Reviews for The Beautiful and Damned

The average rating for The Beautiful and Damned based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-10-29 00:00:00 David Montgomery I can't think of any writer other F. Scott Fitzgerald that has had such of a yo-yo effect on me. I thought 'Gatsby' was the real deal, 'This Side of Paradise' I gave up on, some of his short stories left a big impression on me, whereas, 'Tender Is the Night' felt like a bit of a mess. I put this down to his personal life, which wasn't exactly plain sailing. 'The Beautiful and Damned' sits comfortably in-between this lot, lounged in the Ritz-carlton to be precise. With a cigarette in one hand, and a cocktail glass in the other, not worrying about the tab, at least for now. Regardless of how I perceived much of his work, one thing about him does stands out, he WAS the voice of a generation. My first experience with Fitzgerald was something completely new, like tasting champagne for the first time, or putting on an expensive suit. The whole experience was plush, sensuous and dazzling. Although I didn't think the story here was that great, his writing at least felt less floppy and more tightly focused, not too far off Gatsby standard. Written during the golden age of jazz, his second novel looks at the rise and fall of young couple Anthony Patch and Gloria Gilbert, through their first meeting, courtship, and marriage. Like with all Fitzgerald's characters they are complex when it comes to relationships, and draws comparisons to the problems of himself and wife Zelda. At the core of it's story along with the couple, is money, and the problems of overspending, or living beyond ones means. Antony & Gloria live the high life, spending well at every opportunity, but eventually realizing their funds are dwindling. This is where Antony's ever so rich grandfather comes into play, he hopes to get his hands on a large fortune as Inheritance, but to his dismay is not written into the will, the couple start to feel the strain. With their bank balances and each other. It is a novel not of disillusion but of decay. What happens to the kind of people that Anthony and Gloria are has happened to the same kind of people over and over again. In our foolish optimism, our pride and certainty in progress, we like to forget that disintegration is a competing and often victorious force. And so, when we see signs of something uncommonly like it in the young generation, we think it has never happened before, the setting changes, of course, but since Fitzgerald has described our modern setting with its prohibition parties, socialites and promiscuous kissing in such magnanimous detail, we are apt to think that, because the scenery is startling, the scenario is a new one. Anthony Patch is built up in pages which, while blazing with clever irony, do not give us a picture of him in three dimensions. Later we find him using that mixture of standing aside and telling us what he says and does and acting as his intimate psychological confidant, which often betrays. Within rather large limits Anthony is clear, but clear as a type rather than a person. The most telling accounts of him, while real, could also seem real of other persons quite different from him in other ways. Gloria, admirably sharp and witty at first, deliquesces and loses her personality as Fitzgerald grows intimate with her, until toward the end we find her speaking very little as problems start to mount. She too, broadens into a person with too many characteristics which other characters could share with her and still be differential. The treatment of the two of them leaves the curious impression that Fitzgerald was at first inside Anthony's head before gradually exchanging positions. Also minor characters written about actually felt sharper than that of Antony and Gloria, even though in the novel they are limited to scenes here and there. There is the very small allowance for tenderness and proper love here, and even less of pity, contained within there is a lot of hatred and boiled over arguments that I guess goes with the territory. It's lively with epigrams, so many that one half suspects that their origin is less in a perpetually ironic state of mind than in a facility and joy in turning them out. He did get the fine line of using enough energy and weariness spot on in all the right places, and I really liked the last 30 or so pages, but the couple I seemed to love one minute and semi-despised the next. Had they lived in the 21st century, they would have racked up huge debts on twenty credit cards, whilst both having about five on-line affairs apiece. Well written, with some great moments, but over all it just lacked that something extra. 3.5/5 - minus the tip.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-11-19 00:00:00 Gregory Reid The Beautiful and Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940) The Beautiful and Damned, first published in 1922, is F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel. It explores and portrays New York cafe society and the American Eastern elite during the Jazz Age before and after "The Great War" and in the early 1920's. As in his other novels, Fitzgerald's characters in this novel are complex, especially with respect to marriage and intimacy. The work is generally considered to have drawn upon and be based on Fitzgerald's relationship and marriage with his wife Zelda Fitzgerald. تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و دوم ماه نوامبر سال 2012میلادی عنوان: زیبا و ملعون؛ اثر: فرانسیس اسکات فیتزجرالد؛ مترجم: سهیل سمی؛ مشخصات نشر تهران، ققنوس، 1390، در 496ص، ادبیات جهان 104، رمان 89، شابک 9789643119348، موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان آمریکایی سده 20م رمان «زیبا و ملعون»، همانند دیگر نگاره های «فیتزجرالد»، شیوه ی پخته شدن جوان‌های رمانتیک، و خام را، در بستر جامعه‌ ی آمریکایی، بیان می‌کند، و نشان می‌دهد که چگونه از آن‌ها توهم‌ زدایی شده، و به واقعیت‌های زندگی آمریکا، وارد می‌شوند؛ این اثر و دیگر آثار «فیتزجرالد»، در واقع سوگ‌نامه‌ هایی، برای پایان دوران «رمانتیک» هستند؛ «زیبا و ملعون»، سه بخش اصلی دارد، که با عنوانهای: «کتاب اول»، «کتاب دوم» و «کتاب سوم» نامگذاری شده‌ اند؛ هر بخش نیز خود به سه بخش دیگر تقسیم می‌شود؛ «آنتونی پَچ»، «تصویر زن افسونگر» و «خُبره احساسات» بخش‌های کتاب نخست هستند؛ در کتاب دوم هم، خوانشگر بخش‌های: «ساعت درخشان»، «سمپوزیوم»، و «عود شکسته» را می‌خواند؛ «مسئله تمدن»، «مسئله زیبایی شناسی»، و «مهم نیست!» هم، بخش‌های کتاب سوم همین رمان هستند تاریخ بهنگام رسانس 05/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی