Greed

Sister Carrie and McTeague, the last two books I read, had a lot in common. The latter hit stores in 1899, and the former a year later. Dreiser had difficulty finding a publisher for Sister Carrie, when his first publisher's wife declared it too sordid. But Frank Norris, who wrote McTeague, was working as a reader at Doubleday & McClure, and he sent a few copies of it to literary reviewers.

I can see why Norris liked Dreiser’s writing. Both authors seemed to enjoy developing greedy characters. And both subscribed to naturalism, a literary movement (1880’s to 1940’s) that used detailed realism to show environment as an inescapable force in shaping character. So instead of spending hours in settings like the Louvre and country mansions, the reader gets to spend three hundred pages in, say, junky, smoke-filled apartments.

In McTeague, a dentist’s best friend introduces him to his girlfriend. McTeague falls in love with her, so the friend valiantly steps aside. While the two are engaged, the fiancée wins the lottery—which turns her into a miser. But the friend can’t see that. He sees only what he’s lost—why should McTeague get the girl and her money? Seeking revenge, the friend “outs” McTeague as a fake dentist who never actually went to dental school. And that leads to the ruin of all three.

If you like stuff like slit throats and reading about women getting beat by their husbands, you’ll love McTeague. On the other hand, if you struggle with loving money too much, it just might cure you.