Frank Norris and F. Scott Fitzgerald as romantic rebels

R ev ista de Estudios Norteamericanos, 11 9 2 ( 199 3). pp. 75 -85 FRANK NORRIS AND F. scorr FITZGERALD AS ROMANTIC REBELS SATYAM S. MOOR TY Southern Utah U ni versity Critics have often considered Frank Norris as «naturalist» and Scott Fitzgerald as «romanticis t. » Both writers have. on the other hand, «romantic awareness,» an awareness that informs their works. In his essay, «A Plea for Romantic Fiction,» Norris empha sizes that «the true Romance is a more serious business than» «moonlight and gol den hair.» It is «the red, living heart of things.» 1 Moreover, he views Romance and Realism exist «not so much in th ings as in point of view of the people who see things.»2 Frank Norris is a romanticist be ca use of the «point of view» with which he observes life and sees things. The difficult thing is to get at th e life inmediately around you -the very life in which you move. No romance in it? No roma nce in you. poor fool. As much romance on Michigan Avenue as there is realism in King Arthur's court. lt is as you choose to see it. Th e important thing to decide is, which formula is the best to help you grip the Real Life of this or any other age ... ·1 Th e reason why one claims so much for Romance, and quarrels so p oi ntedly with Realism, is that Realism stultifies itsel f. It notes only the surface l. Norris, The Responsibilities of the No\'e/íst. a co ll ec tion of critica! essays and ar ticl es by Fr ank Norris. published al ong with William Dean Howe ll s' Crítícísm a nd Fictíon (New York: Hill and Wang, 1967). p. 279. 2. Norris, « Th e True Reward of t he Novelist,» The R es ponsíhílitíes of the Novelís1. p. 200. 3. l híd . 76 Satyam S. Moort y of things. For it, Beauty is not even skin deep, but only a geometrical plan e, without dimensions and depth, a mere outside. Realism is very excellent so far as it goes, but it goes no futther than the Realisl himself can actually see, or actually hear. Realism is minute; ... 4 The province of Romance is the «variations from lhe type of normal life.» The «Naturalism is a form of romanticism, notan inner circle of realism.»5 This, however, does nol minimise the naturalist traits that burden Norris 's major works and the ro man tic elements that are preponderant in Fitzgerald 's fiction. Norris' s belief seems to be in contradistinction to Fitzgerald's thoroughgoing co mmitm ent toward aesthetic accomplishment; Fitzgerald's lyrical prose and his keen ear for the word make him seem more a romantic than a realist. Neither of the two noveli sts wished to be long to any particular school of writers. Perhaps it would be much safer to consider them as «realists» who aimed at an authentic portrayal of the society of their times. Alternatively, they may be treated as romantic rebels who grounded their work in experience but illuminated that work by exercise of a romantic imagination. The romantics in their pursuit aftcr Elysium and ideal life gave importance to fceling, imagination, and disparaged reason. The realists, on the other hand, rejected the romantic conception and vision of life as unattainable and unreal and, accordingly, demostrated their faith in reason, reality, and experience. Norris rated «life» above imagination and firmly believed that fiction mu st come from life; «you can't imagine anything that you have nol already seen and observed.»h His delight in life and willingness to leam from ali possible sources made him cry that life is better than literature, experience better than roaming in «the misty si de streets of literature.» As a creator of literature the artist ought to have «life» as a foundation for ali his works. H is most exuberant and clear statement pertaining to the val u e of experience for the writer is found in his letter to Isaac Marcosson, who had favorably reviewed McTeague: What pleased me most in your review of 'McTeagu e' was the 'disdaining ali pretensions to style.' It is precisely what I try to avoid. I det es t 'fine writing,' 4. Norris, «A Pl ea for Romantic Fiction ,» The Responsihilities of the Novelist, p. 280 S. Norris. «Zola As a Romantic Writer,» an un signed editorial in the Wave on June 21, 1896. This pa ssage is quoted in Franklin Walker 's Frank Norris: A Bio¡¡raphy ( 1932; rpt. New York: Ru sse ll & Russe ll , 1963), p. 84. 6. Frank Norris, «Fiction is Selecti on ,» Wave. 16 (September 11 , 18 97), 3. Reproduced in The Lirerary Criticism ofFrank Norris, ed. Donald Pizer (Austin: University ofTexas Press, 1964), p. 52. Frank Norris and F. Scou Fitzgerald as Romallfic Re bel s 77 'rhetoric ,' 'e legant Engli sh,' -tommyrot. Who c are s for fine style! Tell your yam and !et yo ur style go to the devil. We don't want literature, we want Iife.7 Even before the publication of any of his novels Norris in an short story published in 1896 prompts one of his characters to tell another: You 've be en writing the se 'Dramas of the Curbstone' without hardly stirring from the house. Yo u 've ju st been trying to imagine things that you think are likely to happen on the streets of a big city after dark, and you've been working that way so long that you 've sort of used up your material -exhausted your imagination. Why don 't you go right out - now -tonight, and keep your eyes open and wa tch what re ali y happen s, and see if you can 't find something to make a story out of , or at leas! something that would suggest one.8 As far as th eme and c ontentare concerned Norris se ems to have formulated a cr itica! system that rests on «life, not literature.» «Life,» then, to Norris included the emotions and the instincts, the lif e of passion and violence, the world of natur e, strength, a nd naturalness.9 And this critica! credo provided freedom for Norris to write candidly about his own per ceptions with enlarged sensibility and thereby free the novel from the limitations and restraints ofReali sm that only entertains « With its meticulous presentation of teacups, rag carpets, wall-paper and haircloth sofas, stopping with these. going no deep er than it sees, choosing the or dinary, the untroubled, the commonplace.»1º The faith in t he life of ac tion, instinct, and emotion that Norris empha si zed continues as a for ce to reckon with in the mod e rn Ameri can novel. The desire for experience is a key theme in Am erican literature, as Philip Rahv reiterates: ... since Whitman and James the American creative mind, seizing at last upon what had long been denied to it, has found the terms and objects of its activity in the urge toward and immersion in experience. It is this search for experience, conducted on di verse and often contlicting levels of consciousness, 7. Fr anklin Walker. ed., The Let/ers of Frank Norris (San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1956), pp. 30-3 1. 8. Frank Norris, «His Sister,» Fr ank Norris of «The Wave" (San Francisco: Westgate Press. 19 31 ), p. 34. The passage is quoted from an unpublished dissertation, «Social Thought in the Writings of Frank Norris,» by Sara Jane H. Gardner, Washington State Universit y, 1966. l am indebted to Sara Gardn er for this. 9. l am grateful to Donald Pizer 's «lntroduction» to The Literary Criticism of Frank Norris. (ed.). 10. Norris, «A Plea for Romantic Fiction,» in The Responsibilities, p. 282. 78 Satyam S. Moorty which has been the dominant, quintessential themeofthe characteristic American literary productions-from Le aves of Grass to Winesburg, Ohio, and beyond ... 11 Beyond is This Si de of Paradise -a portrayal in personal terms of Fitzgerald' s Princeton experiences similar to Norris's agonizing experiences inB/ix and Vandover and the Brute. Both B lix and This Side of Paradise are records of the novelists' transmuted experiences in which their «sharp and concise attitude about life»12 begins to emerge. As John Kuehl observes, Scott Fitzgerald's work is «Subjective, reflecting his own experiences and emotions, but the early novels presentthese in quite a direct way ... » 13 The en tries in «Thoughtbook,» kept between 191 O and 1911, represent what Fitzgerald atan early age could do well. The «Thoughtbook» and the Notebook and the Ledger signify that Fitzgerald could observe people and their inter-relationships, project himself in to theirmidst, and thereby capture the essence ofhis experiences in objective terrns -the kind of objectivity that realists demanded of themselves. Unlike Norris, Fitzgerald did not come up with any codified critica! credo or system ofthought. His letters, however, reveal occasional glimpses. From the body of his works, letters, Notebook and «Thoughtbook,» it seems that the younger novel ist did echo or follow what the older writer had so explicitly propounded: life is bettertha·n literature, experience is superior to imagination. This may be termed «romantic individualism» - as Donald Pizer defines it, «a pervasive and widespread faith in the validity of the individual experience and mind as a source of knowledge anda guide to action.»14 What is implicit in this faith and conviction is that it is possible to create serious and lasting works of the imagination directly out of American experience. In his essay «An American School of Fiction?» Norris is confident that: The school of fiction American in thought, in purpose, and in treatment will come in time, inevitably. Meanwhile the besl we can expect of the leaders is to remain steadfast, to keep unequivocally to the metes and bounds of the vineyards oftheir Iabors; no trespassing, no borrowing, no filching ofthe grapes of another man's vines. The cultivation of one's own vine is quite sufficient for all energy. We want these vines to grow -in timeto take root deep in American soil so that by and by the fruit shall be ali of our own growing. 11. Philip Rahv, lmaf?e an d Id ea (Norfolk, Conn. New Directions, 19 4 9) , p. 8. 12. Introduction to the Modern Library Edition ofTh e Gr eat Gatsby. 1934. 13 John Ku ehl, «S cott Fitz gera ld's Critic a! Opinions.» Mo de rn Fiction Studies. (Spring 1961 ), pp. 318. l 4. Donald Pizer, «Romantic lndividualism in Garland, Norris and Crane,» Am erican Quarrerly. 10, No. 4 (Winter 1958 ), 463-464. Frank Norris and F. Sco tt Fitzgera/d as R om antic Rebels 79 We do not want -distinctly and veheme ntly we do not want-the vinegrower to leave his own grapes to rot whilehe flies offtothe gathering of -what? The sodden lees of an ancient crushing. 15 Both Norris and Fitzgerald believed in the indiv idual perception of Truth and probed, as Norris urged the no ve list to do, the «unplumbed depths of the human heart, and the inystery of sex, and the problems of life, and the black, unsearch ed penetralia of the soul of man.» 16 Norris grounded hi s critica! cr edo in the faith that literature in its highest form «ÍS a sincere transcription of life.» Fitzgerald wanted Iiterature, among other things, to make «new observations,» and a « new examination into human emotions.»17 The two writers shared a faith in romantic individualism, experience, and imagination; they also held similar views on life. Norris and Fitzgerald could as we ll be considered romantics as realists, or , more appropriately, romantic re beis, though literary historians and critics gen erally tend to treat No rris asa n ardent advocate of the naturalistic novel and Fitzgerald as a historian or spokesman of the Jazz Age of the 1920s. Norris himself declared that «Roman ce and Realism are constant qualities of every age, day and hour. They are here to -day. They exist ed in the time of Job. They wi ll continue to exist till the end of time, not so much in things as in point of view of th e people who see things.» 18 This answers critics who were confounded by litera ry labels when the y asked them se lves whether Norris was a natura li st, ora romanticist turned rea li st, ora realist «striving to free himself from the trammels of his drab craft.»19 If the distinction made by Norris between romanticism and realism -tha t the one deals with the unusual and the other the normal Jifeis too arbitrary to be accepted by hi s critics, it at least se rves to explain his own pro cedure.'0 No sin gle answer or nea t pigeonholing is possible with regard to Norris in s pi te of the fact that he was influenced by Emile Zola, the Fr ench natura li st. 21 Literary 15. Norris, The Responsihilities, pp . 273-274. 16. lbid., p. 282. J 7. See Fitzgeral d's letter of Winter, 1939, to his daughter Frances Sco tt Fitzgerald. Reproduced in The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald. ed. Andr ew Turnbull (1963; Bantam edn. New York: Bant am Boo ks, 1971 ), p. 51. A li future references to this title wi ll be by Th e Lellers. J 8. Norris. «T he True R ewa rd of the Novelist,» The Responsibilities, p. 200. 1 9. E mes ! Ma rchand, Frank Norris: A Study (Copyri ght 1942; rpl. 1964; New York: Octago n Books, 1971 ), p. 33. 20 . Franklin Walker , Frank Norris: A Biography, p. 81. 21. «He was never seen without a yellow paper-convered novel of Zola in his hand,,, wro te his brother, Char les G. Norris, of Frank Norris. 80 Satyam S. Moorty historians like Osear Cargill, Robert E. Spiller, and Vemon Louis Parrington have indeed called Norris a disciple of Zola. Good fiction eludes the urtnatural boundaries set for it by such terms as «romanticism,» «realism,» «naturalism,» «existentialism,» though any or ali of these may be comprehended in a single wor k. For example, M cTeag ue. lt is easy to conclude that it is «pure naturalism.» But , how to account for the lingering romance in the idyll of the belated !ove of old Grannis and Miss Baker? Or the stark and sharp realism of Norris' superb portrayal ofthe little world of San Francisc o' s Polk Street with its car conductors, car girls, «coffee joints,» small shops and saloons? It is a rhythm of the commonplace world in its undistu rb ed routine. Also, how ignore the animal qualities in McTeague which are atavistic and destructive? There is, thus, in this literary tour de force romanticism, realism, and naturalism; this is true of mo st of the works of Norris. According to Norris, ... Romance ... is the kind of fiction that takes cognizance of variations from the type of normal life. Realism is the kind of fiction that confines itself to the type of normal life. According to this definition, then, Romance may e ven treat ofthe sordid, the unlovelyas, for instance, the novels ofMr. Zola. (Zola ha s been dubbed a Realist, but he is, on the contrary, the very head of the Romanticists.) Also, Realism, used as it sometimes is as a term of reproach, need not be in the remotest sense or degree offensive, but on the other hand respectable as a church and prop er as a deacon -as, for instance, the novels of Mr. Howells .22 Norris considered romanticism, realism, and naturalism in a dialectic, pitting realism and romanticism as opposing forces, and placing naturalism as a transcending synthesis.B But, at the same time, he was concemed with the existence of free will in a purposeful universe -an aspee! that was repugnant to the Continental naturalist s's credo of scientific determinism. Norris' naturalism is an American version, one closer to transcendental romanticism. It is difficult to brand him as primarily belonging to a particular literary school. Norris, it seems, was romantic at heart with a broad truth of life, realist in the sole mn treatment of his fictional materials objectively portraying contemporary scenes, and naturalist in his literary techniques, particularly in works like McTeague and Vandover and th e Brute. without incorporating steadfastly the philosophy of 22. Norris, «A Plea for Romantic Fiction,» The Responsahilities. p. 280. 23. Though th e sentence is partly modified, the thought is primarily borrowed from Donald Pizer's The Lirerary Criricism of Frank Norris, ed. Frank Norris and F. Scott Fitzgerald as Romantic Rebels 81 materialistic determinism. «Norris accepted determinism only in so far as it appealed to his dramatic se nse. » 2 ~ Critics unmindful ofthis find him, not surpris in gly, inconsistent in his philosophy. Norris' biographer, Franklin Walker, says: ... From the beginning his temperament merged the romantic and the realistic, selecting the unusual subject and presenting it with verisimilitude. When he wrote Iverne/le, he became absorbed in the details ofmedieval armor; when he wrote McTeague he «got up» the particulars of dentistry. The method was the same; th e formula alone was diff ere nt ; and it was the discovery ofthi s formula which so cornpletely changed the nature of his writing. Th e chan ge carne as the result of an interest in Zola and French naturalism. 25 A cavea t needs, however, to be added here to Franklin Walker 's summation. What Walker means by «method» is realisrn; but it is not clear wha t he wants «formula» to mean. Does he suggest that Norris turned into a naturalist after his exposure to Zo la? Or did Norris come up with a new or heightened romanticism unlike that of Poe or Scott; nor the kind of romanticism that dealt only with the distant pas t; not the kind of romanticism that resides in dreams and illusions. Whereas Norris was attracted by Zola's world ofbig things and the sensational as in the epic sweep and grandeurof The Octopus, Fitzgerald' s fascination for Zola 's system of the enormous, th e formidable, and the terrible was partly incorporated in Tender Is the Night and the unfinished The Last Tycoon. In his letter to John O'Hara, Fitzgerald suggested, «lnvent asystem Zolaesque» (seethe appendix toJosephson 'slife ofZola in which he gives Zola's plan for the first Rougon-Maquart book) 26 In fact, the Notes to the unfinish ed The Last Tycoon indicate that Fitzgerald did not stop practising what he preached. It seems that both Norris and Fitzgerald were captivated by the «Zolaesque system» which both tried in th ei r own way to follow. Both may have been impressed by the realism ofZola, but Norris' authentic realism appealed to Fitzgerald more; not the k in d of «fiction that confines itself to the type of normal life,» not the «realism of the gcnt ee l, of the drawing room,» nor the «drama of a broken teacup.» To Norris, «details, gathered through ex perience, close ob servations, and hard work, objectified reality.»27 The authenticity of realism apprehend ed through ali the impressions of sense epitomized in Norris' work captivat ed Fitzgerald's temperament. 24. Franklin Walker , Frank Norris: A Biography, p. 85. 25. lbid., p. 81. 26. Fitzgerald 's l et t er to John O' Hara dated July 25, 1936. Reproduced in The Lelters, ed. Turnbu ll, p. 545. 27. William B. Dillingham, Frank Norris: lnstin c1 and An, (Linco ln : University of Nebraska Pr ess, 196 9) , p. 128. 82 Satyam S. Moorty The realism of McTeague opened new vistas and «laid bare a section of American life where the fiction writer had scarcely ever thought to probe, andina spirit and manner altogether new -the spirit and manner of the anatomist.» 28 Fitzgerald in his view of Brass, by Charles Norris, made a special reference to the elder brother's work and took the l iberty to point out that Frank Norris in M cT eague had given an air of authenticity by appealing «to the sense of smell orofhearing ratherthan by the commoner form of word painting.» 29 The extensive documentation in The Beautiful and Damned employed by Fitzgerald, particularly in the section related to the discussion of Gloria' s diary, to Iend authenticity to the narra ti ve is similar, as a device, to the one in Norris' Vandover and the Brute. This method is perfected in Tender Is the Night in the discussion ofNicole's letters. Fitzgerald confessed to Max Perkins that the drunken scenes and ali the realism in This Side of Paradise «might have been written by Norris.» Most of what Fitzgerald wrote was true ofhis times and the places in which he lived. To label Fitzgerald as the social historian of theJ azz Age is thus no t unfair, nor does it obscure his merits. It is, in fact, a tribute to his powers of sharp and acute observation anda serious commit ment to a realistic presentation of the socially significant detail. AsJohn O 'Hara has pithily remarked, in This Si de of Paradise «the people were right, the talk was right, the clothes, the cars were real... »· '°The authenticity that Fitzgerald longed for andsought after, forwhich he showered encomiums on McTeague, is realized in his veiy first novel. Both Norris and Fitzgerald felt the truth of detail, desideratum of realism, and strong conviction in fact as the ultimate way to truth, essential. Themselves in the line of the nineteenth century American realists beginning with Mark Twain, Norris and Fitzgerald placed a high value on «experience» and they respected the «author who wrote what he knew,» «From Twain to Hemingway there is clearly discernible this tradition which values above almost ali else the author's true knowledge of what he is talking about.» 31 Norris made impassioned and forthright pleas for authorial integrity for he strongly believed that only writers of intellectual integrity and honesty c ould write great books. Fitzgerald gave similar ad vice in chastising Scottie in one of bis letters- « ... you have to have your own fences to jump and learn from experience.»32 And again, «Don't t ry to be witty in the writing, unless it's naturaljust true and real.» 33 Obviously, Fitzgerald wanted integrity and sincerity in writing. 28 . Ernest Marchand, p. 50. 29. Reviewof Brass, by Charles Norris, Th e Bookman, 54, No. 3(November19 21),253254. Quoted by John Kuehl in his «Scott Fitzgerald's Critica! Opinions,» 3-18. Reprinted in Profi/e of F. Scott Fitzgerald, compiled by Matthew J. Bruccoli, p. 26. 30 . John O'Hara, «In Memory of Scott Fitzgerald: II -Certain Aspects,» New Repuhlic. 104 (1941), 311. 31. Dillingham, opus cit., p. 129. 32. Turnbull, The Letters. Letter from Scott Fitzgerald to his daughter, October 20, 1936, p. 11. 33. Ihid. Letter dated July 7, 1938, p. 35. Frank Norris and F. Sco tt Fitzgerald as Romantic Rebels 83 Yet, though he adopted realistic techniques and method s in his novels and short stories, Fitzgerald, like Norris, remained primarily a romantic at heart. « ... Fitzgerald was among the wi ldest of the romantics, but he was al so amo ng the few Americans who tried, like Stendhal in France, to make the romance real by showing its causes and its consequences ... » 34 What his own romantic s elf longed for - «fame, money, and the gi rl » (Zelda Sayre) -wa s accomplished, though painfully at times. His own life was mo stly a romantic dream li ke the dream of Jay Gatsby; but what Gatsby could not magnificently possess Fitzgerald co uld sadly own and enjoy. The romantic's tragic sense oflife informs Fitzgerald 's work. His early work, particularly, reflects the importance of his sensations a nd feelings and his ability to express them with honesty. This Side of Paradise, though considered a patchy and ar ti stically immature work, does revea) what Profe ssor Eb le notes: «Fitzgerald, like most romantics, tended to endow experience with max imum emotion long after the event and after the romantic imagination had had time to color and intensify the experience.»35 By Fitzgerald's own admission, his ideal among the English Romantics was John Ke ats. There are numerous references to Keats in Fitzgerald's works. It was K cats' Ode to a Nig ht ingale that fumished Fitzgerald both with ti tl e and epigraph. The chi ef trait of realis ts like Howells, namely, the recording of observation whether of their own souls or of the world outside, is also a feat ur e of the romantics and their attitude; they were passionately reverential of fact -the mental fact as well as the ph ysical, whether it was Shel l ey' s realism of obse rv ation of social factor Wordsworth 's grasp of the common man 's idiom. This partly ex plain s why Fitzgerald adored romantics, particularly Keats. The emotional exhaustion evident in the later work of Fitzgerald was perhaps dueto the strenuous and serious drain on him, somewhat parallel to Keats' condition when he carne t o« Hyperion» after the great Odes. «I ha ve asked a lot of my emotions,» said Fitzgerald, «one hundred and twenty stories. The price was high, right up with Kipling, be ca use there was one little drop of something -not blood, nota tear, not my seed, but me more intimately than these, in every story, it was the extra I had. Now it h as gone and 1 amjus t like you now.»36 It is perhaps Fitzgerald 's romantic ecstasy and agon y, and his romantic crack-up. Norris argued as a romantic that violent and bi za rre action, exo ti c and strange locales, the lif e of passion, the Ji fe of the low and fallen, the great forces underlying 34 . Malcolm Cowl ey , « Third Ac tandEpi logue.» Originally publish ed in TheNew Yorker (June 30. 1945). Reprodu ced inF.Scott Fit:gerald: A collection ofC rir ica/ Essays. ed. by Arthur Mizen er (Englewood C li ffs, N.J.: Prentic eHall, Inc., 1963), p. 66. 35. Kenneth Eble, F. Sc ott Fitzgera/d (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1 96 3). p. 48. 36. Malcolm Cowley, « Third Act and Epil ogue, » p. 67.