Frank Norris

Frank Norris (Benjamin Franklin Norris), 1870-1902, American novelist, b. Chicago. After studying in Paris, at the Univ. of California (1890-94), and at Harvard, he spent several years as a war correspondent in South Africa (1895-96) and Cuba (1898). His proletarian novel McTeague (1899) was influenced by the experimental naturalism of Zola . His most impressive works were two parts of a proposed novelistic trilogy entitled "The Epic of Wheat" — The Octopus (1901), depicting the brutal struggle between wheat farmers and the railroad, and The Pit (1903), dealing with speculation on the Chicago grain market. The trilogy and Norris's burgeoning literary career were cut short by his death from a ruptured appendix. The Responsibilities of the Novelist (1903). an essay collection, contains his idealistic views on the role of the writer.

Bibliography: See biography by J. R. McElrath, Jr. and J. S. Crisler (2005); study by B. Hochman (1988).

Norris, Frank (1870–1902) US novelist. Considered one of the most striking naturalistic writers, he first attracted attention with McTeague (1899). Norris is also noted for his trilogy about wheat: The Octopus (1901), The Pit (1903) and The Wolf (unfinished).

Norris, Frank ( Benjamin Franklin Norris) (1870–1902), American novelist. The influence of Zola and naturalism is seen in his best works, which include McTeague (1899), a tragic account of violence, greed, and treachery in San Francisco; and in his unfinished trilogy The Epic of the Wheat: the masterly first two volumes, The Octopus (1901) and The Pit (1903), describe the raising of wheat in California and speculation on the Chicago wheat exchange.