Vandover and the Brute Frank Norris 9781374838161 Books
Download As PDF : Vandover and the Brute Frank Norris 9781374838161 Books
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.
We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Vandover and the Brute Frank Norris 9781374838161 Books
Frank Norris had a great ability for observation and relating what he had learned from life. This is a very interesting story in which the reader is often taken in surprising directionsProduct details
|
Tags : Vandover and the Brute [Frank Norris] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America,Frank Norris,Vandover and the Brute,Pinnacle Press,1374838160,HISTORY General,Travel General,TravelGeneral
People also read other books :
- Captives in Obscurity Sons of the Starfarers Book 5 eBook Joe Vasicek
- ROMANCE PARANORMAL ROMANCE The Lion Victory Military Lion Shifter BBW Romance Alpha Male Curvy Women Fantasy Romance edition by Candice Parker Literature Fiction eBooks
- The Tattered Gloves JL Berg Books
- Conception eBook R White Sterling
- Webster Manners Webster Technology Book 4 edition by Hannah Whaley Children eBooks
Vandover and the Brute Frank Norris 9781374838161 Books Reviews
The story is an old one, one that I have read too many times. A promising young man becomes hooked on alcohol, sex, and gambling and gradually descends into his own living hell. Without knowing much about Frank Norris, I assume that at least some of the story is semi-autobiographical -- otherwise, why would one want to write a book like this?
No question, the book is gripping at times, but the lack of any admirable character or noble purpose makes it hard going. There appears to be no purpose to the novel except its morbid fascination with a character inexorably bent on a slow destruction. Is the novelist simply glorifying Vandover's lurid life while at the same time scorning it, in a typically repressed, confused turn-of-the-century way?
The plot and writing is full of a bleak, black humor and rich in irony; it seemed almost to hint of the future work of Kafka. To me, it is a novel by an extremely talented, young (25) writer who doesn't have much to tell us but a story of progressive degradation since he is simply talented, not wise.
Since I had just finished "The House of Mirth" by Edith Wharton before I read this novel -- also a novel of personal degradation and destruction, written at about the same time -- I couldn't help but compare and contrast the two works. To me, "Mirth" is far superior, a wonderful novel overall; Lily Bart is fatally flawed but her plight is so much more poignant and her demise sweeter in its essential innocence.
But the ever-so-pleasant, unexpected surprise in "Vandover" was the hint of possible change and even redemption that occurs at the very end of the novel, when the main character is so down on his luck that he can no longer indulge in his vices and must do filthy, drainingly physical, menial work for a traitorous friend.
Recalling Crane's "Maggie" in its sexual candor and several of Dreiser's novels in its brutal portrayal of the decline of its protagonist, "Vandover and the Brute" can be read as the American realist version of Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." (The lead character is, not coincidentally, reading Stevenson early in the novel.) Written in 1895, when Norris was 25, but not published until 1914, after Norris's death, it is an important if uneven precursor to the naturalist tradition in American literature.
Young Vandover, a Harvard-educated man-about-town whose chief traits are a lack of ambition and a sense of entitlement, is a San Francisco native who wastes every advantage his privileged life presents to him. Yielding to his inner "brute," Vandover gradually descends the rungs of civilized life, losing first his status in "proper" society and then all his wealth and what remains of his integrity. He suffers from the devastation of self-inflicted scandals, the trauma of a shipwreck during exile, and the ravages of syphilis. Yet Norris doesn't direct his barbs solely at indolent, amoral youth like Vandover; just as reprehensible is the ambitious, double-crossing Charles Geary, one of Vandover's friends, who aims "to make his pile in this town and make his way, too." (An interesting aside unlike most realist fiction, the novel's last sentence ends with a glimmer of hope and a piece of bread--very much like McInerney's "Bright Lights, Big City.")
Although this novel is no longer available on its own in any edition, interested readers will find it included in The Library of America's omnibus collection of Frank Norris's works.
Vandover and the Brute is Frank Norris's first novel, written in the mid-1890's, but it was not published until 1914, more than a decade after his death. During the intervening twenty years, Norris became a celebrated man of letters, and perhaps the most admired champion of Naturalism in American literature, before suffering an untimely death at the age of 32.
The hero of the novel, Vandover (whether that's his first or last name is never made clear), is born in Boston. At the age of eight his mother dies, and he moves to San Francisco with his father, who raises him alone. Vandover is not an exceptional student, and he's a bit self-indulgent and lazy, but he does possess a talent for art. He goes off to Harvard to study, where he meets two fellow San Franciscans, Charlie Geary and Dolliver Haight. After graduation the three return to California and maintain their friendship. Like many young men, they develop a taste for liquor and women during their college years. While his two friends learn to control their sinful ways, buckle down, and start to pursue their life's ambitions, Vandover slides deeper into a life of vice. The "Brute" mentioned in the title refers to the animal within him that longs for the pleasures of the flesh. Gradually he succumbs to the negative influences of alcohol, sex, and gambling, and begins to see all that he holds dear taken away from him.
This novel is unfortunately ahead of its time. Norris attempts to paint a picture of moral degradation, but the conventions of his time would not allow him the tools to complete the portrait. The vices in question are never explicitly stated, only hinted at. This inhibited expression dulls the effect of the moral lesson. Sexual experiences are replaced by phrases like "She abandoned herself." Any unmarried woman who's not a virgin is labeled as "lost" or "ruined." One of the characters contracts a communicable illness which I assume is syphilis, but I'll never know for sure because Norris dare not speak its name. The scenes of drunkenness are somewhat more blatantly depicted, but at times the results of these debauches inspire laughter rather than horror. Norris was an enthusiastic disciple of the literature of Emile Zola. What he's aiming for here is the sort of gradual moral and financial decline experienced by Gervaise Macquart in Zola's novel L'Assomoir. Zola, however, being French, was not subject to the American prudishness of the late 19th century. He had the freedom to discuss sexual matters more openly, thus his portrayal of a life of sin is more genuine and timeless. To the contemporary reader, Vandover and the Brute seems tepid by comparison, and the various means Norris employs to avoid the outright discussion of vice act as obstacles to the reader's engagement in the story.
That's not to say that there isn't some great writing here. This novel contains some expertly crafted examples of the gritty, blunt realism for which Norris would become famous. Halfway through the book there is a disaster scene that's so convincingly drawn it will have you on the edge of your seat. He describes with equal authenticity a night at the opera, a marathon game of cards, or the machinations a shady business deal. Though there are some exceptional scenes here, they never quite coalesce into a cohesive novel. Vandover and the Brute is an early work by a great master that offers a glimpse of the shape of things to come. It captures some of the embryonic brilliance that would mature and blossom in later, greater works like The Octopus and McTeague.
Frank Norris had a great ability for observation and relating what he had learned from life. This is a very interesting story in which the reader is often taken in surprising directions
0 Response to "[FJ3]⇒ Libro Free Vandover and the Brute Frank Norris 9781374838161 Books"
Post a Comment