SOURCE: A review of Frank Norris of "The Wave," in American Literature, Vol. 3, November, 1931, pp. 349-50.

In the following excerpt, Grattan expresses a negative opinion of Frank Norris of "The Wave."

[Frank Norris of "The Wave"] should be read in conjunction with Volume X: Collected Writings in the collected edition of Norris's work. It is, in effect, a printing of material omitted from the volume for one reason or another, Its excuse for being, other than the fact that a file of The Wave is almost impossible to come by, is rather difficult to discover, for it was already rather glaringly apparent that Norris's early journalism was no better and no worse than that of dozens of other talented newspapermen. From these two volumes of dredgings we learn precious little about why Norris was able to write a small group of first-rate and important novels: McTeague, The Octopus...