Benjamin Franklin Norris, (1870-1902), is recognized as one of the major naturalist writers in American literature. Born in an upper-class family in Chicago, in 1887, at the age of seventeen, Norris was sent to the Atelier Julien Art School in Paris to study art. In 1890, he returned to the United States and enrolled at the University of California, where he remained for four years. In 1894 he continued his education at Harvard University, where he spent a year.[1]
Norris was influenced by French writer Émile Zola in his early years. He published his first work, Yvernelle: A Legend of Feudal France, a long narrative poem, in 1892. His best known novels are: McTeague (1899), The Octopus (1901), and The Pit (1903).[2] He died in San Francisco, California at the age of 32, after an operation for appendicitis.[3]
American Literature for Christian Schools, Bob Jones University Press, the biography on p. 501
Categories: [American Authors]