F. Scott Fitzgerald Full name Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. (1896 — 1940) A famous American novelist and short story writer. F. Scott Fitzgerald is regarded as one of the greatest twentieth century writers from the so-called "Lost Generation". He finished four novels, left a fifth unfinished, and wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth, promise, age, and despair. The Beautiful and Damned, first published in 1922, is F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel. It explores and portrays New York café society and the American Eastern elite during the Jazz Age before and after "the Great War" and in the early 1920s. As in his other novels, Fitzgerald's characters in this novel are complex, especially with respect to marriage and intimacy.