In his brief career -- he died at 32 -- Frank Norris introduced fresh and sometimes shocking elements into American fiction. Inspired by the naturalistic "new novel" developed in France by Zola and Flaubert, he adapted it to American settings, adding his own taste for exciting action and a...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Norris, Frank 1870-1902 (Author)
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	New York, NY Literary Classics of the United States 1986
Edition:	2. print.
Series:	The Library of America 33
Subjects:	Norris, Frank > 1870-1902 Geschichte 1900-2000 American essays > 20th century Railroads > California > Fiction Wheat trade > California > Fiction Roman
Summary:	In his brief career -- he died at 32 -- Frank Norris introduced fresh and sometimes shocking elements into American fiction. Inspired by the naturalistic "new novel" developed in France by Zola and Flaubert, he adapted it to American settings, adding his own taste for exciting action and a fascination with the emerging sciences of economics and psychology. Vandover and the brute, set in a vividly described San Francisco, captures with harsh realism the dissipation and decline of a fashionable playboy into virtual bestiality. McTeague (source for Erich von Stroheim's classic film Greed) was a radical departure for its time in its frank treatment of sex, domestic violence and pathological obsession, revealing the dark underside of San Francisco's new middle class. The octopus depicts the epic struggle of strong, ruthless California ranchers with the railroad monopoly and its political machine. Twenty-two essays address theories of literature, the state of American fiction, and the social responsibilities of the artist. The New York Times said, "An opportunity to read, or re-read, in an authentic new edition, the work of one of the trailblazers in American literature.
Item Description:	Enth. u.a.: Vandover and the brute. McTeague
Physical Description:	1232 S.
ISBN:	0940450402