Two seminal pieces from the previous edition have been retained--Ernest Marchand's account of McTeague's 1899 reviews and Donald Pizer's essay on naturalism. Six essays and foustills from Erich yon Stroheim's film version of McTeague are new.

Frank Norris's McTeague is a significant example of American literary naturalism as well as a cornmentary on turn-of-the-century American cultural values. This revised Norton Critical Edition is again based on the 1899 first edition text and is fully annotated.

"Contexts" focuses on the novel's sources and composition. Included are newspaper accounts of a San Francisco murder; a description of Norris's Polk Street neighborhood (which figures prominently in McTeague); an examination of the relationship between the novel and naturalism; and a discussion of the book's genesis,from its origin as a Harvard assignment to Norris's revision of it upon his return to San Francisco.

"Criticism" has been revised to include major recent assessments of the novel. Two seminal pieces from the previous edition have been retained--Ernest Marchand's account of McTeague's 1899 reviews and Donald Pizer's essay on naturalism. Six essays and foustills from Erich yon Stroheim's film version of McTeague are new.The new essays are by Don Graham, William E. Cain, Barbara Hochman, James L. Caron, Mary. Lawlor, and Donna M. Campbell.

A Chronology and updated Selected Bibliography are also included.

Preface

A Note on the Text

The Text of McTeague

Contexts

 THE SAN FRANCISCO BACKGROUND

 Frank Norris * An Opening for Novelists:

 Great Opportunities for Fiction Writers in San Francisco

 From the San Francisco Examiner * Twenty-Nine

 Fatal Wounds

 From the San Francisco Examiner * He Was Born

 for the Rope

 Robert D. Lundy * [The Polk Street Background of

 McTeague

 ZOLAESQUE NATURALISM

 Lars Ahnebrink * Naturalism in France

 NORRIS' DEFINITION OF NATURALISM

 Introduction

 Frank Norris·Zola as a Romantic Writer

 Frank Norris * Frank Norris' Weekly Letter

 Frank Norris·A Plea for Romantic Fiction

 COMPOSITION AND REVISION: HARVARD AND SAN FRANCISCO

 Frank Norris·[Harvard Themes from McTeague

 Donald Pizer·[The Genesis of McTeague

Criticism

 EARLY CRITICISM

 Ernest Marchand·[1899 Reviews of McTeague

 MODERN CRITICISM

 Donald Pizer·Late Nineteenth-Century

 American Naturalism

 Don Graham·Art and Humanity in McTeague

 William E Gain·Presence and Power in McTeague

 Barbara Hochman·Loss, Habit, Obsession:

 The Governing Dynamic of McTeague

 ames L. Caron·Grotesque Naturalism:

 The Significance of the Comic in McTeague

 ILLUSTRATIONS * Four photographs from

 Herman G Weinberg, The Complete Greed of

 Erich yon Stroheim

 Mary Lawlor·Naturalism in the Cinema:

 Erich yon Stroheim's Reading of McTeague

 Donna M. Campbell·Frank Norris'

 "Drama in a Broken Teacup": The Old Grannis

 Miss Baker Plot in McTeague

Frank Norris: A Chronology

Selected Bibliography