Stacy Keach stars in this shocking tale of a Polk Street dentist and his wife in 1899 San Francisco. Frank Norris powerful insights into the depths of the human soul make this a story of compelling narrative force. This seminal novel about murder, obsession and the destructive effects of greed features an all-star cast including Stacy Keach, Edward Asner, Ed Begley Jr., Hector Elizondo, Helen Hunt, Amy Irving, Marsha Mason, Jobeth Williams and many more.

A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Ed Asner, Rene Auberjonois, Ed Begley Jr., Georgia Brown, Jack Coleman, Bud Cort, Judy Ann Elder, Hector Elizondo, Fionnula Flanagan, Teri Garr, Katherine Helmond, Howard Hessman, Helen Hunt, Amy Irving, Carol Kane, Stacy Keach, Sara Kessler, Nan Martin, Richard Masur, Marsha Mason, Rue McLanahan, Marian Mercer, Judd Nelson, Holly Palance, Judge Reinhold, Franklin Seales, David Selby, Joe Spano, Madeleine Smith, JoBeth Williams, Michael York and Harris Yulen.

This book is realism thrice over. The first 'realism' is coventional. Norris in the vain of the French realists writes a novel exploring people with complete human imperfections. From the feeble-witted McTeague (Norris never gives us his first name) to his avaricious wife Trina, we are introduced to a cast of characters who fuction the way people do. And unlike today's 'realist' literature that tries to be shocking for shock value, Norris is nothing but sincere.

The second 'realism' is Norris's refreshing 'fly on the wall' approach. Unlike fellow realists like Dreiser and Lewis, Norris does not judge his characters- never commenting or moralizing, just reporting. Through two murders, one rape fantasy and spousal abuse among other things, Norris simply tells it as it 'happens.'

The third 'realism' is in the language, both that of the characters and the novelist. It is always said that Hemingway was the one who taught us that descriptively, less is more. Now I see that there would have been no Hemingway without Norris. He is sparse and terse, giving the novel a life-like tone. The characters tend to stammer ("Yeah- uh- uh- yeah, that's the word") reflecting the way we really talk.

This is not Henry James, Edith Wharton or Harriet Stowe. It is a gritty tale set in 1890's San Francisco with an ending that will leave you in nothing less than shock. Before Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck, there was Frank Norris and McTeague.

25 of 26 found the following review helpful:


A powerful portrayal of greed (in spite of its stereotypes)  Aug 24, 2003 By D. Cloyce Smith
Along with Stephen Crane, Frank Norris was one of the earliest writers in American naturalism--a tradition that eventually gave us Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, and John Steinbeck. Influenced by social Darwinism and the French realists (especially Zola), their style tends to bluntness and away from romanticism and their view of civilization is marked by grimness. "McTeague" is considered Norris's classic work, and for good reason: its effect on later writers is obvious, and the book represents a shocking, bleak expose of greed and of the bestial nature of human beings.

McTeague is an unschooled, middle-class dentist who marries Trina, a daughter of German immigrants who is also the sweetheart of her distant cousin Marcus. Their lives are irrevocably changed when Trina wins $5,000 from a lottery, and their story is an examination of the resulting greed, miserliness, jealousies, intrigues, abuse, and homicide. Norris's worldview is not entirely gloomy, however: he introduces two endearing and unforgettable characters, Old Grannis and Miss Baker, an elderly couple whose only pleasure in the world is the knowledge of each other's existence on the other side of the shared wall of their two apartments. They are the antithesis of greed, and the simplicity of their desires provide much-needed comic (and, yes, romantic) relief.

The 21st-century reader, however, should be warned that Norris's ethnic stereotypes are not pretty. Zerkow, a Polish Jew, is a parsimonious junk peddler who has "bloodless lips" and "claw-like, prehensile fingers--the fingers of a man who accumulates, but never disburses." He dreams incessantly of gold, and is entranced by the long-lost (and undoubtedly imaginary) gold dinnerware described by a Mexican maid, Maria, whom he eventually marries in order to monopolize her memories of the treasure. Maria herself is a dim-witted and unrepentant petty thief, yet her portrayal is more sympathetic in its evocation of naivety and innocence and suffering. Yet it's difficult to overcome the cringe factor created by Norris's depiction of these two characters. (To confirm that I was not overreacting, I searched the Web and found that, unfortunately, these passages are cited or reprinted gleefully and favorably on a number of anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi sites.)

Happily, the remainder of the novel's characters are not so one-dimensional, yet all the main characters turn out to be, in their own way, as narrow-minded and greedy as Zerkow and Maria. There are two ways to see the disparity in the presentation of these characters. Critics tend to point out the Zerkow is presented first, as the archetype of greed--and that the remainder of the novel shows how McTeague, Trina, and Marcus are as greedy as Zerkow--or as "greedy as a Jew." The more charitable analysis reverses the perspective: that Norris mitigates his representation of Zerkow by demonstrating, in effect, that he is no different than anyone else--that all humans are basically brutes (a word Norris uses often).

Norris's novel is above all a stark condemnation of human baseness. The various characters pursue their inescapable and expected demise, and the suddenness and shock of the ending is breathtaking. The power of the novel's underlying message ultimately overwhelms its dated bigotry, and "McTeague" is still a must-read for anyone interested in American literature.

17 of 18 found the following review helpful:


McTeague is literary naturalism in the purist form.  May 12, 2000 By Christian Engler
McTeague, the man, is the embodiment of the majority of human civilization. The simplicity and directness of the themes are so free-flowing they are hardly noticible: success, wealth, power, the fear of losing that which elevates citizens to one of the three social classes: 1) Wealth 2) Middle-class 3) Poverty. The characters in the novel: McTeague, Trina, Marcus, Zerkow, etc., are all simple-minded individuals longing for something that is universal in life: success and comfort. But what happens when that goal, that climax, is never achieved, almost achieved but never fully there or worse yet, achieved but then brutally snatched away? That is what happenes to McTeague, a dentist, who can no longer practice his craft because he holds no dental degree. What happens when that comfort zone, that stability, is yanked away and gnawed into pieces so miniscule it can't be reconstructed to its original form? Can he rise from his adversity or will he, like many before him and many after him, fall into the pits of criminal behavior and social depravity? As is always unfortunately the case, the latter is almost always what comes into fruition. There is a force in the novel that brings the characters quietly together. The dark happenings that they incur as a result of their narrow-minded longings almost makes what happens to them inevitable. The writing itself is lucid and relaxed, which is a real accomplishment considering the horror he puts his characters through. The scenes of San Francisco, the desert and the village-oriented type feel of Polk Street where the beginning action takes place are wonderfully described, not laborious as compared to the old and tragic English novels of the 19th Century and onward. For any literate individual interested in how greed can destroy a life, McTeague is the book for you.

13 of 13 found the following review helpful:


An interesting thesis on realtionships and the middle class.  Sep 17, 1998
I must admit that I was at first reluctant to read Frank Norris' McTeague on account of its not- so-breathtakingly-exotic title. But now that I have finished reading the book, I must say that McTeague has to be one of the finest writings on the plight of the middle class I have ever read. Set in the slummy streets of San Francisco, the book centers around a degree-less dentist named McTeague and covers the various the ups and downs of his miserable life. The book is kept mildly entertaining due to Norris' consistant introduction of new conflicts and events in successive chapters. Aside from the plot and characters, the book is also a very interseting thesis on human sexual roles by Norris. It proves to be entertaining due to Norris eloquent amalgum of sulleness, humor, and irony. The book's main negative is its haphazard pace. Progressing very slowly in some chapters and snowballing in others, the book is for the reader who prefers varity of pace over steadiness. Despite its creative shortcomings, the book succeeds in educating the reader about the difficult and disturbing lives of the lower-middle-class.

8 of 8 found the following review helpful:


American parable  Sep 04, 2006 By Paul Miller "___[_]D___"
H L Mencken believed "McTeague" to be the great American novel and it surely is the principal American parable. A giant golden tooth and a gilded canary cage are just two symbols of greed in this rich novel. Published in 1899 this work by Frank Norris reminds of Emile Zola's writing in realism and artistry. Norris takes the reader from Polk street San Francisco to Death Valley in this brilliant depiction of avarice. Erich von Stroheim's silent film "Greed" is based on McTeague, unfortunately the whole 9 1/2 hour film is no longer extant. The novel is funny at times like when Marcus is pontificating to McTeague: "It's the capitalists that's ruining the cause of labor," shouted Marcus, banging the table with his fist till the beer glasses danced; "white-livered drones, traitors, with their livers white as snow, eatun the bread of widows and orphuns; there's where the evil lies." Stupefied with his clamor, McTeague answered, wagging his head: "Yes, that's it; I think it's their livers." The gentle love story of Old Grannis and Miss Baker shows how simple contentment can be and serves as an an antithesis to the rest of the book. "and the two old people sat there in the gray evening, quietly, quietly, their hands in each other's hands, "keeping company," Early in the book Mcteague has dreams of oral opulence: "It was his ambition, his dream, to have projecting from that corner window a huge gilded tooth, a molar with enormous prongs, something gorgeous and attractive. He would have it some day, on that he was resolved;" Trina his fiancee buys this grand tooth for his dentist office and gives it to him as a gift. As the McTeagues descend into financial ruin he clings to this object. When he finally does decide to sell all he can get for it is five dollars, if sown under a large enough pillow the tooth fairy would have left more for this gargantuan grinder. The gilded molar is not only a symbol of his success as a dentist, but also the love he and his wife once shared. The Buddha said desire was the cause of suffering and we certainly see that here as greed takes center stage in this novel. Most of the characters mine the ore of suffering with their cupidity and as they struggle to acquire they become possessed.

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