Frank Norris

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General Information

Name: Frank Norris

Pen Name: None

Born: March 5, 1870 in Chicago, Illinois

Died: October 25, 1902 in San Francisco, California (32 years of age)

Celebrated on the Illinois State Library, Gwendolyn Brooks Building

"The Pulpit, the Press, and the Novel- these indisputably are the greatest molders of public opinion and the public morals today. But the Pulpit but speaks once a week; the Press is read wtih lightning haste and the mourning news is waste-paper by noon. But the novel goes into the home to stay. It is read word for word; is talked about, discussed; its influence penetrates every chink and corner of the family." - Frank Norris, The Responsibilites of the Novelist

Photo Credit: CC-BY Freebase

Illinois Connection

Frank was born in Chicago and lived there until he was 14.

Biographical and Professional Information

Frank Norris was a naturalist who attempted in his sweeping fictional canvases to depict the impact of large, impersonal social and economic forces on individual lives. He is best known for McTeague (1899) and his uncompleted trilogy, The Epic of Wheat, which was to trace the impact of the wheat industry on society. The first volume, The Octopus (1901), deals with the conflict between wheatgrowers and the railroads in California. The Pit (1903), set in Chicago, is about wheat speculation on the Board of Trade. Norris' premature death kept him from completing the trilogy with The Wolf, about the flow of wheat to Europe to relieve famine.

Published Works

McTeague, 1899 - reprinted by Penguin Group in 2003 and Dover Publications, 2004
A Man's Woman, 1900
The Octopus, 1901 - reprinted by Penguin Group in 1994
The Pit, 1903
Vandover and the Brute, 1914
Moran of the Lady Letty, 1918