The Beautiful and the Damned and Other Stories

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned explores the world of America’s upper class during World War I and the beginning of the Jazz Age. Loosely based on Fitzgerald’s relationship with his wife, Zelda, the novel centers around Anthony Patch, a young East Coast socialite who is heir to his grandfather’s fortune and lacks motivation to pursue a meaningful career. In his attempt to find his place in society while waiting for his inheritance, Anthony loses himself to alcoholism; neglects his wife, Gloria; and struggles with the realities of everyday life. This volume also includes seven short stories by Fitzgerald published in the early 1920s, including “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”