Norris, Frank (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 naturalism, in literature, an approach that proceeds from an analysis of reality in terms of natural forces, e.g., heredity, environment, physical drives. The chief literary theorist on naturalism was Émile Zola , who said in his essay
..... Click the link for more information. of Zola Zola, Émile (āmēl` zôlä`), 1840–1902, French novelist, b. Paris.
..... Click the link for more information. . 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, (Benjamin) Frank(lin)

(born March 5, 1870, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—died Oct. 25, 1902, San Francisco, Calif.) U.S. novelist and short-story writer. Norris initially worked as an overseas correspondent and in publishing. He became the first important American author to embrace naturalism. McTeague (1899) is a portrait of an acquisitive society. He adopted a more humanitarian ideal beginning with his masterpiece, The Octopus (1901), the first novel of a projected trilogy dealing with the economic and social forces involved in the wheat industry. The second part, The Pit, appeared in 1903, but the third was unwritten at his death. Despite romanticizing tendencies, his works present a vivid, authentic picture of life in California in his day.

Norris, (Benjamin Franklin, Jr.) Frank (1870–1902) writer; born in Chicago. His family moved to California (1884), and he studied art in London and Paris. His interest in art waned and he returned to study at the University of California (1890–94), and Harvard (1895). He worked as a journalist and covered the Boer War for the San Francisco Chronicle (1895–96); in 1896 he became a staff member for The Wave (1896), a San Francisco literary magazine. He moved to New York City, covered the Spanish-American War for McClure's magazine (1898), and worked for Doubleday, Page & Company beginning in 1899. He was influenced by the naturalistic work of Émile Zola, as seen in his best-known fiction, McTeague: A Story of San Francisco (1899) and The Octopus (1901). He died shortly after an appendix operation.