Editing Frank Norris (section)

==Critical reception==
Although some of his novels remain highly admired, aspects of Norris's work have not fared well with literary critics in the late 20th and early 21st century. As [[Donald Pizer]] writes "Frank Norris's racism, which included the most vicious anti-Semitic portrayals in any major work of American literature, has long been an embarrassment to admirers of the vigor and intensity of his best fiction and has also contributed to the decline of his reputation during the past several generations."<ref>{{Cite book|title=American Naturalism and the Jews|last=Pizer|first=Donald|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-252-03343-8|location=Urbana|pages=15}}</ref> Other scholars have confirmed Norris's [[antisemitism]].<ref>Lebowich, Joseph (1904). [https://archive.org/stream/menorahvolume00socigoog#page/n40/mode/2up "The Jew of Frank Norris,"] ''The Menorah'', Vol. XXXVI, pp. 27–31.</ref><ref>Levy, Richard S. (2005). ''Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution'', Vol. I, ABC-CLIO, pp. 511–512 {{ISBN|978-1-85109-439-4}}</ref> Norris's work is often seen as strongly influenced by the [[scientific racism]] of the late 19th century, such as that espoused by his professor at the University of California, Berkeley, [[Joseph LeConte]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=American Naturalism and the Jews|last=Pizer|first=Donald|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-252-03343-8|location=Urbana|pages=19}}</ref> Along with his contemporary [[Jack London]], Norris is seen as "reconstructing American identity as a biological category of Anglo-Saxon masculinity."<ref>{{Citation|last=Kaplan|first=Amy|chapter=Nation, Region, and Empire|title=The Columbia History of the American Novel|editor-last=Elliott|editor-first=Emory|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1991|isbn=0-231-07360-7|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/columbiahistoryo00elli/page/263 263]|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/columbiahistoryo00elli/page/263}}</ref> In Norris's work, critics have seen evidence of [[racism]], [[antisemitism]], and contempt for immigrants and the working poor, all of whom are seen as the losers in a [[Social Darwinism|Social-Darwinist]] struggle for existence.<ref>{{Citation|author-link1=Susan L. Mizruchi|last=Mizruchi|first=Susan|chapter=Fiction and the Science of Society|title=The Columbia History of the American Novel|editor-last=Elliott|editor-first=Emory|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1991|isbn=0-231-07360-7|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/columbiahistoryo00elli/page/203 203]|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/columbiahistoryo00elli/page/203}}</ref>