Frank Norris

1
Frank Norris

• 1870-1902

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 6 Late Nineteenth
Century - Frank Norris." PAL Perspectives in
American Literature- A Research and Reference
Guide. URLhttp//www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/p
al/chap6/norris.html
2
Life

• Like Crane, Frank Norris had a short life but it
  was rich in creative writing.
• The overriding theme in Norris' fiction is the
  impact of industrialization on peaceful
  agricultural communities and the consequent chaos
  in the lives of people who lived in these
  communities.

3
Life

• His most glaring metaphor is that of the
  tentacles of the railway tracks spreading and
  choking the countryside in the appropriately
  titled book The Octopus.
• The spirit of the turn-of-the-century San
  Francisco is impressively captured in McTeague.
• Its theme, that of a powerful man failing against
  unexpected adversity, typifies the thrust of the
  best of Naturalistic writing.

4
Overview

• Literary naturalism
• Emphasis on unusual experience and passionate
  emotion
• The Octopus (1901) http//sz.fl.hfu.edu.tw/hbchang
  /American20Literature/octop10.txt
• An epic of the far West, the novel tells of the
  struggle between speculative California wheat
  ranchers and the railroad.
• The greed brings about tragic endings . . .

5
Themes

• Natural as inextinguishable forcegrowth, sex,
  hunger, climate and environment
• genetic determinism
• Economic force as natural law
• Evolutionary regression (atavism)
• The destructiveness of greed
• Pessimism in the short view of human existence,
  optimism in the long

6
Method

• Conventional prose style
• Close and accurate observation of viloence
• Powerful imagination penetrating to the stormy
  emotional heart of his characters

7
Works

• Yvernelle, 1892 Moran of Lady Letty 1898 Blix
  1899 A Man's Woman, 1899 McTeague, 1899 The
  Octopus, 1901 The Pit, 1903 A Deal in Wheat,
  1903 Responsibilities of the Novelist, 1903 The
  Joyous Miracle, 1906 Vandover and the Brute,
  1914.

8
Links

• PAL Frank Norris (1870-1902) http//www.csustan.e
  du/english/reuben/pal/chap6/norris.html
• McTeagueby Frank Norris http//www.classicreader
  .com/booktoc.php/sid.1/bookid.629/
• The Octopusby Frank Norris http//www.classicrea
  der.com/booktoc.php/sid.1/bookid.1777/