Which Fitzgerald novel features a character named Anthony Patch?

The Fitzgerald novel featuring the character Anthony Patch is The Beautiful and Damned. Published in 1922, it follows Anthony, a Harvard-educated heir, and his wife, Gloria, as they pursue wealth, pleasure, and social status while neglecting meaningful work or responsibility.

Anthony’s full name is Anthony Comstock Patch. He expects to inherit a fortune from his grandfather, Adam Patch, and this expectation encourages his idleness. His marriage to Gloria Gilbert initially appears glamorous, but extravagant spending, alcoholism, resentment, and dependence gradually destroy their lives.

The novel is widely read as Fitzgerald’s fictional examination of the early Jazz Age’s wealthy social world. Anthony was loosely modeled on Fitzgerald himself, while Gloria drew on aspects of Zelda Fitzgerald. That autobiographical connection makes the book especially useful for understanding Fitzgerald’s concerns about marriage, money, ambition, and self-destruction.

A common mix-up is This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald’s first novel, which also contains autobiographical material. Anthony Patch belongs specifically to The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald’s second novel.