work, The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald discarded the trappings of collegiate bildungsromans as epitomized in his preceding novel This Side of Paradise and crafted an "ironical-pessimistic" novel in the style of Thomas Hardy's oeuvre. The relentless pessimism of the novel would become a point of contention with many critics. Louise Field of The New York Times found the novel showed Fitzgerald to be talented but too pessimistic. Likewise, critic Fanny Butcher lamented that Fitzgerald had traded the bubbly giddiness of This Side of Paradise for a sequel which plumbed "the bitter dregs of reality." With the publication of this sophomore effort, critics promptly noticed an evolution in the artistry and quality of Fitzgerald's prose. Whereas This Side of Paradise had been universally castigated by critics for its chaotic prose, The Beautiful and Damned displayed greater form and construction as well as an awakened literary consciousness. Paul Rosenfeld commented that certain passages easily rivaled D. H. Lawrence in their artistry. Remarking upon Fitzgerald's improved craftsmanship, literary critic H. L. Mencken wrote in his The Smart Set review: "There are a hundred signs in it of serious purpose and unquestionable skill. Even in its defects there is proof of hard striving. Fitzgerald ceases to be a wunderkind, and begins to come into his maturity". Despite this significant improvement in form and construction over This Side of Paradise, critics deemed The Beautiful and Damned to be far less ground-breaking than his debut work. Whereas critics felt that This Side of Paradise had pulsed with originality, they were less ecstatic over The Beautiful and Damned. Fanny Butcher feared that "Fitzgerald had a brilliant future ahead of him in 1920" but, "unless he does something better... it will be behind him in 1923." Other reviewers such as John V. A. Weaver recognized that the vast improvement in literary form and construction between his first and second novels augured great prospects for Fitzgerald's future. Weaver predicted that, as Fitzgerald matured into a better writer, he would become regarded as one of the greatest authors of American literature. Consequently, expectations arose that Fitzgerald would significantly improve with his third work, The Great Gatsby. Over a century later, many literary critics typically consider The Beautiful and Damned to be among Fitzgerald's weaker novels. During the final decade of his life, Fitzgerald remarked upon the novel's lack of quality in a letter to his wife: "I wish The Beautiful