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CHARACTERS AND PLOTS IN FRANK NORRIS'S SHORT STORIES
by Robert L. Gale
 Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. (1870-1902) was a talented fiction writer, literary critic, and journalist. His seven novels have been extensively studied. They reflect his belief in Naturalism, that is, that everyone is conditioned by heredity, environment, and chance. His 80 short stories also frequently dramatize his belief in Naturalism. In addition, they are often based on his college life, his life as an art student in Paris, his experiences as a resident of San Francisco, and his work as a correspondent during the Boer War in South Africa and in the Caribbean region during the Spanish-American War. He knew several fellow writers of his era and satirizes some of them. Characters and Plots in Frank Norris’s Short Stories discusses their hundreds of colorful characters and critically synopsizes their varied plots. It is hoped that the book will please and enlighten its readers, and lead many of them to his short fiction, often neglected by critics and the reading public. Tragically, Norris died at the age of 32 of a ruptured appendix.
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