The Beautiful and Damned (Evergreens) - Softcover

Fitzgerald, F. Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847492126 ISBN 13: 9781847492128

Publisher: Alma Classics, 2013

Synopsis

Fitzgerald's second novel, based on his relationship with Zelda, explores New York café society "The idea that to make a man work you’ve got to hold gold in front of his eyes is a growth, not an axiom. We’ve done that for so long that we've forgotten there's any other way." The heir to his grandfather's considerable fortune, Anthony Patch is led astray from the path to gainful employment by the temptations and distractions of the 1920s Jazz Age. His descent into dissolution and profligacy is accelerated by his marriage to the attractive but turbulent Gloria, and the couple soon discover the dangerous flip side of a life of glamour and debauchery. Containing obvious parallels with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's own lives, the novel is a tragic examination of the pitfalls of greed and materialism and the transience of youth and beauty.

About this title

Book Description:

This edition includes a detailed account of the composition of the novel, a textual apparatus, a chronology of composition, and, uniquely, three versions of the ending. Explanatory notes situate The Beautiful and Damned in its times and deepen the reader's understanding of Fitzgerald's sources for the novel.

From the Inside Flap:

Following the great critical and financial success of his first novel, This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Beautiful and the Damned in 1922. An immediate success upon its first publication, Fitzgerald's second novel is a dazzling portrait of love and life among the beautiful people. Through the story of two newlyweds, Anthony Patch of New York and Gloria Gilbert of Kansas City, Fitzgerald flawlessly captures the heady atmosphere and jaded values of the Jazz Age. Patch, expecting to become the sole heir to his grandfather's millions, embraces a life of endless parties and intellectual pretensions. In Gloria, he finds an exquisite ornament and a passionate lover. The couple whirls through days that mirror Fitzgerald's own--a fast life amid a smart set for which there is never enough cash. Beginning with wit and clever repartee, The Beautiful and the Damned quickly becomes a scathing chronicle of a dying marriage and a hedonistic society where beauty is all too fleeting. Through the character of Richard Caramel, a successful hack writer whose talent fails as he prospers, Fitzgerald caricatures himself. But today's readers will find an even more poignant self-portrait of Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda in Anthony and Gloria, a couple whose days of wine and roses fade quickly toward a tragic end.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alma Classics
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1847492126
• ISBN 13: 9781847492128
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384