The Beautiful and Damned
- Submitted by: helenica
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- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 05/22/2011 10:45 PM
- Pages: 4
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The Beautiful and Damned
1. About the author
Francis Scott Fitzgerald, who named for his distant cousin, Francis Scott Key, was one of the best known American authors of the 1920s and '30s and he is closely associated with the era of "Jazz Age." Fitzgerald's stories often featured people like himself: middle-American characters spoiled with the wealth and status of upper-crust society. Fitzgerald was a popular celebrity of these days and along with his wife, Zelda, became famous for their extravagant lifestyle and controversial behavior. His major published novels include This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night.
The Beautiful and Damned is the 2nd Fitzgerald’s novel written in 1922.
It’s interesting that the plot of The Beautiful and Damned has lots of resemblance with Francis and Zelda Fitzgerald story.
2. Main ideas, themes and meanings
To my mind the main ideas of the book are perfectly shown in the title The Beautiful and Damned. Usually we imagine the rich to live the most interesting and careless life with no reasons to be sad or to be worry. But the author gives us more realistic picture: beauty and money aren’t the the earnest of a perfect life. Moreover, they’re the cause of many disappointments and problems.
Here we have a newly married couple, Anthony and Gloria Patch. They’re very attractive, young, rich (and expect to have more money after Anthony grandfather’s death), in love with each other. The thing is it’s not quite enough for them to have all these things. They want more money, so they could afford more luxuries, have more parties, and, as a result, they will be in love with each other forever and live happily forever after. That’s the problem. They couldn’t see that they already have everything to be happy. But still, most of their conversations and dreams are like “When we get the inheritance, we will…” They always wanted to get the most but do the least. Their life was consumed by these dreams, but the...
1. About the author
Francis Scott Fitzgerald, who named for his distant cousin, Francis Scott Key, was one of the best known American authors of the 1920s and '30s and he is closely associated with the era of "Jazz Age." Fitzgerald's stories often featured people like himself: middle-American characters spoiled with the wealth and status of upper-crust society. Fitzgerald was a popular celebrity of these days and along with his wife, Zelda, became famous for their extravagant lifestyle and controversial behavior. His major published novels include This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night.
The Beautiful and Damned is the 2nd Fitzgerald’s novel written in 1922.
It’s interesting that the plot of The Beautiful and Damned has lots of resemblance with Francis and Zelda Fitzgerald story.
2. Main ideas, themes and meanings
To my mind the main ideas of the book are perfectly shown in the title The Beautiful and Damned. Usually we imagine the rich to live the most interesting and careless life with no reasons to be sad or to be worry. But the author gives us more realistic picture: beauty and money aren’t the the earnest of a perfect life. Moreover, they’re the cause of many disappointments and problems.
Here we have a newly married couple, Anthony and Gloria Patch. They’re very attractive, young, rich (and expect to have more money after Anthony grandfather’s death), in love with each other. The thing is it’s not quite enough for them to have all these things. They want more money, so they could afford more luxuries, have more parties, and, as a result, they will be in love with each other forever and live happily forever after. That’s the problem. They couldn’t see that they already have everything to be happy. But still, most of their conversations and dreams are like “When we get the inheritance, we will…” They always wanted to get the most but do the least. Their life was consumed by these dreams, but the...