The Beautiful and Damned

About the book

Anthony Patch can imagine an exceptional future without finding much reason to work toward one. The prospect of inheriting his grandfather's fortune sustains his comfortable New York life, and marriage to the beautiful Gloria Gilbert appears to promise a more brilliant version of the same freedom. Parties, friendships, ambitions, and changing fashions fill their time, but the habits of waiting and spending place growing pressure on their relationship. Fitzgerald follows the couple through the gap between the people they imagine themselves to be and the choices they repeatedly make. Wit and social observation coexist with a darker interest in dependency, alcohol, aging, and disappointment. The novel examines the costs of making beauty, leisure, and future wealth substitutes for purpose.

• Marriage and dependency
• Wealth and idleness
• Fading glamour

Why read it

Read it for Fitzgerald's unsparing attention to a couple whose attractive expectations become their daily constraints.

English text