English Q1: The Beautiful and Damned

Posted by William Amari in English 3 - Rami - D on

​William B. Amari

October 17, 2013


20th in the 21st: Literary Review 

The Beautiful And Damned By F. Scott Fitzgerald.


In 1920, before Fitzgerald was Fitzgerald, before the Great Gatsby, before Paris, before Hollywood, before most English literature lessons of today, Mr. Fitzgerald was a struggling alcoholic writer from Minnesota. He wrote a lot and partied a lot and wrote some more. Eventually Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald managed to write his first novel. Published in 1921, this novel, This Side of Paradise, granted him overnight fame and fortune. It became an instant best seller and along with his newfound fame, Fitzgerald won over the woman he loved— a southern belle named Zelda Sayre— soon to be known as Ms. Fitzgerald. 

Fitzgerald always had potential. He was young, talented and a romantic believer in the American Dream. He was always looking through the windows of the rich, perceiving them for what they are and for what they are not. All eyes were on him now; on the new celebrity couple as their fans waited for Fitzgerald to produce his next masterpiece. In 1922 Fitzgerald released his second novel, The Beautiful and Damned. 

The title, The Beautiful and Damned is a most fitting title for such a book. In it, Fitzgerald writes beautifully, commits to his modernistic style and doesn’t apologize for it. But the grace of his style cannot quite make up for such a tragic plot. Almost none of the main characters are likable or show any of sign of decent humanity. Instead they are spoiled, lazy, irresponsible, unfriendly and disloyal. Because of his wealthy background, the main character, Anthony Patch, lacks any sort of ambition. In fact, he is extravagant, snobby and infantile. 

His leading lady, Gloria Gilbert, modeled on Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda, is the heroine. She is the true siren, attractive to all men who pass her way. Her hobbies unfortunately, consist of drinking and self indulgence and her passion is celebrity. She is beautiful and naive, and as quoted in the book, “She was dazzling -- alight; it was agony to comprehend her beauty in a glance.” 

The novel takes off when Anthony marries Gloria Gilbert and their troubles start to come to light. Throughout the novel they have many arguments and quarrel constantly. It seems they are in love with the idea of each other, valuing this over actual love, ambition and health. Besides this, both of them drink alcoholic beverages constantly. A common theme found in modernist literature, is that the main characters drink to forget and escape issues that they have created due to their own faults and they are unable to acknowledge their own shortcomings. This is precisely what happens in The Beautiful and Damned. When Anthony and his friends say, “Here’s to alcohol, the rose colored glasses of life.” They mean that alcohol, for these characters, is life itself. In fact, Anthony drinks so much that he is unable to function without it. 

Essentially this novel is about beautiful people living ugly lives. What happens when an heir—born with immense wealth, who studies in Europe, then graduates from Harvard—has everything he needs to succeed and yet completely screws up? The result is Anthony Patch, the “D” in Damned. He, the main character, perpetually fails at everything he attempts. 

Fitzgerald's third person writing itself, is beautiful and damned. Parts of the novel reveal tiny bits of brilliance, truly showing why Fitzgerald is the Great American Author. His use of vocabulary in the book is beautiful and inspiring but perhaps too impressive for its own good. Fitzgerald writes densely, using many words, but there are times where it just gets a little too verbose. Contemporary readers could find this 20th century classic a little old fashioned, making it difficult for them to make connections. The long conversations between Anthony and his friends, Dick and Maury are humdrum and overblown— confusing and unnecessary to the plot. However, towards the final part of the book, when the setting transitions to times of “The Great War” and the book starts to pick up. You are instantly engaged in Anthony as he wanders through the southern countryside. This part of the book is a new experience for Anthony and the reader. 

Fitzgerald will always engage you into the world that he writes about and The Beautiful and Damed is no exception. When reading you will instantly feel welcomed even into Anthony’s world of futility. It will frustrate you to observe young Anthony's constant failures. The books general atmosphere is blankness yet you feel hopeful for Anthony and believe that he might eventually find success. Fitzgerald is cunning in his use of pseudo-realism, using his description of young marriage as a decoy. The Beautiful and Damned is more of an analysis of up-scale youth than an actual novel. Parties were numerous, people destroyed things and accidents happened. Aimless strolls through Manhattan, country drives and whiskey binges are some of the most common themes in this novel. 

This book may not surpass Fitzgerald's 1925 classic, The Great Gatsby, but it still belongs on the bookshelf of the truest of literary fanatics. The Beautiful and Damned deserves your patience. Its a heavy novel but a worthy challenge. Most people will get a lot out of this novel, especially those who are trying to enrich their knowledge of early 20th century literature. It also deserves a ton of street-cred from those on the intellectual road. Everyone will eventually read or already has read Gatsby, but how many people can say that they read this semi-masterpiece? The Beautiful and Damned is not for the casual reader— it belongs to the most devoted Fitzgerald fans and to those who truly admire his use of the English language.


Book Information: 

Title: The Beautiful and Damned

Publisher: Charles Scribner’s Sons

Date of Publishing: 1922

Pages: 422

Genre: Fiction 

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