Classics Review: The Beautiful and Damned was Fitzgerald's second novel, written at the height of his fame and success. A step forward from his first, the scattered, verbose, indulgent, but beautifully written This Side of Paradise. Still autobiographical, still energetic and emotional, but with greater control, better structure, a more consistent voice. Less rambling and philosophizing. For F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) it's more the writing than the plot. He writes beautiful lines: any given sentence, paragraph, or page is wondrously crafted. With a sharp eye for detail he makes us see the scene as he wants us to feel it, to draw us into the story, to instill emotion in the reader. That emotion is always bittersweet, as his life seemed to be; perhaps here he saw what was to come. A genius of writing, with the sloppiness that genius can produce. The Beautiful and Damned is composed of particular moments described in exquisite detail, but the story as a whole exists only in blurry emotions. The emotions of imperfect and doomed lovers. Fitzgerald feels for his characters, cares about them, even cares about the streets on which they walk. But the characters are thin, more emotional than significant. Gloria and Anthony are not archetypes and their story is not a tragedy, though it feels like one. Superficial and atypical sybarites (most of us have to work and are not breathtakingly beautiful), they're simply self-destructive. Born wealthy they do nothing with their advantage, seeking wealth for no other purpose than childish enjoyment. Unsuited for anything but dissipation, they drink death-defying amounts of liquor waiting for their ship to come in. Two lazy, self-absorbed people who can't be bothered and make poor choices as a result. Not really adults, they don't fit the world they encounter, but don't belong anywhere else. They have no purpose in life as they believe society to be without meaning. Anthony is not sensitive or even intellectual. He's not an artist, he's a timid poser who refuses to work. He achieves nothing, barely even tries to achieve. A hollow man, Anthony believes he has dignity and integrity, but is pathetic because despite that belief he's unreliable and deceitful. Gloria lives for her beauty, her effect on men, and the attention it brings. Gloria evokes more pity in us, but they're both pitiful, not tragic. Their lives are like the last hour of prom. Spoiled and self-pitying, moving toward an inevitable downfall. In The Beautiful and Damned Fitzgerald paints the downward spiral beautifully, with feeling, passion, pathos, and precision. His description of their descent into hell is hypnotic in the same way one cannot turn from a roadside accident. The worse things get the more Fitzgerald is in his element. His sensitivity to the disaster of humanity steals inside the reader's mind, slips past defenses, touches us even when we refuse. Gloria and Anthony are simply weak, not flawed. There is no fall to make it tragic because they never rose up, never aspired, never accepted responsibility for anything. They never grew up. At its heart, The Beautiful and Damned is an unlovely and disagreeable story, but it's written so well. Everything by Fitzgerald, even when he's not at his crystalline best, is worth reading. [3½★]
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