Reproduction of the original: Vandover and the Brute by Frank Norris

'Vandover and the Brute' is a novel by Frank Norris that follows the life of the eponymous character, Vandover. Born in Boston and raised by his father in San Francisco after his mother's death, Vandover is an average student but possesses a talent for art. He attends Harvard where he befriends two fellow San Franciscans and develops a taste for alcohol and women. While his friends pursue their ambitions, Vandover falls into a life of vice, unable to control his sinful ways.

Vandover and the Brute was posthumously published in 1914 and is a study of degeneration. Benjamin Franklin Norris was an American novelist, during the Progressive Era, writing predominantly in the naturalist genre. Although he did not support socialism as a political system, his work nevertheless has evinced a socialist mentality and influenced socialist/progressive writers such as Upton Sinclair. Like many of his contemporaries, he was profoundly influenced by the advent of Darwinism, and Thomas Henry Huxley's philosophical defense of it. Through many of his novels, notably McTeague (1899), runs a preoccupation with the notion of the civilized man overcoming the inner "brute," his animalistic tendencies. His peculiar, and often confused, brand of Social Darwinism also bears the influence of the early criminologist Cesare Lombroso.

It was always a matter of wonder to Vandover that he was able to recall so little of his past life. With the exception of the most recent events he could remember nothing connectedly. What he at first imagined to be the story of his life, on closer inspection turned out to be but a few disconnected incidents that his memory had preserved with the greatest capriciousness, absolutely independent of their importance. One of these incidents might be a great sorrow, a tragedy, a death in his family; and another, recalled with the same vividness, the same accuracy of detail, might be a matter of the least moment.

Excerpt from Vandover and the Brute The following novel was completed by Frank Norris in 1895. It was written almost simultaneously with Mo Teague, although the latter book was conceived and actually begun at an earlier date, and finished fully two years later. His third novel, Moran of the Lady Letty, appeared first in book form in September, 1898; Mo Teague followed in six months; two more were published within the next year. There seemed no room at the time for. Vandover and the Brute. It was destined to have a curious history. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.