Frank Norris 1870-1902 by Ken Dvorak

Born March 5,1870 in Chicago, Norris and his family moved to San Franciso in 1884. Rejecting the opportunity to enter his fathers business, he studied art in Paris during 1887-9. Returning to the U.S. Norris attended The University of California but withdrew prior to completing his degree. He transferred to Harvard University where he began writing the prototypes for "McTeague" and "Vandover and the Brute.";

In 1896 Norris journeyed to South Africa where he authored a number of travel essays. Later in the year he returned to San Francisco and became a writer and editorial assistant for "The Wave." During this time he completes the manuscript for "McTeague", a dark depiction of the effect of greed on a married couple. This work was published in 1899 and marked the Norris's affiliation with the a type of writing known as "naturalism." Naturalism for a writer such as Norris provided an avenue in which he described his characters motivations as determined by biological and environmental determinism.

Norris' other major project was "The Epic of the Wheat." Conceived as a trilogy the initial volume, "The Octopus" (1899) denounces the monopolistic practices of the railroad in the distribution of food. "The Pit" (1903) details the mechanisms of commodity speculation. Norris' death from peritonitis on October 25,1902 prevented the writing of "The Wolf" envisioned by the author as the concluding installment to his work.

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