Fitzgerald wasn't joking with that title. These people were completely screwed from the moment they hit the page, and it was fascinating to watch it all disintegrate. As I mentioned in the review I just finished for n  Tender is the Nightn, I found Anthony and Gloria to be some of the more unsympathetic characters I've encountered lately. They are both vain and shallow and utterly useless people in terms of anything practical. I can't imagine being friends with these people. This book worked for me primarily on the level that Fitzgerald managed to keep me hoping that they'd finally get their act together. Of course they don't, but that's not really the point. I kept caring about them even though I didn't particularly like them. I wanted to plead with the judge to give them the money, even though my better sense told me the money really wasn't as much of the problem as they were.

I really enjoyed this book - also, an excellent cautionary tale on how not to handle your personal finances.

Solid four stars for this novel. I enjoyed it. While certainly describing a different, more modern, era of life in New York City, this novel reminded me of Edith Wharton's treatment of the social conditions, ambitions, and mores in the Gilded Age, particularly for the wealthier class. Although having said that, I do think Wharton the more accomplished and polished author. This was fun to read to better understand the day-to-day lives, ambitions, and habits of the up-and-coming in the Jazz Age, with the flappers, dancing, and continuous music. At times it almost felt frenetic. The only other novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that I had read was (obviously) The Great Gatsby, and I definitely thought The Beautiful and the Damned the better effort. The characters were flawed, but generally likeable, and felt real to me. Lots of booze drinking (and smoking) going on in an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel for sure. Pour me a martini, I plan to read Tender is the Night soon!

n  

A thousand taxis would yawn at a thousand corners, and only to him was that kiss forever lost and done. In a thousand guises Thais would hail a cab and turn up her face for loving. And her pallor would be virginal and lovely, and her kiss chaste as the moon...

n
Can anyone write as gorgeously as Fitzgerald about illusion and the ephemeral nature of beauty, loss of love and failure, toxic marriages and breakdowns?

The first time I started this book, it didn't work for me. But it's been nagging at the margins of my consciousness and so I went back to it via an audiobook and this time we clicked. So much so, in fact, that I had to get the book out again as there are passages that really deserve to be read - slowly - rather than just listened to.

In lots of ways, FSF is writing the same book over and over again: this one has elements of This Side of Paradise and looks forward to Tender is the Night, the latter my favourite book of his. This still feels young and a bit uneven in its craft: the 'play scenes' don't really work and feel somewhat awkward; the shifting emphases on Gloria and Anthony, especially the long stretch during which he's in the army, can make the storyline feel a bit ragged - but there are places where the mature Fitzgerald comes startlingly into focus: Gloria's flight to the station at night, her moments of transcendence, the slow breakdown at the end.

And this is funny! FSF's irony makes a fine showing here, and there are places that had me sniggering out loud (Richard Caramel and 'The Demon Lover'!) But the mood overall shifts between glamorous optimism and an kind of aching melancholy. This is no morality tale and is probably not for readers who need to like characters to enjoy a book.

I find it fascinating that for all the constrictions on women at the time, in Fitzgerald's books they somehow survive better than the male protagonists - a biased (and self-pitying?) commentary on Fitzgerald's own marriage? Not quite the story Zelda tells in her 'Save Me the Waltz'.

In any case, I loved this book: it sets up its characters as wealthy, beautiful, privileged, educated (the men, at least), imbued with imagination and lovely dreams only to have them squander everything from money to love, illusions overturned, harsh reality crushing them. Gorgeous, glorious writing from Fitzgerald.

Anthony is young, lazy, handsome, and bored with the world. He spends his days having meals with his companions, Maury and Richard, and participating in the art of 'doing nothing'. When Richard introduces Anthony to his cousin Gloria, the world is suddenly a bit less boring.
Gloria is beautiful, with childish features and, like Anthony, bored easily. But Anthony is the first man in a long string of dull romances that she does not tire of. The two marry and are at the height of their lives.
But Anthony and Gloria are almost too much of alike to be compatible. Both are incessantly bored and restless, neither wanting to get a job but continuing to spend money lavishly.

The Beautiful and Damned is accurately named, as it follows the slow but steady decline of a middle-upper class 1920's couple.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; I love F. Scott Fitzgerald. I will read anything he writes and am unable to dislike it. His stories seem rather pointless at first but become something more as the novel goes on. (Sort of. I don't really have a reason for loving the guy so much. Other people might think differently.)
He writes a tale almost frighteningly similar to his own sad life to come; a failing marriage, a secret affair, Anthony's addiction to alcohol, Gloria's growing mental unstability, etc. Scott heavily takes his own life experiences out and into the book. It's as if he's foreshadowing his own demise.

Anyway, Fitzgerald makes unlikeable characters surprisingly likeable. I'm mostly talking about the defiant, sassy as hell Gloria. Anthony can go jump off a building for all I care. Gloria's such a naive, unsympathetic character that I can't help but adore her simply for her moments of weird outbursts and occasional sass. She's spoiled and at times unreasonable but there's just something about her that I like.

Anthony had a problem with not being able to say 'no' or to stand up for himself. I sympathized with him at first but he grew to be a real dick (Caramel -snickers-).

Once again, Fitzgerald has written an enjoyable novel of the 1920's, proving that boredom and laziness can be a dangerous habit with unpleasant consequences.

‹‹ Si chiese se fossero lacrime di autocommiserazione, e si impegnò risolutamente a non piangere, ma quell’esistenza priva di speranza, priva di felicità, la opprimeva, e ora non faceva che scuotere il capo da parte a parte, la bocca tirata tremolante sugli angoli, come se stesse negando un’asserzione fatta da qualcuno chissà dove. Non sapeva che questo suo gesto era più antico della storia stessa, che, per cento generazioni di uomini, il dolore, intollerabile e persistente, ha offerto quel gesto, di diniego, di protesta, di sconcerto, a qualcosa di più profondo, di più potente del Dio fatto a immagine dell’uomo, e di fronte al quale Dio, se esistesse, sarebbe altrettanto impotente. ››

Dietro l’impronta scintillante con cui inizia il romanzo, con quella freschezza gioiosa e un po’ ironica nel presentare il protagonista, c’è la disamina profonda del dolore.
Chissà come dovettero rimanere delusi, coloro che si aspettavano di trovare un romanzo ricco di frizzi e avventure, quando alla fine chiusero l’ultima pagina di Belli e dannati.
Il romanzo segue una curva discendente, di perfezione Fitzgeraldiana, raccontando la vita dei due sposi Anthony e Gloria. La storia del matrimonio, dell’amore in nome del quale i protagonisti credono di aver raggiunto un posto nel mondo, prosegue tra capitoli che a volte si trasformarono in commedia sferzante e altri capitoli in cui Fitzgerald ci precipita nella disperazione più cupa. Più si va avanti nel romanzo e maggiore, più serrata, questa scalinata che conduce nelle profondità di una vita che pare inutile. Nemmeno l’amore può salvare da una inquietudine radicata nello spirito, nella consapevolezza di stare perdendo la propria vita adorando una divinità vana. L’indolenza, la ricerca del piacere a tutti i costi, l’incapacità di fermarsi e realizzare qualcosa di reale. E così la coppia si consuma nel desiderio di “festeggiare abbastanza prima che sia troppo tardi”, senza mai rendersi conto che è già tardi.
Belli e dannati è una apologia della consunzione, dello spreco, una vita passata gridando nella notte in una notte dove nessuno riuscirà a sentire.
La disperata attesa dell’eredità, che d’altronde potrebbe non meritare, spinge il protagonista maschile a seguire una cocciuta autodistruzione. Da giovane laureato ad Harvard egli non diventa assolutamente nulla. Il tempo scorre attorno a lui, senza migliorarlo, ma anzi è un peggioramento a cui assistiamo. E infatti all’età di trentatré anni, dice, ne dimostra quaranta.
La genialità dello scrittore si rivela nel modo che ha di rendere evidente questa discesa irrefrenabile. Con la sua innata sensibilità per la disperazione umana, per il desiderio che, viene detto, non è altro che una illusione, Fitzgerald ci dimostra che persino ottenere qualcosa di tanto bramato — l’eredità, alla fine — conduce ad un inferno personale. Anche se forse non si è in grado di vederlo, in prima persona. La distruzione di marito e moglie, interiore e fisica, è raccontata con pienezza di particolari. Si vede che niente è stato messo lì a caso; persino i prodotti acquistati dalla coppia, il lusso ricercato a più non posso, il numero delle ore passate a festeggiare, fanno parte di uno schema preciso.
Romanzo fortemente autobiografico, si chiude con un finale appropriato e crudele, e spinge a chiedersi se Fitzgerald fosse consapevole di avere avuto varie premonizioni sul proprio destino e quello di sua moglie.

‹‹ Non si può avere nulla. Non si può proprio avere nulla. Perché il desiderio è baro. E’ come un raggio di sole che vaga qua e là per la stanza. Si ferma e copre d’oro un oggetto insignificante, e noi poveri sciocchi cerchiamo di afferrarlo — ma quando ci riusciamo il raggio si sposta su qualcos’altro, e ci rimane in mano la parte insignificante mentre lo scintillio che ce l’ha fatto desiderare ormai è sparito. ››

It’s easy to dismiss this book as one of Fitzgerald’s lesser novels, but it’s actually a gem and I like it much more than The Great Gatsby. This follows the lives of two characters as they come together in a time filled with drinking and dancing, and fall apart when vanity and alcoholism take over in later years. The story is extremely descriptive written with meticulous attention to detail, and often moves between being manic; brilliant and exciting, to being depressive with illustrations of chaos and hatred.

I'll Be Damned

How could the same F. Scott Fitzgerald who composed such a brilliant novel in The Great Gatsby have preceded it with such a lifeless moral tale?

A bantam-cock and his haughty hussy, Anthony and Gloria Patch, squander their days for more than a decade of their lives anticipating an inheritance of a large part of the estate of Anthony's grandfather, a Rockefeller-type magnate, who excludes them from his Last Will and Testament because of their debauched style of living.

It's just hard to be captivated by two despicable anti-heroes.

The gritty sand before the pearl.

I found the introduction (written by Pagan Harleman) to be helpful and accurate - this novel is not a perfect work of art. However, it is truly original, as Fitzgerald incorporates and mixes different styles of writing; I understand why it is a classic.

I additionally found it fascinating to monitor how some of the characters would parallel Fitzgerald’s personal life in their downfall. I consider the dialogue to be the strongest point of this book.

It is truly enticing to be able to witness the deterioration of a character, which this novel portrays best. The language is beautiful - my vocabulary has been expanded. Fitzgerald is a literary master.

“Everything always gets mussed.”

I find I’m firmly in the camp that enjoys reading characters I don’t admire; characters who as people in real life, I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. We all have flaws and foibles, even a dark side, and it’s fun to explore that in fiction.

The beautiful and damned are Anthony and Gloria, born into not just privilege, but the absolute conviction that privilege was their destiny. This is their story; their life of love, leisure and an abundance of liquor.

Of course bad things happen to them, as they are wont to do, regardless of our money and beauty. We watch these two ride the ups and downs, stubbornly focused on their own north star. You feel a little conflict in them: is it really okay to be so selfish? Still it’s a state they continuously return to.

“They rejoiced happily, gay again with reborn irresponsibility.”

What keeps the reader going is Fitzgerald’s sparkling prose. Once in a while, someone has an epiphany, and when they do, the words can shine with clarity:

“He was wondering at the unreality of ideas, at the fading radiance of existence, and at the little absorptions that were creeping avidly into his life, like rats into a ruined house.”

And even tender beauty:

"Her voice seemed as much a part of the night as the drowsy breeze stirring the wide brim of her hat.”

In that this is a story of the messed-up lives of the truly objectionable, it reminds me of Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night. But I liked this better. Maybe by the time he wrote that one, he had honed the shallowness of his characters to such a point that it wasn’t interesting anymore. Here, they aren’t quite as jaded, quite as unpleasant. They struggle, and your heart goes out to them, a little anyway, when you don’t want to slap them upside the head.

“Why do they make spring a young girl, why does that illusion dance and yodel its way for three months through the world’s preposterous barrenness. Spring is a lean old plough horse with its ribs showing--it’s a pile of refuse in a field, parched by the sun and the rain to an ominous cleanliness.”

Aside from the Great Gatsby this is the only other novel I've read by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Years ago when living on a small Caribbean island, with limited things to do, I read a large collection of books that I had had the foresight to bring with me (it got dark at 6pm every evening after which it wasn't safe to leave my apartment). One book was a collection of Fitzgerald's short stories and I enjoyed them immensely. This book I also enjoyed.

The Beautiful and the Damned starts like most of his short stories. Young man falls hopelessly in love with young, beautiful, charming, highly intelligent yet distant girl. Her beauty, her charm draw the young man in like a siren's call. Her smile, which is no more than a mask of aloofness, lets no one in and drives him mad, almost to despair.

Fitzgerald invented the prototype of the Manic Pixie Girl that is so popular in Romantic movies of today. You know the type, she's sweet, sexy, devil-may carish. She dances in the rain, sings along in movie theaters and other behavior that would be considered irresponsible and weird in real life but comes across as funny and sexy in the movies.

The man is mesmerized and the fact that she's just out of reach emotionally keeps him reaching for her. Today's aggressively eager woman might learn a thing or two from these girls. Don't chase the boy, run away and have him chase you.

Ah, but I'm hopelessly old-fashioned. I'm also happily married, but that's a topic for another time.

Most of Fitzgerald's short stories end with the boy finally catching the girl. I don't say they all end happily, they're more complicated than that, but they don't continue into married life.

The Beautiful and the Damned does. The boy in this story, Anthony Patch, does finally catch the girl he passionately pursues but that is half the story. The rest of their story is about their married life. It is not a pretty tale, it is a tragic, but fascinating one.

The interest does not lie in the storyline per se. I suppose lots of authors have written about drunk people racing toward destruction, but Fitzgerald's writing simply bubbles and flows like an icy, clear water brook down a mountain side. His insight into the human soul, his ability to lucidly display its depraved nature, its desperate longing for greater things and its inability to save itself both repels while it simultaneously draws the reader in.

Anthony and Gloria get married. They soon discover that what, on Anthony's part at least, manically attracted them to the other person was not enough to sustain a marriage.

Gloria is still lovely to look at, but her impulsive behavior,self-absorption and strong will have lost some of their allure.

We are not entirely sure why Gloria married Anthony. He perhaps bored her less than the other men who sought her attention. She doesn't seem to have much of a conscience or reason to do anything except have a good time.

And what is a good time to Anthony and Gloria? Getting pleasantly inebriated with friends. This naturally costs money and neither of them have much. Anthony is counting on an inheritance he will receive at his grandfather's death.

Anthony is both contemptuous of his grandfather and also fears him because a wrong move could cost him millions of dollars. His grandfather points out Anthony's lack of ambition and also employment. He offers to provide Anthony employment. Anthony is a writer. His grandfather can get him a job as a war correspondent. (WWI has just started).

Anthony immediately protests. He could never desert Gloria! At the same time he imagines himself in uniform and the glamour this kind of work would give him.

Gloria would also like to work. A friend who produces Hollywood movies would like to give her a screen test. But Anthony absolutely refuses to permit it. His wife will never degrade herself like that.

So what do they do? Live on what little stipend and savings they have, but mostly they spend it on alcohol and parties with friends. They also make very foolish decisions such as renting both a country house and apartment in New York City.

They see that they are acting foolish but cannot seem to stop themselves. They know they must stop holding and attending parties, but when the evening rolls around, the empty life they see around them impels them to the social amusements. Life isn't worth living until after the fifth or sixth drink.

This cannot last and it doesn't. The grandfather dies, but unfortunately he dies shortly after walking in on a typical gathering of Gloria and Anthony's and everyone there is quite sloshed. The grandfather, a strong prohibitionist, goes home, cuts Anthony from his will and dies.

Anthony retains an expensive (and I mean very expensive) lawyer to contest the will. The court case drags on for years in Bleak House-ian style. In the meantime, Anthony is drafted, travels south for training but luckily avoids actual service since the war ends before he finishes boot camp.

He returns to Gloria and they carry on.

The two slide steadily toward the abyss. A few unexpected things happen toward the end and I won't deprive you of a good read by spoiling it.

Anyone familiar with Fitzgerad's real life can see obvious autobiographical connections. I was constantly reminded of Ernest Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" where Hemingway describes Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda in a way not very different from Anthony and Gloria.

Because they were close friends who spent a lot of time together in Paris, I found myself comparing Hemingway's writing to Fitzgerald's. I can only describe Hemingway's writing as a large, heavy, aggressive predator and Fitzgerald's as a lightweight boxer who rapidly and gracefully dances around his opponent getting jabs in that are only painful to himself. Hemingway enjoyed slaughtering his perceived enemies.

Hemingway's stories may pack a punch, but Fitzgerald's go down as smoothly as one of the alcoholic beverages his characters are forever imbibing.

Listen carefully. Lean in.

The title is “The Beautiful and Damned.” It is not “The Beautiful and The Damned.” The distinction is subtle but meaningful.

Fitzgerald’s second novel, The Beautiful and Damned, obsessively haunts, infiltrating thoughts when least suspected. Ironically, Fitzgerald hated this work; in fact, when Fitzgerald discussed reissuing all of his old novels in a single bound edition, this was not to be included, almost as though he wanted it to fade out of existence.

One of the many interesting things about this book is understanding Fitzgerald’s lived experience and understanding. In letters to his daughter, Scottie, he wrote that he knew relatively quickly that he made a mistake in marrying his wife, Zelda (Scottie’s mother).

On July 7, 1938, Fitzgerald wrote the following to his daughter:
I never wanted to see again in this world women who were brought up as idlers. And one of my chief desires in life was to keep you from being that kind of person, one who brings ruin to themselves and others. […] But sometimes I think that idlers seem to be a special class for whom nothing can be planned, plead as one will with them—their only contribution to the human family is to warm a seat at the common table.
[…]
But I don’t want to be upset by idlers inside my family or not. I want my energies and my earnings for people who talk my language.
The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, pg. 33

A little bit later in 1938, Fitzgerald again encouraged his daughter to apply herself in terms of her education, warning: “Every girl your age in American will have the experience of working for her living.” The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, pg. 36

The Beautiful and Damned is Fitzgerald’s way of expressing these sentiments in story. The main character, Anthony Patch, although highly educated, isn’t highly ambitious. He sits around, doing nothing by his own admission. One day, he meets the enchanting Gloria.

Gloria is a product of the times, class, and gender. Think back to Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Middlemarch, even Madame Bovary. High born women were developed as interesting creatures for their husbands. At the end of the day, a husband couldn’t flick on Netflix or even a television. The women were trained or educated to entertain, usually in the areas of singing, dancing, playing the piano. At this time, women had very limited job opportunities—often, they were wholly reliant upon either their husbands or their fathers for financial support. In many ways, Gloria is the last of her generation when she abruptly has to confront circumstances for which she is ill equipped as a result of her upbringing.

One scene that doesn’t particularly sit well is when Gloria only wants to eat 15 different foods and only prepared in a particular manner. While this scene is an attempt at humor, the joke is Anthony. Someone who only wants to eat 15 foods did not magically become that way overnight. If Anthony is shocked by this behavior, it shows how little he actually knew Gloria in the first place.

Of course, in this case, Fitzgerald is writing from his perspective, so the narrative is biased toward Anthony, but the real star of the novel is Gloria.

Yes, The Beautiful and Damned is too lengthy, and Fitzgerald hasn’t mastered dialogue yet.

However, this book begs to be read again and again.

Here are some questions to revisit:
1.tWhat impact did World War I have on this novel?
2.tWhat is Anthony’s legacy (both what he is receiving and giving)?
3.tAnthony does make half-hearted attempts to rise (he submits a story, he applies to be an officer), but these efforts fail. Is Anthony hindered by his last name? Does Anthony have free will or is his course dictated by fate? Are these struggles to show that life isn’t as simple/easy as it appears?
4.tAlthough Anthony is privileged, in what ways is he not truly free?
5.tWhat is “home” in this novel? What foundation does Anthony and Gloria have for their lives?

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' La fiera delle vanità '

Fitzgerald pubblicò questo libro nel 1922, quando aveva appena 26 anni.

Un giovane, alienato dal benessere, e una donna che si crede emancipata, ma priva di quell'emancipazione da se stessi che è condizione basilare per una vita serenamente consapevole.
"Avevamo scoperto di avere in comune molte idee fisse e stranezze e bizzarrie mentali". Senza progetti, se non quello di 'essere felici'. Con l'egocentrismo del 'tutto e subito', "pareva che nulla diventasse rancido in fretta quanto il piacere".
Una coppia del genere offre un impietoso ritratto di quella gioventù in perenne girotorndo intorno al vuoto che deve aver caratterizzato l'America 'da bere' , da cui la letteratura ha potuto trarre vari spunti.

Tema centrale: la dissipazione, che è innanzitutto dissipazione di se stessi.
Il primo sintomo che individui come loro sono in grado di percepire è la noia. Feste, balli, ubriacature : e poi? Cominciano ad avvertire che "lo stare a casa era noioso" ; "preferivano invece andarsi ad annoiare a una commedia musicale stupida o recarsi a cena con i conoscenti più insignificanti, purché ci fossero abbastanza coppie da impedire che la conversazione diventasse del tutto insopportabile".
Dalla passione allo smarrimento di due personaggi senza spessore. Ma la vicenda ci riserva ancora ben altro ; anche i sentimenti sono soggetti a trasformazione. Poi un finale di svolta, rappresentato con una punta di sarcasmo e una pennellata di pittoresco.

Il libro può facilmente coinvolgere il lettore, e anche farlo riflettere (buona l'analisi relazionale). La lettura è agevole. Ma come pare ancora lontano "Il grande Gatsby" con la sua meravigliosa scrittura!