Fitzgerald s second novel a devastating portrait of the excesses of the JazzAge is a largely autobiographical depiction of a glamorous reckless Manhattancouple ... » 

Fitzgerald s second novel a devastating portrait of the excesses of the JazzAge is a largely autobiographical depiction of a glamorous reckless Manhattancouple and their spectacular spiral into tragedy. Published on the heels ofThis Side of Paradise the story of the Harvardeducated aesthete AnthonyPatch and his willful wife Gloria is propelled by Fitzgerald s intenseromantic imagination and demonstrates an increased technical and emotionalmaturity. The Beautiful and Damned is at once a gripping morality tale arueful meditation on love marriage and money and an acute social document.As Hortense Calisher observes in her Introduction Though Fitzgerald canentrance with stories so joyfully youthful they appear to be safe when hecuts himself you will bleed. «