Norris, Frank (1870-1903)
Born in Chicago on March 5, 1870, Frank Norris is best known as one of the leading lights of American literary naturalism. Having studied art in Paris for a year before atten...
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The best work of Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. (1870-1902), American novelist and critic, achieves a raw force that has won him an important place in the history of American fiction.Frank Norris was b...
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Biography EssayFrank Norris is a central figure in American literary history mainly because of three novels, McTeague (1899), The Octopus (1901), and The Pit (1903). But he is also important beca...
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Although he died less than five years after publishing his first novel, Frank Norris stands as one of the key figures of early twentieth-century American literature. In novels such as McTeague: A Stor...
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Frank Norris is a central figure in American literary history mainly because of three novels, McTeague (1899), The Octopus (1901), and The Pit (1903). But he is also important because of what he indic...
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Frank Norris has been viewed as a significant literary critic in one major way. His principal and quite specific image for most has been that of a spokesman for the literary movement which first devel...
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Frank Norris is known principally as an American novelist rather than a western one. He was perceived as a national artist by the majority of his contemporaries, and at the time of his early death in ...
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In the following essay, Hochman disputes Frank Norris's reputation as a naturalist, contending that the imaginative force of his work “is not to be sought in his naturalist concerns, but...
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In the following essay, Mottram discusses the influence of photography and early motion pictures on Norris's writing.
The traditional view of Frank Norris as a principal American proponent of l...
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In the following essay, Lehan traces the connections between Norris and the French writer Émile Zola.
There was no American novelist who covered the panorama of economic and historical activity...
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In the following essay, Civello discusses the recurrent character-type in Norris's fiction known as the “man's woman.”
The late nineteenth century was a period of intense i...
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In the following essay, Crisler discusses the literary relationship between Norris and American novelist William Dean Howells.
The early assessment by Herbert Edwards of the relationship between Willi...
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In the following essay, which was first published in 1896, Norris describes the development of the short story form.
There is one type of the modern short story that is a sort of great-grandchild of t...
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In the following review of Frank Norris of "The Wave," Chamberlain traces the themes of Norris's novels to those of writings he did for The Wave.
When he was a student at the Univ...
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In the following excerpt, Britten offers a lukewarm review of Frank Norris of "The Wave."
It is always interesting to examine the tentative, youthful efforts of a writing talent whose ma...
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In the following excerpt, Grattan expresses a negative opinion of Frank Norris of "The Wave."
[Frank Norris of "The Wave"] should be read in conjunction with Volume X: Coll...
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In the following excerpt, Walker discusses Norris's early development as a short story writer.
That Norris's energy was not entirely absorbed by his college activities is made clear by h...
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In the following essay, Hill discovers traces of Poe's story in "A Case for Lombroso" and "His Single Blessedness. "
An apparent influence upon the early fiction of ...
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In the following essay, Johnson discusses Western-themed stories by Norris and Mary Austin.
Frank Norris and Mary Austin are two Western writers whose accomplishments in short fiction have generally b...
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In the following essay, Tatum cites a scientific article about blood transfusion as a probable source for Norris's story "Lauth."
Whatever its critical merit as a literary effort,...
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In the following excerpt, Pizer suggests that "Dying Fires" can be read as an allegory of Norris's view of literature.
It is not surprising . . . to find a Wilde-Kipling contrast ...
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In the following excerpt, McElrath traces Norris's early development as a journalist and fiction writer.
At the same time that Norris—at age 21—was realizing his mother's i...
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In the following essay, McElrath explores Norris's satirical depiction of philosophical views in "The Puppets and the Puppy. "
A good deal has been written about Frank Norris...
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In the following essay, which was first published in the magazine The Wave in 1897, Norris decries established short story authors as writing safe and dull fiction.
Is it possible that the short story...
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In the following essay, Burgess offers an appreciative assessment of Norris's growth as a short story writer.
"The House With the Blinds," originally printed in the San Francisco ...
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In the following review, the critic praises the stories of the "buccaneer West" in A Deal in Wheat.
"A Deal in Wheat" is the first and the shortest of these stories by the ...
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In the following excerpt, Cooper describes the stories in A Deal in Wheat as fascinating exercises by a developing novelist.
Mr. Norris took himself and his work with great seriousness; his ideal in f...
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In the following review, the critic offers a negative appraisal of A Deal in Wheat.
The author of The Octopus and The Pit would not, we think, have given to the stories which fill this volume [A Deal ...
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In the following review, the critic describes the stories in The Third Circle as interesting examples of Norris's apprentice work.
There are some sixteen stories or sketches brought together in...
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In the following review, the critic praises the stories in The Third Circle.
Nine times out of ten it is a mistake, or something worse, to go dredging into the back numbers of old magazines and newspa...
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In the following essay, Irwin discusses Norris's literary apprentice work on The Wave.
I succeeded Frank Norris as sub-editor of the San Francisco Wave, a weekly periodical with more lives than...
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