Like the tentacles of an octopus, the tracks of the railroad reached out across California, as if to grasp everything of value in the state Based on an actual, bloody dispute between wheat farmers and the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1880, The Octopus is a stunning novel of the waning days of the frontier West. To the tough-minded and self-reliant farmers, the monopolistic, land-grabbing railroad represented everything they despised: consolidation, organization, conformity. But Norris idealizes no one in this epic depiction of the volatile situation, for the farmers themselves ruthlessly exploited the land, and in their hunger for larger holdings they resorted to the same tactics used by the railroad: subversion, coercion and outright violence. In his introduction, Kevin Starr discusses Norris's debt to Zola for the novel's extraordinary sweep, scale and abundance of characters and details.
| ISBN: | 9780140187700 |
| Publication date: | 1st August 1994 |
| Author: | Frank Norris |
| Publisher: | Penguin Classics an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 688 pages |
| Series: | The Epic of the Wheat |
| Genres: |
Classic fiction: general and literary Historical Fiction General Fiction |
Like the tentacles of an octopus, the tracks of the railroad reached out across California, as if to grasp everything of value in the state Based on an actual, bloody dispute between wheat farmers and the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1880, The Octopus is a stunning novel of the waning days of the frontier West. To the tough-minded and self-reliant farmers, the monopolistic, land-grabbing railroad represented everything they despised: consolidation, organization, conformity. But Norris idealizes no one in this epic depiction of the volatile situation, for the farmers themselves ruthlessly exploited the land, and in their hunger for larger holdings they resorted to the same tactics used by the railroad: subversion, coercion and outright violence. In his introduction, Kevin Starr discusses Norris's debt to Zola for the novel's extraordinary sweep, scale and abundance of characters and details.
The Octopus features in the following genres: Classic fiction: general and literary, Historical Fiction, General Fiction
The Octopus is available in Paperback
The Octopus was written by Frank Norris and published by Penguin Classics an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group
The Octopus has 688 pages
Yes it is part of The Epic of the Wheat series