The Octopus

Frank Norris's The Octopus, first published in 1901, is a sweeping novel of the American West, a story of wheat ranchers and the railroad that controls their lives. Set in California's San Joaquin Valley and based on real conflicts of the period, it follows a community of ranchers as they organize against the Pacific and Southwestern Railroad, which sets the freight rates on their crops and claims the land they have farmed for years. At the centre are Magnus Derrick, the proud master of Los Muertos; Annixter, the hot-tempered young owner of Quien Sabe, whose life is changed by his love for Hilma Tree; and Presley, a poet who watches their struggle and longs to write its epic.

As the conflict grows, the novel explores justice, corruption and the human cost of progress, while the mystical shepherd Vanamee and the endlessly renewed wheat give it a larger, almost visionary dimension. Norris, a leading American naturalist, shows individuals caught in economic and natural forces beyond their control.

This edition contains the complete text of The Octopus, along with a new introduction, a character guide, a summary, a list of themes, a glossary of period terms, and discussion questions for students, book clubs and general readers.