John Steinbeck

1902 - 1968

(from the Nobel Prize biography)

“Steinbeck's novels can all be classified as social novels dealing with the economic problems of rural labour, but there is also a streak of worship of the soil in his books.”

John Steinbeck

Wives & Sons

• Carol Henning Steinbeck Brown, married 1930; divorced1942. *the one who came up with GOW title

• Gwyndolyn Conger Steinbeck, married 1943 and divorced 1948; mother of Thomas and John IV.

• Elaine Anderson Scott Steinbeck, married 1950 until his death.

• Sons: Thomas Steinbeck, August 2,1944, and John Steinbeck IV, June 12, 1946 - February 7,1991

John Steinbeck• Born Salinas, California, February 27, 1902.• A naturalist and a regionalist, he based his novels on first-

hand research.• His father was a manager at a flour mill, and his mother

was a schoolteacher who taught him to read when he was only three years old.

• He lived in the Salinas Valley in Central California and by the Monterey Coast, the settings of many of his novels.

• He believed that life in the country is superior to that in the city.

• In high school, he knew he wanted to be a writer.

More life info…• Graduated from Salinas High School.• Attended Stanford University 1919-1925 but

did not earn a diploma.• Attempted some creative writing while in

college and submitted it to magazines but was rejected.

• His first novel, Cup of Gold, was published in 1929, but it was not financially rewarding.

• His second novel, The Red Pony, was published in two parts in a magazine in 1930.

Nobel Prize for Literature 1962

First three novels unsuccessful, still, in

1962 he was the sixth American author

to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The Swedish Academy cited ". . . his

realistic as well as imaginative writings,

distinguished by a sympathetic humour

and a keen social perception.”

John SteinbeckChief works:

– Tortilla Flat– In Dubious Battle– Of Mice and Men– The Red Pony– The Grapes of Wrath– Cannery Row– East of Eden– The Pearl– The Moon Is Down

Posthumously published in 1993:

Style• His writing technique is largely based

on dialogue surrounded by brief descriptive passages.

• Character histories are explained through conversation rather than by the author.

• Consequently, his novels were easily made into films.

Steinbeck’s Characters• The have-nots, the misfits, the simple, the

poor, the oppressed, the racial minorities unjustly deprived of civil and economic rights.

• Often hardworking and good hearted but inclined to drink and argue.

• Rural heroes who are illiterate and sometimes weak but nevertheless noble.

• The profanity (“frank and earthy diction”) of his characters contributes to their reality.

John Steinbeck

• Steinbeck was a regionalist who was careful to portray local settings and local speech accurately.

• He was concerned with the problems of the poor and oppressed, the “mice” in society.

• His characters achieve a simple, tragic nobility of their own, and their problems have universal applications.

• He believed that all people must have a place in nature and learn to understand its power, that all people must require relationships with other human beings, and that all people share a need for a dream, goal, and vision for the future.

The Writer• To prepare for his novels, he

often lived, worked, or traveled with the people about whom he was to write.

• For The Grapes of Wrath, he joined a migrant camp and rode with them to California.

• For The Pearl, he traveled to the Gulf of Mexico.

Steinbeck on Writing…• "I feel good when I am doing it and

better than when I am not," Steinbeck replied when asked why he wrote. "I find joy in the texture and tone and rhythm of words and sentences."

Migrant Workers

Grapes of Wrath• His wife at the time, Carol, came up with the title --

from the lyrics of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" ("Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored... ") -- and typed up the manuscript as he wrote.

• Sold nearly half a million copies in its first year of publication.

• Critics hailed the 1939 novel and The Grapes of Wrath won a Pulitzer Prize.

Grapes of Wrath cont.• But the book brought controversy as well as success.

Detractors accused the author of everything from harboring communist sympathies to exaggeration of the conditions in migrant camps.

• The uproar drew the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt, who came to Steinbeck's defense, and eventually led to congressional hearings on migrant camp conditions and changes in labor laws.

Grapes of Wrath cont.• It's not just the politics of the novel that have held up

over time. A large part of the success of The Grapes of Wrath is attributable to the fact that it's a great story, and an effectively written slice of American history.

• "You can read (about the lives of migrant workers) in your textbook," he says, "but if you read it in Steinbeck's version, you get to live it and breathe it."

Grapes of Wrath cont.• The Joads experience many hardships, deprivations,

and deaths, and at the end of the novel are barely surviving. Nevertheless, the mood of the novel is optimistic. This positive feeling is derived from the growth of the Joad family as they begin to realize a larger group consciousness at the end of the novel.

• Hope comes from the journey that educates and enlightens some of the Joads, including Ma, Tom, Pa, John, Rose of Sharon, and also Jim Casy.

Grapes of Wrath cont.• On the surface, the family’s long journey is an attempt at the

“good life,” the American dream. Yet this is not the only motive. In fact, the members of the family who cannot see beyond this materialistic goal leave the family along the way: Noah, Connie, and Al.

• The Joads travel from their traditional life that offered security, through chaos on the road, and on into California. There, they look for a new way of life, and a larger understanding of the world.

• Whether or not the Joads live or die in California after the flood, their journey has been successful. Optimism survives, as the people survive, because they want to understand and master their lives in the face of continual discouragement.

• http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/grapesofwrath

Of Mice and Men• Of Mice and Men is considered a “naturalistic

tragedy”• It deals with the lives of migrant farm workers

during the Great Depression.• The characters in the novel are the down-

trodden, misfits, and outcasts, disabled in some way, mentally, physically, economically, or emotionally.

Of Mice and Men

• Considered a “naturalistic tragedy.”• Deals with the lives of migrant farm workers

during the Great Depression.• Focuses on the down-trodden misfits, and

outcasts who are disabled in some way -- mentally, physically, economically, or emotionally.

• Expresses the American Dream.

Travels with Charley: in Search of America [1961]

Nonfiction “social investigation” chronicles a disappointing ten thousand-mile journey from September 1960 – January 1961.

The National Steinbeck Center, Monterey CA

http://www.steinbeck.org

• Throughout his life he shunned publicity and remained a private person. He died December 20, 1968, in New York City.

Garden of Memories, Salinas, California

from East of Eden:

Statement by President Lyndon Johnson on the Death of John Steinbeck, Dec. 21, 1968

JOHN STEINBECK was a man who had two abiding passions--a love of people and a hatred of injustice--and he fashioned these feelings into some of the most memorable books of our time. He was a uniquely American writer. He wrote for all Americans about all Americans. His humor, his compassion, and above all, his humanity enriched the Nation and the world. The country he loved so well will sorely miss him.