The Pit is a 1903 novel by Frank Norris. Detailing wheat speculation and the trading pits at the Chicago Board of Trade Building, it was the second in what was to be the Epic of Wheat trilogy (the first being The Octopus (1901)). The third book, Wolf, was never completed.

It served as the basis for A Corner in Wheat a 1909 short film directed by D. W. Griffith which tells of a greedy tycoon who tries to corner the world market on wheat, destroying the lives of the people who can no longer afford to buy bread. (Wikipedia.org)

NEW YORK 1903
Dedicated to My Brother
Charles Tolman Norris

In memory of certain lamentable tales of the bound (dining-room) table heroes; of the epic of the pewter platoons, and the romance-cycle of “Gaston Le Fox,” which we invented, maintained, and found marvellous at a time when we both were boys.

Principal Characters in the Novel
Curtis Jadwin, capitalist and speculator.
Sheldon Corthell, an artist.
Landry Court, broker’s clerk.
Samuel Gretry, a broker.
Charles Cressler, a dealer in grain.
Mrs. Cressler, his wife.
Laura Dearborn, protege of Mrs. Cressler.
Page Dearborn, her sister.
Mrs. Emily Wessels, aunt of Laura and Page.

The Trilogy of The Epic of the Wheat includes the following novels:
The Octopus, a Story of California.
The Pit, a Story of Chicago.
The Wolf, a Story of Europe.

These novels, while forming a series, will be in no way connected with each other save only in their relation to (I) the production, (2) the distribution, (3) the consumption of American wheat. When complete, they will form the story of a crop of wheat from the time of its sowing as seed in California to the time of its consumption as bread in a village of Western Europe.

The first novel, “The Octopus,” deals with the war between the wheat grower and the Railroad Trust; the second, “The Pit,” is the fictitious narrative of a “deal” in the Chicago wheat pit; while the third, “The Wolf,” will probably have for its pivotal episode the relieving of a famine in an Old World community.

The author’s most sincere thanks for assistance rendered in the preparation of the following novel are due to Mr. G. D. Moulson of New York, Whose unwearied patience and untiring kindness helped him to the better understanding of the technical difficult J ies of a Very complicated subject. And more especially he herewith acknowledges his unmeasured obligation and gratitude to Her Who Helped the Most of All.

F. N.
NEW YORK June 4, 1901.

Download The Pit: A Story of Chicago by Frank Norris

PDF format, 849KB, 381Pages.

The Pit: A Story of Chicago by Frank Norris, the Pennsylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA 18202-1291 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them.

Cover Design: Jim Manis
Copyright © 2007 The Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity university.

I
AT EIGHT O’CLOCK in the inner vestibule of the Auditorium Theatre by the window of the box office, Laura Dearborn, her younger sister Page, and their aunt—Aunt Wess’—were still waiting for the rest of the theatre-party to appear. A great, slow-moving press of men and women in evening dress filled the vestibule from one wall to another. A confused murmur of talk and the shuffling of many feet arose on all sides, while from time to time, when the outside and inside doors of the entrance chanced to be open simultaneously, a sudden draught of air gushed in, damp, glacial, and edged with the penetrating keenness of a Chicago evening at the end of February.

The Italian Grand Opera Company gave one of the most popular pieces of its repertoire on that particular night, and the Cresslers had invited the two sisters and their aunt to share their box with them. It had been arranged that the party should assemble in the Auditorium vestibule at a quarter of eight; but by now the quarter was gone and the Cresslers still failed to arrive.

“I don’t see,” murmured Laura anxiously for the last time, “what can be keeping them. Are you sure Page that Mrs. Cressler meant here—inside?”

She was a tall young girl of about twenty-two or three, holding herself erect and with fine dignity. Even beneath the opera cloak it was easy to infer that her neck and shoulders were beautiful. Her almost extreme slenderness was, however, her characteristic; the curves of her figure, the contour of her shoulders, the swell of hip and breast were all low; from head to foot one could discover no pronounced salience. Yet there was no trace, no suggestion of angularity. She was slender as a willow shoot is slender—and equally graceful, equally erect.

Next to this charming tenuity, perhaps her paleness was her most noticeable trait. But it was not a paleness of lack of colour. Laura Dearborn’s pallour was in itself a colour. It was a tint rather than a shade, like ivory; a warm white, blending into an exquisite, delicate brownness towards the throat. Set in the middle of this paleness of brow and cheek, her deep brown eyes glowed lambent and intense.

They were not large, but in some indefinable way they were important. It was very natural to speak of her eyes, and in speaking to her, her friends always found that they must look squarely into their pupils. And all this beauty of pallid face and brown eyes was crowned by, and sharply contrasted with, the intense blackness of her hair, abundant, thick, extremely heavy, continually coruscating with sombre, murky reflections, tragic, in a sense vaguely portentous,—the coiffure of a heroine of romance, doomed to dark crises. ...

Comments (0)

Show/Hide comments

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment