The Beautiful and Damned - Softcover

Fitzgerald, F. Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1438295219 ISBN 13: 9781438295213

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009

Synopsis

F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel.
As is typical of Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned is at once a gripping morality tale, a rueful meditation on love, money and decadence, and an acute social document. This thematic dualism is created and sustained by an overarching consistency of tone and delivery. There exists a rare balance between the protagonist's poetic commentary and immediate circumstances, and the wider context of the novel, creating two equally significant levels to the text that complement each other synergistically.
The novel provides an excellent portrait of the Eastern elite as the Jazz Age begins its ascent, engulfing all classes into what will soon be known as Café Society. As with all of his other novels, it is a brilliant character study and is also an early account of the complexities of marriage and intimacy.

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1438295219
• ISBN 13: 9781438295213
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 232