The Beautiful and Damned

First published in Scribner's Magazine in 1922, "The Beautiful and Damned" is F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel. It is the story of Anthony Patch, a socialite and heir to a fortune, and his relationship with his wife Gloria. The novel addresses a theme common to Fitzgerald's work, that being the moral decline and directionless lethargy that had consumed the American upper class. A brilliant and tragic character study that explores the intricacies of married life, "The Beautiful and Damned" is believed to be largely based on Fitzgerald's own relationship with his wife Zelda.