A Deal in Wheat and Other Stories of the New And Old West

by Frank Norris

Overview

This edition features
• a linked Table of Contents

Product Details

BN ID:	2940014052320
Publisher:	HTMPublishing
Publication date:	01/25/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	379 KB

About the Author

Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. [1870–1902] was an American novelist who employed the so-called "naturalist" style. He was influenced by French naturalist Emile Zola, and in-turn influenced progressive writers such as Upton Sinclair. He studied in Paris for two years. From 1890 through 1894, he studied at the University of California, Berkeley. He then studied at Harvard University for one year. In 1895–96, he worked as a journalist. In 1896–97, he worked as an editorial assistant. In 1898, he roported on the Spanish-American War from Cuba for McClure's Magazine. In 1899, he worked for the publisher Doubleday & Page. He died, at the age of 32, from appendicitis.

A frequent theme in his work is the idea of civilized man overcoming brute tendencies. His novel McTeague is about a dentist during the early 1900's in San Francisco. It was filmed as Greed by Erich von Stroheim in 1924. He began a three book series called "The Epic of Wheat trilogy." However, the planned third book, titled Wolf, was never written. The first book, Octopus: A Story of California, is about a conflict between wheat growers and a railway company. The second book The Pit is about wheat speculation and the Chicago Board of Trade.