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The Beautiful And Damned

by F. Scott Fitzgerald


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About Book

From Library Journal
Much of Scott's work is going public domain, and reprints are coming fast and furious. Besides "Diamond," this contains other gems, e.g., "The Ice Palace" and "Bernice Bobs Her Hair." Penguin has also released an $8.95 edition of The Beautiful and the Damned (ISBN 0-14-118087-0).
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Actors who agree to narrate classics are particularly challenged since the listener demands that the reading match the brilliance of the writing (and the reputation). Peter Marinker's solid rendering of this Fitzgerald classic serves the story well. Hedonistic Gloria and Anthony Patch play out a tale of decadence and destruction, against a backdrop of wealth, privilege and liquor. Marinker's dispassionate interpretation is underscored by his creamy voice. He stays clear of extreme vocal characterizations, favoring instead a narrative remove, which never disengages from the story. This respectable performance would be a fine addition to any collection. R.B.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Review
?Full of precisely observed life.? ?Arthur Mizener

Book Description
`The victor belongs to the spoils.' Fitzgerald's ironic epigraph to The Beautiful and Damned exemplifies his attitude toward the young rootless post-World War One generation who believed life to be meaningless and who pursued wealth despite its corrosive effect. Gloria and Anthony Patch party until money runs out; then their goal becomes Adam Patch's fortune. Gloria's beauty fades and Anthony's drinking takes its horrible toll. Fitzgerald here once again displays a wariness of the upper classes, `an abiding distrust, an animosity, toward the leisure class - not the conviction of a revolutionist but the smouldering hatred of a peasant'.

Inside Flap Copy
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.

From the Back Cover
“Full of precisely observed life.” —Arthur Mizener

About the Author
Alan Margolies is Professor of English at John Jay College, CUNY.

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