McTeague: A Story of San Francisco

Overview

Classic novel. According to Wikipedia: "Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. (March 5, 1870 ndash; October 25, 1902) was an American novelist, during the Progressive Era, writing predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague (1899), The Octopus: A California Story (1901), and The Pit (1903). Although he did not openly support socialism as a political system, his work nevertheless evinces a socialist mentality and influenced socialist/progressive writers such as Upton Sinclair. Like many of his contemporaries, he was profoundly influenced by the advent of Darwinism, and Thomas Henry Huxley's philosophical defense of it. Norris was particularly influenced by an optimistic strand of Darwinist philosophy taught by Joseph LeConte, whom Norris studied under while at the University of California, Berkeley. Through many of his novels, notably McTeague, runs a preoccupation with the notion of the civilized man overcoming the inner "brute," his animalistic tendencies. His peculiar, and often confused, brand of Social Darwinism also bears the influence of the early criminologist Cesare Lombroso and the French naturalist Emile Zola."

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Author Information

Bio of Frank Norris

Born March 5,1870 in Chicago, Norris and his family moved to San Franciso in 1884. Rejecting the opportunity to enter his fathers business, he studied art in Paris during 1887-9. Returning to the U.S. Norris attended The University of California but withdrew prior to completing his degree. He transferred to Harvard University where he began writing the prototypes for "McTeague" and "Vandover and the Brute."; In 1896 Norris journeyed to South Africa where he authored a number of travel essays. Later in the year he returned to San Francisco and became a writer and editorial assistant for "The Wave." During this time he completes the manuscript for "McTeague", a dark depiction of the effect of greed on a married couple. This work was published in 1899 and marked the Norris's affiliation with the a type of writing known as "naturalism." Naturalism for a writer such as Norris provided an avenue in which he described his characters motivations as determined by biological and environmental determinism. Norris' other major project was "The Epic of the Wheat." Conceived as a trilogy the initial volume, "The Octopus" (1899) denounces the monopolistic practices of the railroad in the distribution of food. "The Pit" (1903) details the mechanisms of commodity speculation. Norris' death from peritonitis on October 25,1902 prevented the writing of "The Wolf" envisioned by the author as the concluding installment to his work.

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Additional Info

Imprint

B&R Samizdat Express

Filesize

669.94 KB

Number of Pages

N/A

eBook ISBN

9781102011620