Fighting Words: Polemics and Social Change in Literary Naturalism

Title Page, Editorial Board, Copyright, Dedication, Quotes

FightingWords studies in american literary realism and naturalism series editor Gary Scharnhorst editorial board Donna Campbell John Crowley Robert E. Fleming Alan Gribben Eric Haralson Denise D. Knight Joseph McElrath George Monteiro Brenda Murphy James Nagel Alice Hall Petry Donald Pizer Tom Quirk Jeanne Campbell Reesman Ken Roemer FightingWords POLEMICS AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN LITERARY NATURALISM Ira Wells The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa Copyright © 2013 The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Typeface: Minion & Gill Sans Cover photograph: Stag at Sharkey’s by George Bellows, 1909. Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cover design: Gary Gore ∞ The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wells, Ira, 1981Fighting words : polemics and social change in literary naturalism / Ira Wells. pages cm. — (Studies in American literary realism and naturalism) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8173-1799-7 (trade cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8173-8677-1 (ebook) 1. American fiction—20th century—History and criticism. 2. Naturalism in literature. 3. Social problems in literature. I. Title. PS374.N29W46 2013 810.9'12—dc23 2012042368 For Gillian “Men were nothings, mere animalculæ, mere ephemerides that fluttered and fell and were forgotten between dawn and dusk.” —Frank Norris, The Octopus “The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our own thoughts.” —Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man ...