1892] California Journalism 



Somewhat of the same intellectual type was Frank 

 Frank Norris, a writer of more orderly method and ^'"^"^ 

 deeper human insight, with scarcely less of virile 

 force. The themes of " McTeague," and of his 

 powerful trilogy of greed, ^ however, rarely wandered 

 from San Francisco. His work, cut short by death 

 almost at its beginning, gave promise of remarkable 

 achievement in the interpretation of American 

 psychology. 



Among the younger women, Geraldine Bonner 

 and Miriam Michelson deal with human life in 

 vigorous fashion, the one especially with Californians, 

 the other with the world at large. 



California journalism, at the time of which I 

 write, was vigorously personal and, in its highest 

 ranges, bitterly sarcastic, loves and hates being un- 

 blushingly laid before the public. In his role of Ambrose 

 literary critic and public castigator, Ambrose Bierce ^^"'' 

 was jacile princeps. His biting "Prattle" column 

 in the San Francisco Examhier was devoted to 

 cynical criticism and sarcastic attacks upon writers 

 of bad English, local versifiers, and those whom he 

 deemed hypocrites. He thus served, though un- 

 graciously, a certain useful purpose in repressing 

 ill-founded enthusiasms and in reducing the output 

 of inflated writing. A number of victims not other- 

 wise famous were embalmed in satirical poems 

 entitled "Black Beetles in Amber." 



One of Bierce's characteristic ways was to lend 

 high encouragement to struggling young poets until, 



1 "The Wheat," "The Pit," and "The Octopus." 



C 461 3 



