Uzbek state world languages university

FRANK NORRIS (1870-1902)

Frank Norris is the last representative of the writers of the American literature of the 19^th century. He was born in Chicago in the family of a rich jeweler. In 1884 his parents moved to California. His father became a rich dealer in San Francisco. In 1887 his family went to Europe and the future writer lived for a year in Paris dealing with art and literature. After returning to America Norris entered the California University in 1890. While studying he began to write his first novel “Mac Teague” (1899). In 1894 he moved to Harvard University and there he completed his first novel. In 1898 he finished his second novel “Vandover and the Brute”, which was published only in 1914. By this time his living conditions became worse because in 1894 his father left them and refused to support his son. He lived a poor life and had to become a newspaper reporter.

As a reporter he visited Africa. In 1898 he settled in New York and worked at “Double Day” publishing house. He was sent to Cuba as a reporter, after returning continued his work at a publishing house. On the 25^th of October, 1902 Norris died after the operation.
During his life he wrote a lot of critical articles, which after his death in 1903 were collected into one book “The Responsibilities of the Novelist”.
Among his novels the most outstanding is “The Octopus” (1901), the novel about the American monopolies. It is a social novel. The second novel of this trilogy “The Pit” (1903) is rather weak. And the third book he could not manage to write.
But still his whole literary work makes him a real representative of critical realism.