F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned, A Review

What was it like to live in the Jazz Age, in particular 1913-1920? Fitzgerald wrote a story about a young couple that answers that question.

The Beautiful and Damned, F.S. Fitzgerald, PD*-WC

The Beautiful and Damned


F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned was published in 1922, soon after This Side of Paradise. Capitalizing on the momentum of his novel about college life, he followed with a book on the social mores and lives of the same social strata. Anthony Patch, grandson of a wealthy and aging tycoon, lives a life of leisure and parties during the Jazz Age.

At the beginning of the story, Anthony is 25 years old. He lives on a grand scale with his allowance, while he courts and marries Gloria, his desired Beauty. He promises her a life of ease, when he receives his inheritance. Anthony, Gloria, and their friends are the elite young adults of New York Café Society.

In Europe, war is brewing. Anthony and Gloria seem unable to function without a supporting cast of friends around them every weekend. Left alone, they have very little to say to each other. Each has their moments of infidelity. Yet, they keep returning to the other. Alcohol is a constant factor.

The first part of the novel takes place prior to Prohibition. War interferes, but Anthony is never deployed. Thirty looms on the horizon, but Anthony is still waiting for his inheritance. What happens next and how he copes forms the rest of the novel. Recommended.

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Interesting Notes:

The first edition covers of The Beautiful and Damned are illustrated with characters drawn to resemble F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda.

The Beautiful and Damned was serialized in Metropolitan Magazine in 1921 prior to it being published by Scribner's in 1922. This is the second novel by Fitzgerald.

'Bilphism', a term which was concerned with the 'reincarnation of the human soul' was created by Fitzgerald and used in this novel. It was expressed as a belief and was called 'the science of all religions'.

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Other novels by F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, The Last Tycoon (second favorite), and Tender is the Night (my favorite). Please check the other Fitzgerald reviews if you would like to know more.

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Have you read The Beautiful and Damned by Fitzgerald? Any favorites by the author? Did you know this story was serialized prior to its being published? Please share in the comments, and thanks for stopping by!

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References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beautiful_and_Damned The Beautiful and Damned, wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald F. Scott Fitzgerald, wiki


*Photo cover of The Beautiful and Damned. (PD-WC)

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923.

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Oryx and Crake - A Book Review

The Maddaddam Trilogy begins with this story. . . Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood





Oryx and Crake Cover, Margaret Atwood, 2009

In a near future Earth, self-sustaining walled compounds satisfy the residents' needs and provide a control environment for creating and testing new strains. These compounds employ the most brilliant minds they can attract. Secrets of genetic manipulation are guarded from the other compounds, all competing for the same market. Only the few are protected, those who live within the walls. Outside these compounds are the pleeblands, where everyone else lives.


When Crake, Jimmy and Oryx first meet as teens in the compounds, they play computer games as a form of mental jousting. Most of the games require advanced skills. Jimmy's on the low end of those ratings.


Before the change, Jimmy and Oryx were lovers; but she also believed in Crake's vision of a world at peace and wouldn't desert him. A triangle forms, a situation that seems destined to create trouble for the three friends. Crake keeps his game name, as does Oryx throughout the book. Jimmy later becomes known as Snowman.


After the change, Snowman lives in the trees, like a jungle creature. It's necessary to avoid the altered species which now roam freely.  One incident causes the change and leaves him in charge of a special experiment, one of Crake's secret projects.


In this apocolyptic tale, Margaret Atwood weaves an intricate pattern and introduces us to Jimmy's world, a changed Earth. This story continues with the next title in the series, The Year of the Flood.

All book review posts are collected under the tab at the top of the blog.

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Have you read Oryx and Crake or any other books by Margaret Atwood? Have you read The Year of the Flood (the next in this series)?
Please share in the comments and thanks for dropping by.

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References:

Publisher:  This edition with cover above, Vintage Canada, a division of Random House Canada, 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood - Margaret Atwood

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F. Scott Fitzgerald - This Side of Paradise

In a time when class distinction determined how you would marry . . . comes a story about a young man at one of the Ivy League schools, Princeton.

 

This Side of Paradise cover, by F.S. Fitzgerald

This Side of Paradise


Fitzgerald started writing about the adventures of Armory Blaine at Princeton at approximately the same time he enlisted, in 1917. He attended Princeton between 1913-1916. The war ended before he could embark for Europe. While at Princeton, he gained membership in one of the better clubs, and wrote articles for the campus paper.

Armory Blaine, the main character in This Side of Paradise, partipates with reckless abandon in his college years at Princeton. Poetry readings, drama productions, and drunken escapades into nearby towns kept him busy. During this time, women were becoming more bold - kissing, smoking and ignoring the rules of their Victorian mothers.




This Side of Paradise, Library book, pub. UK

For those who like poetry, Fitzgerald has included many verses. There is a great chronology of F. Scott Fitzgerald's life in the front of the book. This Side of Paradise was published on March 26, 1920. The first printing sold out. A few days later, Scott Fitzgerald married Zelda Sayre in New York on April 3, 1920.

Two other titles by Fitzgerald are The Great Gatsby, and Tender is the Night.  Summary: I preferred Tender is the Night.

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Have you read any of Fitzgerald's books? Does the time period, late '1800s - early 1900s', interest you?
Please share in the comments and thanks for visiting.

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References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald  F. Scott Fitzgerald


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Side_of_Paradise This Side of Paradise

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