I have finished reading the novel. How about you?
While I am vaguely enriched by having read this work which explores beauty and truth, marriage, and American democracy, I have one emphatic piece of advice for future readers: Stick with The Great Gatsby.
Let me know when you get to the end. . . .
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Keep Reading!
I'm halfway through the book and really enjoying it. Fitzgerald seems to hit his stride in Book Two. I encourage you to keep reading and to post comments whenever you are able.
-Grace
-Grace
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Slow Going?
The book club is a tad idle. I myself have found reading this novel tortuous at times, and once I finished Book One I decided to take a little break. Funny, when "Blockhead" in the book discusses how psychological novels with thin or absent plots are useless to the film industry, I realized Fitzgerald was trying to get me to laugh at him when all I wanted to do was slap him on the back and congratulate him for trying to get The Beautiful and Damned moving a bit!
Please take your time with Book One. There really are some interesting insights into what it means to be a writer, what it means to be an American, what it means to be beautiful (if not damned, yet). Please add your comments to the Book One discussion below. We won't start on Book Two until we've seen a little action on Book One.
Grace
Please take your time with Book One. There really are some interesting insights into what it means to be a writer, what it means to be an American, what it means to be beautiful (if not damned, yet). Please add your comments to the Book One discussion below. We won't start on Book Two until we've seen a little action on Book One.
Grace
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Book 1
We are open for discussion on Book One! Please join in with any comments, observations, questions, etc. Melissa and Hannah--where are you?
As for me, I'm trying not to be too distracted by Fitzgerald's labored similes. A perfect example comes from the latter half of "A Lady's Legs" in the "Portrait of a Siren" chapter: "Anthony sat upright so suddenly that the pillow he released stood on end like a live thing and dove to the floor." Now, the cause of Anthony's shock is hearing that Maury has met Dick's cousin Gloria Gilbert. So why does Fitzgerald completely take my attention away from that fact to make me stare at a teetering throw pillow?
But on to more substantial matters. . . .
What do you make of the section in "Turbulence" (again from "Portrait of a Siren") when Fitzgerald analyzes Anthony's character? He writes: "It is fair to analyze Anthony as far as he could analyze himself; further than that is, of course, presumption." This intrigues me for two reasons. First, the book certainly does continue to analyze Anthony further than he himself can. If the book is thus continually presumptuous, are we OK with that? Second, I don't think we have yet entirely forgotten that we are reading a novel. Indeed, Fitzgerald's characters are forever discussing literature. No real human named Anthony exists. We are smug in our presumptions, and yet entirely disconnected from real things. We are know-it-alls in an epistemological hoax.
Here's one more motif I'm enjoying: the cyclical nature of fashion. Anthony suggests that a "classic . . . is a successful book that has survived the reaction of the next period or generation. Then it's safe, like a style in architecture or furniture." It seems to me that "Beauty" (or Gloria) is the incarnation (and reincarnation) of this theory. But immediately after Anthony pronounces this luscious aphorism, he and Maury grow bored of the conversation. If eternal truths cannot sustain our interest for more than 30 minutes at a time, how many "classics" do we neglect? Like the names from novels parents use to name their babies--If they're such rich names, why do they keep skipping generations? Why can't we hold tight to beauty? Why can't we allow ourselves to believe in beauty, or truth, or God, or America for any length of time?
These things all run in cycles, which seems to overwhelm and depress Anthony. Why bother to work or believe? "I do nothing," he tells Gloria. And we're watching him do it.
As for me, I'm trying not to be too distracted by Fitzgerald's labored similes. A perfect example comes from the latter half of "A Lady's Legs" in the "Portrait of a Siren" chapter: "Anthony sat upright so suddenly that the pillow he released stood on end like a live thing and dove to the floor." Now, the cause of Anthony's shock is hearing that Maury has met Dick's cousin Gloria Gilbert. So why does Fitzgerald completely take my attention away from that fact to make me stare at a teetering throw pillow?
But on to more substantial matters. . . .
What do you make of the section in "Turbulence" (again from "Portrait of a Siren") when Fitzgerald analyzes Anthony's character? He writes: "It is fair to analyze Anthony as far as he could analyze himself; further than that is, of course, presumption." This intrigues me for two reasons. First, the book certainly does continue to analyze Anthony further than he himself can. If the book is thus continually presumptuous, are we OK with that? Second, I don't think we have yet entirely forgotten that we are reading a novel. Indeed, Fitzgerald's characters are forever discussing literature. No real human named Anthony exists. We are smug in our presumptions, and yet entirely disconnected from real things. We are know-it-alls in an epistemological hoax.
Here's one more motif I'm enjoying: the cyclical nature of fashion. Anthony suggests that a "classic . . . is a successful book that has survived the reaction of the next period or generation. Then it's safe, like a style in architecture or furniture." It seems to me that "Beauty" (or Gloria) is the incarnation (and reincarnation) of this theory. But immediately after Anthony pronounces this luscious aphorism, he and Maury grow bored of the conversation. If eternal truths cannot sustain our interest for more than 30 minutes at a time, how many "classics" do we neglect? Like the names from novels parents use to name their babies--If they're such rich names, why do they keep skipping generations? Why can't we hold tight to beauty? Why can't we allow ourselves to believe in beauty, or truth, or God, or America for any length of time?
These things all run in cycles, which seems to overwhelm and depress Anthony. Why bother to work or believe? "I do nothing," he tells Gloria. And we're watching him do it.
Friday, June 18, 2010
First Discussion: Chapter One
I have to get in a quick post before I leave for the evening. How to begin this discussion? Perhaps I should just note a few things that stood out as I read the first chapter.
Irony (Begins the book--establishes a fundamental theme of reality vs. perception)
Loneliness (Anthony, New York)
An appreciation for beauty (Anthony)
The audacity of well-educated, wealthy youth--and its inevitable (?) fall
As I finished the chapter, I was overwhelmed by sadness. Anthony seems to "have it all," yet even his "reproachless" apartment and well-connected friends cannot fill his aching. And what is in store for "Beauty"?!
Irony (Begins the book--establishes a fundamental theme of reality vs. perception)
Loneliness (Anthony, New York)
An appreciation for beauty (Anthony)
The audacity of well-educated, wealthy youth--and its inevitable (?) fall
As I finished the chapter, I was overwhelmed by sadness. Anthony seems to "have it all," yet even his "reproachless" apartment and well-connected friends cannot fill his aching. And what is in store for "Beauty"?!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Let's try discussing the book a few chapters at a time, in general. For the first "meeting," however, let's just work with chapter 1. The first "meeting" will start Friday evening at 8:30 pm CST with a post from Grace. Please chime in at any point in the next couple of days at or after that time!
Here is a link to the entire text of the novel (you have to cut and paste it into your browser) : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Beautiful_and_Damned
Here is a link to the entire text of the novel (you have to cut and paste it into your browser) : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Beautiful_and_Damned
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