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''The Octopus: A Story of California'' is a 1901 novel by Frank Norris and was meant to be the first part of an uncompleted trilogy, ''The Epic of the Wheat''. It describes the wheat industry in California, and the conflicts between wheat growers and a railway company. Norris was inspired to write the novel by the Central Pacific Railroad and the Mussel Slough Tragedy. In the novel he depicts the tensions between the railroad, the ranchers and the ranchers' League. The book emphasized the control of "forces"—such as the power of railroad monopolies—over individuals. Some editions of the work give the subtitle as alternately, ''A California Story''. ==Origins== Following the release and subsequent success of Norris' 1899 ''McTeague'', Norris began searching for an idea for his next project. Within a few weeks he had formulated his idea for a trilogy of novels on the topic of wheat, his 'Epic of the Wheat', from its growth in California (which would be the basis of ''The Octopus''), to its distribution in Chicago (''The Pit'', published posthumously in 1903), to its consumption in a famished region of Europe or Asia (intended to be titled ''The Wolf'', although never begun before his death). ''The Octopus'' itself was based on the Mussel Slough Tragedy of 1880, which involved a bloody conflict between ranchers and law agents defending the Southern Pacific Railroad. The central issue was over the ownership of the ranches, which the farmers had leased from the railroad nearly ten years earlier with intentions of eventually purchasing the land. Although originally priced at $2.50 to $5 per acre, the railroad eventually opened the land for sale at prices adjusted for land improvements, leading to the conflict depicted in the book. Norris decided upon the project in March 1899, and by early April had left for California to research the project. Over the following months he visited the locations of the incident and worked on nearby farms, gaining firsthand knowledge of the wheat farmer’s life. He returned to New York that fall, and between January and December 1900 wrote the manuscript for ''The Octopus'', which was published the following April with substantial success.〔Starr, Kevin. (1986). Introduction. ''The Octopus''. New York: Viking Penguin, Inc.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Octopus: A Story of California」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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