In The Octopus(1901), one of the earliest muckraking novels of the Progressive Era, Frank Norris exposed the operations of the ruthless, laissez-faire capitalism sanctioned by turn-of-the-century Social Darwinists. The Pit(1903), the second novel in Norris's projected trilogy, continues the "Epic of the Wheat" with the story of Curtis Jadwin, a speculator bent on cornering the wheat market, and his brutally abused wife, Laura. Mingling realism and romanticism, Norris created in Laura a heroine whose psychological complexity rivals that of Flaubert's Madame Bovary or Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Edited for the first time as Norris intended it, this masterpiece of American literary naturalism is fully contextualized in the introduction and explanatory notes by Joseph R. McElrath, Jr. and Gwendolyn Jones.
In The Octopus(1901), one of the earliest muckraking novels of the Progressive Era, Frank Norris exposed the operations of the ruthless, laissez-faire capitalism sanctioned by turn-of-the-century Social Darwinists. The Pit(1903), the second novel in Norris's projected trilogy, continues the "Epic of the Wheat" with the story of Curtis Jadwin, a speculator bent on cornering the wheat market, and his brutally abused wife, Laura. Mingling realism and romanticism, Norris created in Laura a heroine whose psychological complexity rivals that of Flaubert's Madame Bovary or Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Edited for the first time as Norris intended it, this masterpiece of American literary naturalism is fully contextualized in the introduction and explanatory notes by Joseph R. McElrath, Jr. and Gwendolyn Jones.
Barnes & Noble is the world’s largest retail bookseller and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. Our Nook Digital business offers a lineup of NOOK® tablets and e-Readers and an expansive collection of digital reading content through the NOOK Store®. Barnes & Noble’s mission is to operate the best omni-channel specialty retail business in America, helping both our customers and booksellers reach their aspirations, while being a credit to the communities we serve.
