The Beautiful and Damned is a devastating portrait of a generation of wealthy young Americans who struggle to find meaning and happiness, told through the lives of Anthony Patch and Gloria Gilbert. This is the novel that confirmed Fitzgerald's status as the most celebrated young American writer of the Twenties.
William Blazek is Professor of American Literature and Modern Culture at Liverpool Hope University in England. He is Vice-President of the international F. Scott Fitzgerald Society and is a founding co-editor of The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review. In addition to writings on Fitzgerald, his publications include work on Anglo-American modernism, First World War literature, and cultural history.