Originally published in 1922, The Beautiful and Damned can best be described as semi-autobiographical fiction. It paints an autobiographical portrait of Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda with its main protagonists, Anthony and Gloria. Their recklessness, ambition, and continuous fighting mirror the real relationship between the author and his wife.
Anthony is portrayed as a misunderstood artist who struggles to compose his first book. Gloria, on the other hand, represents everything that Anthony admires: beauty, wealth, and charm. She convinces her suitors to pay her every expense. However, Anthony shares her unwillingness to create lasting value, and their struggle to support themselves degrades their finances and their relationship. Notably, Gloria's precious beauty begins to fade near the end of the novel, which makes her question her value and her identity. These events are somewhat exaggerated, but many of them were based on the author's own life and relationships.
The Beautiful and Damned can also be classified as a coming-of-age tale. It spans several years of trials and tribulations in the life of a young couple. However, "coming-of-age" tales usually chart the moral or intellectual development of a character. Anthony and Gloria fail to develop into mature adults. They remain greedy and selfish, and the last-minute news that they will receive old Patch's inheritance only reinforces their bad behavior. So the story is perhaps better identified as a tragedy that begins with portraits of self-centered society members and ends with the central couple's downward spiral into vice and self-loathing.
