The monumental novel, The Grapes of Wrath relates the trek of the dispossessed Joad family from Oklahoma to California during the Depression. It's Steinbeck's most political novel, taking the side of the Okies as they come up against oppressive labour conditions, corrupt police, and vicious vigilantes.
But, despite its near advocacy of socialist revolution, which many pundits attacked as anti-American, The Grapes of Wrath has so far stood the test of time as a modern classic, one of the top dozen novels of the twentieth century.
The popular movie version of The Grapes of Wrath , directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, further sharpened the polemics surrounding the novel, and Steinbeck fled briefly to Mexico to get away from it all and to film a documentary. Through the s and into the s he worked as a war correspondent in Europe, wrote a novel about anti-Nazi resistance The Moon is Down, , produced several notable scripts for Hollywood movies including Lifeboat , , and Viva Zapata!
His most outstanding publication of this period though was probably Cannery Row , returning to two of of his earliest loves: marine biology and Monterey.
Offbeat biologist Doc Burton moves among the other eccentric and warmly drawn characters of the seaport. In some ways the novel is a reworking of Tortilla Flat, with a new group of lovable bums, Mack and his gang, providing the humour that Danny's friends offered earlier, including the organization of a party of almost mythical status. But the tone is more mature and the characterization more realistic, and the story offers surprising twists of genuine pathos. Some of Steinbeck's best writing is found in this minor masterpiece.
The two-page prologue describing a a typical day in the neighbourhood is itself worth the price of admission, witness the work's first lines:. Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, "whores, pimps, gamblers and sons of bitches," by which he meant Everybody.
I was suffering, and in his work I found solace. Try to understand men. So why do these Steinbeck landscapes, external and internal, matter to us in a new century?
We live in an imperiled world. Many New York and California chefs have agreed to take the endangered swordfish off menus.
Mining rugged interiors poses a new threat to the environment. In his album "The Ghost of Tom Joad," Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to the power of those interior landscapes - characters whose lives are often desolate, besieged, unacknowledged. A distinguished scholar of American literature, John Seelye, repeatedly intones: "Steinbeck is a great read. Characters engage, inspire, enrage. They live. Recently, a class spent 50 minutes discussing whether George needed Lennie as much as Lennie needed George.
Readers return to books that are, like close friends, reliable, accessible. I always cared for just about all of the characters he wrote about.
For me the beauty of a story comes from the ability to be transported to another world, Steinbeck could do that.. Jun 15, PM. The way he can make you feel what his characters are feeling. A good author knows not to say "so-and-so was sad," but a great author knows how to make the reader feel the sadness that the character was feeling.
Jun 26, AM. I was fascinated to learn from Mockingbird , a biography of Harper Lee, that she and John Steinbeck became friends when asked to collaborate on the board of the National Council for the Arts. Isn't that awesome? Two American writers who took on issues of injustice better than anyone else. Jun 27, PM. Kressel wrote: "I was fascinated to learn from Mockingbird, a biography of Harper Lee, that she and John Steinbeck became friends when asked to collaborate on the board of the National Council for the Arts.
I just recently finished To Kill A Mockingbird. Thanks for that tad-bit of interesting information. His attention to detail is remarkable and I love his characters. A - It takes Steinbeck two pages to describe a turtle crossing the road, and the reader doesn't lose interest. Jun 28, AM. Sarah wrote: "Kressel wrote: "I was fascinated to learn from Mockingbird, a biography of Harper Lee, that she and John Steinbeck became friends when asked to collaborate on the board of the National Council for He and Harper Lee were childhood friends, and he was the model for Dill.
She was his research assistant for In Cold Blood. It's very different than To Kill A Mockingbird , though. The things that make Steinbeck a good writer are the same things that made Charles Dickens a good writer. They both wrote about a specific time and place, but their stories and messages -- their depictions of the human condition -- transcended that particular time and place. They both addressed social issues, but in a compassionate and not political way. They both wrote for the widest possible audience, and were, and still are, beloved by a very wide audience and they're both held in disdain by highbrow literary critics, which, for me, is a point very much in their favor.
And, as others here have noted, they both had a wonderful descrpitive power, and placed the reader directly into the scenes. There are a lot of critics who have a high opinion of Steinbeck. Jun 28, PM. Geoffrey, to give just one example among very many, when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in , The New York Times editorialized, "Without detracting in the least from Mr.
Steinbeck's accomplishments, we think it interesting that the laurel was not awarded to a writer whose significance, influence and sheer body of work had already made a more profound impression on the literature of our age. And they went on to add, "His limited talent is, in his best books, watered down by tenth-rate philosophizing. Jun 29, AM. The group of friends and their never-ending quest for more wine, the old widow and her nonfunctional vacuum cleaner, making the sound with her mouth as she pushed it past the window, to make the neighbors jealous - he's as hilarious as he is gut wrenching.
Steinbeck just pays attention to the right stuff, and takes the time to ponder what he wants to say about things before stating it perfectly. Jun 29, PM. The NYT has always been a pisser when it comes to talent. That was one critic among many.
Sorry to disallusion you, but the NYT may have been the best in worldwide news reporting but when it came to its culture section, it sucked royally. As for editorializing, is that a quote from their editor in chief or their critic? Give us a date and writer. John Gardner There was a time when the East Coast defined and felt ownership of the right to define what was noteworthy in American literature. Steinbeck caught them by surprise. I'm sure they're eating their words over that article. The couple had two sons together, Thomas born and John born In , Steinbeck wed his third wife, Elaine Anderson Scott.
The couple remained together until his death in We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Famed singer-songwriter John Lennon founded the Beatles, a band that impacted the popular music scene like no other. Educator John Dewey originated the experimentalism philosophy. John Coltrane was an acclaimed American saxophonist, bandleader and composer, becoming an iconic figure of jazz in the 20th century with albums like 'Giant Steps,' 'My Favorite Things' and 'A Love Supreme.
John James Audubon was an American ornithologist, naturalist and artist known for his studies and detailed illustrations of North American birds. Fur trader and real estate investor John Jacob Astor was one of the leading businessmen of his day and the founder of an American fur trade dynasty. John Adams was a Founding Father, the first vice president of the United States and the second president. His son, John Quincy Adams, was the nation's sixth president.
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