born March 5, 1870, Chicago, Ill., U.S.
died Oct. 25, 1902, San Francisco, Calif.
U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
Norris initially worked as an overseas correspondent and in publishing. He became the first important American author to embrace naturalism . McTeague (1899) is a portrait of an acquisitive society. He adopted a more humanitarian ideal beginning with his masterpiece, The Octopus (1901), the first novel of a projected trilogy dealing with the economic and social forces involved in the wheat industry. The second part, The Pit , appeared in 1903, but the third was unwritten at his death. Despite romanticizing tendencies, his works present a vivid, authentic picture of life in California in his day.