All of American author Frank Norris’s significant critical writings have been compiled in this book, including his articles for the San Francisco Wave during 1896–1897 and selections from his “Weekly Letter” column for the Chicago American in 1901. Essays from these two previously unexploited sources, comprising almost half the book, reveal certain areas of Norris’s thought which heretofore had been overlooked by scholars.

This book was compiled in order to clarify Frank Norris’s literary creed. When Donald Pizer began to read Norris’s uncollected critical articles, he observed concepts which had been unnoted or misunderstood by his critics. Crediting this to the inadequate representation of Norris’s ideas in the posthumous The Responsibilities of the Novelist (1903), Pizer recognized the need for an interpretive and complete edition of Norris’s critical writings. This volume thus fills a noticeable gap in the field of American literary criticism.

By the time of his death in 1902 Norris had a closed system of critical ideas. This core of ideas, however, is only peripherally related to the conventional concept of literary naturalism, which perhaps explains why critics have gone astray trying to find Zolaesque ideas in Norris’s criticism. Norris’s central idea, around which he built an aesthetic of the novel, was that the best novel combines an intensely primitivistic subject matter and theme with a highly sophisticated form. His paradox of sophisticated primitivism clarifies the vital link between the fiction produced in the 1890s and that written by Hemingway, Faulkner, and Steinbeck.

Norris’s essays deal with many of the literary themes which preoccupy modern critical theorists. His range of subjects includes the form and function of the novel; definitions of naturalism, realism, and romanticism; and the problem of what constitutes an American novel. His interpretation of commonplace events, his comments on prominent figures of his day, and his parodies of writers such as Bret Harte, Stephen Crane, and Rudyard Kipling are characterized by ingenuity and perception. Through these writings the personality of a man with well-defined convictions and the ability to expound them provocatively comes into sharp focus.

In a general introduction Pizer summarizes Norris’s critical position and surveys his career as literary critic. This introduction and the interpretative introductions preceding each section constitute an illuminating essay on the literary temper of the period and provide a new insight into Norris’ craft and his literary philosophy.

• Preface
• Introduction
• A Note on Authorship and the Text
• Part One: The Writer and His Craft
  • The Training of the Novelist
    • Introduction
    • The “English Courses” of the University of California
    • Frank Norris’ Weekly Letter (June 8, 1901)
    • Novelists of the Future: The Training They Need
      • Novelists To Order—While You Wait
    • “Life, Not Literature”
      • Introduction
      • Our Unpopular Novelists: Disappearance of American Fiction from the Book Stores
      • The Decline of the Magazine Short Story
      • An Opening for Novelists: Great Opportunities for Fiction Writers in San Francisco
      • Frank Norris’ Weekly Letter (August 24, 1901)
      • Why Women Should Write the Best Novels: And Why They Don’t
      • New York as a Literary Center
      • The “Nature” Revival in Literature
    • The Mechanics of Fiction
      • Introduction
      • The Modern Short Story
      • Fiction Is Selection
      • Frank Norris’ Weekly Letter (July 13, 1901)
      • A Problem in Fiction: Truth Versus Accuracy
      • The Mechanics of Fiction
      • Simplicity in Art
      • Story-Tellers vs. Novelists
    • Definitions
      • Introduction
      • Zola as a Romantic Writer
      • Frank Norris’ Weekly Letter (August 3, 1901)
      • A Plea for Romantic Fiction
• Part Two: The Writer and Society
  • The Responsibilities of the Novelist
    • Introduction
    • The True Reward of the Novelist
    • The Need of a Literary Conscience
    • The Novel with a “Purpose”
    • The Responsibilities of the Novelist
  • The Novelist as American
    • Introduction
    • “The Literature of the West”: A Reply to W. R. Lighton
    • An American School of Fiction? A Denial
    • The Frontier Gone at Last
    • The National Spirit as It Relates to the “Great American Novel”
    • A Neglected Epic
    • The Great American Novelist
  • Popular Fiction
    • Introduction
    • The American Public and “Popular” Fiction
    • Child Stories for Adults
• Part Three: The Writer as Businessman
  • Introduction
  • The Unknown Author and the Publisher
  • The “Volunteer Manuscript”: Plain Talk to the Ambitious Amateur
  • Fiction Writing as a Business
  • Retail Bookseller: Literary Dictator
  • Newspaper Criticisms and American Fiction
• Part Four: Reviews
  • Introduction
  • Theory and Reality: An Old Author and a New Writer Consider the Same Problem
  • Zola’s Rome: Modern Papacy as Seen by the Man of the Iron Pen
  • Stephen Crane’s Stories of Life in the Slums: Maggie and George’s Mother
  • A Question of Ideals: The American Girl of 1896 as Seen by Wenzel and by Gibson
  • Millard’s Tales: Pungent Episodes of Western Life, Short and Pointed
  • Perverted Tales
  • Frank Norris’ Weekly Letter (June 22, 1901)
  • Frank Norris’ Weekly Letter (July 20, 1901)
  • Mr. Kipling’s Kim
• Part Five: Salt and Sincerity
  • Introduction
  • I (May, 1902)
  • II (June, 1902)
  • III (July, 1902)
  • IV (August, 1902)
  • V (September, 1902)
  • VI (October, 1902)
• Bibliographical Note
• Checklist of Norris’ Literary Criticism
• Index