The Definitive Edition of The Beautiful and
Damned
Complete and unabridged edition of the original text with period photos
‘Fitzgerald is one of the greatest modern writers’ Malcolm Bradbury, The Guardian
‘Fitzgerald writes beautifully of both the decadence of wealth and the despair of having only change in your pocket’ Literary Lindsey
‘His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly’s wings’ Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED is the story of Anthony and Gloria, a glamorous New York couple at the beginning of the Jazz Age. Despite the privileges of wealth and position they squander everything on drink and parties. They may be beautiful but are they also damned?
This is the definitive, complete, original version in a stylishly presented edition with ten pictures of the Jazz Age and beyond. The images put the text in context as well as illustrate the story. It also includes a linked table of contents so you can quickly go to the part you want.
Synopsis
Anthony Patch is a young man waiting for his inheritance. He goes to Harvard in 1905 and graduates in 1909, shortly before he turns twenty one. He meets the beautiful Gloria Gilbert in 1913, and he marries her the year after. He is drafted into the army in 1917 and is discharged in November 1918. Prohibition comes in 1919 but does not reduce Anthony’s drinking. He and Gloria live in Manhattan where they party for days on end, until money becomes tight and the strains of their stormy marriage begin to show. Finally they embark on the Berengeria, a luxury liner, and the novel ends
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald named an age- the Jazz Age, which he defined as ’a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken.’ Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in St Paul, Minnesota, and studied at Princeton which he left in his senior year (1917) to join the army. At one of his army postings near Montgomery, Massachusetts he met Zelda Sayre. His first novel was ‘This Side of Paradise.’ published in 1920, which made the twenty-four-year-old Fitzgerald famous almost overnight, and a week later he married Zelda in New York. Their tumultuous marriage became an inspiration for much of his work. They were young celebrities of the roaring 20s but Fitzgerald wanted to be a great writer though his reputation as a playboy meant some people didn’t take him seriously.
In 1922 Scribners published ‘The Beautiful and Damned’, of which The New York Times reviewer said that the ‘general atmosphere of the book is an atmosphere of futility, waste and the avoidance of effort, into which the fumes of whisky penetrate more and more, until at last it fairly reeks with them.’
The Fitzgeralds went to France in the spring of 1924 to get away from all the hubbub, and he wrote his masterpiece ‘The Great Gatsby’ during the summer and autumn in Valescure near St. Raphael, France.
His fourth novel ‘Tender is the Night’ received a poor critical reaction when it came out in 1934. Fitzgerald was eventually forced to try to earn a living as a screenwriter.
He died in December 1940 in Hollywood while working on ‘The Last Tycoon.’ Since then he has been granted his wish to be considered one of the leading writers of the twentieth century.
His novels in chronological order are: ‘This Side of Paradise’, ‘The Beautiful and Damned’, ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘Tender is the Night’, ‘The Last Tycoon' (incomplete at his death).
Other books by F. Scott Fitzgerald available in the Classic Books Editions featuring period photographs
THE GREAT GATSBY
http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-GATSBY-ebook/dp/B00AY4OM74/
http://www.amazon.com/THE-GREAT-GATSBY-ebook/dp /B00AY4OM74/
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