the Ten Kingdoms because of the 10 regimes that dominated separate regions of southern China in the same period. Though unstable politically, culturally it was a period of great accomplishment. Printing with wooden blocks was fully developed; the first complete printing of the Confucian Classics was completed in 953. The form of lyric poetry called ci {tz’u) flourished, and flower paint¬ ing, previously distinctively Buddhist, became a branch of nonreligious painting.
Five Pecks of Rice Daoist-inspired popular movement that occurred near the end of China’s Han dynasty (206 bc-ad 220) and greatly weak¬ ened the government. It became a prototype of the religiously inspired popular rebellions that were to erupt periodically in China throughout its history. Its founder, Zhang Daoling, is considered the first patriarch of the Daoist church in China. He was originally a faith healer, and the move¬ ment’s name came from the five pecks of rice a year that clients paid him for their cure or as dues to the cult. During a time of poverty and misery, Zhang’s grandson Zhang Lu set up an independent theocratic state that grew to encompass all of present-day Sichuan province. In ad 215 Zhang Lu surrendered to Cao Cao. See also Daoism; White Lotus; Yellow Turbans.
Five-Year Plans Method of planning economic growth over limited periods, through the use of quotas, used first in the Soviet Union and later in other socialist states. In the Soviet Union, the first Five-Year Plan
(1928-32), implemented by Joseph Staun, concentrated on developing heavy industry and collectivizing agriculture, at the cost of a drastic fall in consumer goods. The second plan (1933-37) continued the objectives of the first. Collectivization led to terrible famines, especially in the Ukraine, that caused the deaths of millions. The third (1938-42) empha¬ sized the production of armaments. The fourth (1946-53) again stressed heavy industry and military buildup, angering the Western powers. In China, the first Five-Year Plan (1953-57) stressed rapid industrial devel¬ opment, with Soviet assistance; it proved highly successful. Shortly after the second plan began in 1958, the Great Leap Forward was announced; its goals conflicted with the five-year plan, leading to failure and the withdrawal of Soviet aid in 1960.
fjord or fiord \fe-'ord\ Long, narrow arm of the sea, often extending well inland, that results from marine inundation of a glaciated valley.
Many fjords are remarkably deep; it is assumed that the huge glaciers that formed in these valleys were so heavy that they eroded the bottoms of the valleys far below sea level.
After the glaciers melted, the waters of the sea invaded the valleys.
flag Combination of symbols repre¬ sented on a piece of cloth, serving as a medium of social, typically politi¬ cal, communication. It is usually rectangular and attached by one edge to a staff or is hoisted on a pole with halyards. Flags appear to be as old as civilized human society, though their origin is not well understood. The Chinese may have been the first to develop cloth flags, and it is believed that they were introduced to Europe by returning Crusaders. Most national flags in use today were designed in the 19th and 20th centuries.
flagellants Vfla-ja-lantsV Medieval religious sects that included public beatings with whips as part of their discipline and devotional practice. Flagellant sects arose in northern Italy, and had become large and wide¬ spread by c. 1260. Groups marched through European towns, whipping each other to atone for their sins and calling on the populace to repent. They gained many new members in the mid-14th century while the Black Death was ravaging Europe. Though periodically suppressed by the authorities, flagellant sects enjoyed sporadic resurgences into the 16th century.