Vandover and the Brute
by Frank Norris
The place where history takes place is San Francisco in the 1890s. A recent college graduate and the son of a wealthy slum owner, Vandover dreams of becoming an artist, but lacks the discipline to achieve them. Seducing a young woman leads to her suicide and the death of her own father. Deceived by the fake friends of part of his legacy, Vandover plays the rest. Finally, "it becomes an explosion that has been reduced to clearing offal from homes in the slums it once owned. His degeneration was also marked by bouts of lichentropia on all fours, where he howled naked, like a wolf. "While contemporary critics agree that this is the first novel any writer can be proud of, Vandover and Brutus have not yet taken their proper place in American fiction. Published posthumously in 1914, this novel is probably Frank Norris' first complete novel.
