Frank Norris(1870-1902)

Turn-of-the-20th-century American author, whose starkly realistic works, too strong for readers of his time, are today acclaimed as classics ("McTeague," "The Octopus"). A handsome intellectual, of a wealthy family, his brilliant, promising career was cut off tragically when he died, aged only 32, of peritonitis following a burst appendix, leaving behind a wife and two small children.

I never truckled. I never took off the hat to Fashion and held it out for pennies. I told them the truth. They liked it or they didn't like it. What had that to do with me? I told them the truth!