The Apprenticeship Writings of Frank Norris, 1896-1898

Mcelrath examines the journalistic contributions by the colorful & significant turn of the century writer, Frank Norris, during his formal literary apprenticeship. As he was writing his masterpiece, the still widely read & often studied, McTeague, he produced in 1896-1898 the short stories, articles & reviews gathered in these two volumes (bound in one). Norris's fiction, written while he was staff writer for the San Francisco Wave range from conventional love stories to gruesome descriptions of the impact of genetic & environmental determinism on his characters, & from light-hearted to decadent descents into "black humor" designed to outrage Victorian readers. His essays about literature define his relationships to the competing Romantic & Realistic traditions that influenced him as well as his loyalty to Zola's French school of writing. His stories are rich in descriptions of the San Francisco social scene, Darwinism, the emergence of the "New Woman," & new technologies of the early 20th century.