McTeague (1899) tells the story of charlatan dentist McTeague and his wife Trina, and their spiralling descent into moral corruption. Norris is often considered to be the `American Zola', and this passionate tale of greed, degeneration, and death is one of the most purely naturalistic American novels of the nineteenth century. It also formed the basis for Erich von Stroheim's cult film, Greed (1923).