Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von McTeague: A Story of San Francisco
Go deeper: the whole of McTeague: A Story of San Francisco
About 7 h 50 min to read.Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love American realism, stories of money and ruin, and novels rooted in city life, where greed, heredity and chance shape the lives of ordinary people.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
A big, quiet dentist, a lottery ticket and a jealous friend. Out of these small things Frank Norris builds a story of ruin in McTeague, published in 1899. Norris is a young American writer who has studied Emile Zola, and he brings that blunt, scientific style to life in San Francisco. McTeague works on Polk Street with no diploma and little learning. He is content with his beer and his concertina. Then a friend brings a patient to his chair, and his calm world starts to shift.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A big, quiet dentist on Polk StreetFree
- 2A friend brings his cousin to the chair
- 3Marcus steps aside and a prize arrives
- 4A wedding supper and a cold friendship
- 5Thrift hardens into a hunger for gold
- 6Marcus takes his revenge
- 7Poverty tightens its hold on the couple
- 8Greed, heredity and chance as forces
- 9How Norris builds his city and style
Punkt 1 von 9
A big, quiet dentist on Polk Street
McTeague sits in his dental parlors above a street of small shops on a Sunday. He is huge, with big hands and a heavy jaw. He is not clever, but he is steady, and he is content with his dinner, his steam beer and his concertina.
He grew up in a mining camp in Placer County. A traveling dentist took the boy on as an assistant, and that is how he learned to pull and fill teeth without any schooling.
Norris hints that a coarse inheritance lies under the calm surface, a set of cravings the man does not understand. For now it sleeps. The neighbors like him well enough. Norris wants us to see how little it would take to knock such a modest life off its course.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Go deeper: the whole of McTeague: A Story of San Francisco
About 7 h 50 min to read.Who’s who
- McTeague
- A powerful, unlicensed dentist on Polk Street, he leads a quiet life and counts Marcus Schouler as his close friend.
- Trina Sieppe
- Marcus Schouler's neat, careful cousin, she comes to McTeague as a dental patient and attracts his affection.
- Marcus Schouler
- McTeague's outspoken friend works at a veterinary hospital and is keeping company with his own cousin Trina.
- Zerkow
- A neighborhood junk dealer obsessed with riches, he listens avidly to Maria Macapa's tales of golden dishes.
- Maria Macapa
- A maid in McTeague's building, she tells stories of fabulous gold that fascinate the junk dealer Zerkow.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 117,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 7 h 50 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about McTeague: A Story of San Francisco
What is McTeague about?
It follows a San Francisco dentist, his wife Trina and his friend Marcus. A lottery win, a jealous grudge and a growing love of money slowly wreck their lives and their marriage.
Is McTeague a true story?
No, it is fiction, published in 1899. Norris based it on a newspaper report of a murder case and on his observations of Polk Street and San Francisco in the 1890s.
What is naturalism in McTeague?
Naturalism is a style that treats people as shaped by heredity, environment and chance. Norris, following Emile Zola, shows characters driven by greed and instinct more than free choice.
What does the giant gold tooth mean in McTeague?
The huge gilded tooth hangs outside the dentist's window as a sign of his trade and pride. It is also a symbol of the book's focus on gold and its power.
Is McTeague hard to read?
Not really. The language is plain and the plot is clear. The mood is grim.