Frank Norris, The Responsibilities of the Novelist

Jude Davies (University of Winchester)
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The Responsibilities of the Novelist and Other Literary Essays

was a posthumous selection of the literary criticism Norris contributed to a variety of American magazines and newspapers from 1896 to 1902. Assembled after Norris's death by his wife Jeannette Norris, the collection includes some historically interesting considerations of English courses at the University of California in the 1890s, western literature, and the significance of the closure of the American frontier. Its main significance lies in Norris's interventions in debates over genre, largely to explicate and defend his own practice. The touchstone of such contemporary debates was the value of Emile Zola, whose “naturalism” was alternately celebrated or stigmatised as tasteless and reductive. Norris cut across these…

317 words

Citation: Davies, Jude. "The Responsibilities of the Novelist". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 October 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7569, accessed 19 March 2024.]

7569 The Responsibilities of the Novelist 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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