Wikipedia

John Steinbeck

"Steinbeck" redirects here. For other people with this surname, seeSteinbeck (surname).

John Ernst Steinbeck(/ˈstaɪnbɛk/STYNE-bek;February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the1962 Nobel Prize in Literature"for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception".[2]He has been called "a giant of American letters."[3][4]

John Steinbeck
Steinbeck in 1939
Steinbeck in 1939
BornJohn Ernst Steinbeck II
(1902-02-27)February 27, 1902
Salinas, California,U.S.
DiedDecember 20, 1968(1968-12-20)(aged 66)
New York City,U.S.
Occupation
EducationStanford University
Notable works
Notable awards
Spouses
Carol Henning
​
​
(m.1930;div.1943)​
Gwyn Conger
​
​
(m.1943;div.1948)​
​
(m.1950)​
Signature

During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongsideEdward Ricketts,including 16 novels, sixnon-fiction books,and twocollections of short stories.He is widely known for the comic novelsTortilla Flat(1935) andCannery Row(1945), the multi-generation epicEast of Eden(1952), and the novellasThe Red Pony(1933) andOf Mice and Men(1937). ThePulitzer Prize–winningThe Grapes of Wrath(1939)[5]is considered Steinbeck'smasterpieceand part of theAmerican literary canon.[6]By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies.[7]

Much of Steinbeck's work employssettingsin his nativecentral California,particularly in theSalinas Valleyand theCalifornia Coast Rangesregion. His works frequently explored thethemesof fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden oreverymanprotagonists.

Early life

Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, inSalinas, California.[8]He was of German, English, and Irish descent.[9]Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck (1828–1913), Steinbeck's paternal grandfather, was a founder ofMount Hope,a short-livedmessianicfarming colony in Palestine that disbanded after Arab attackers killed his brother and raped his brother's wife and mother-in-law. He arrived in the United States in 1858, shortening the family name to Steinbeck. The family farm inHeiligenhaus,Mettmann,Germany, is still named "Großsteinbeck".

His father, John Ernst Steinbeck (1862–1935), served asMonterey Countytreasurer. John's mother, Olive Hamilton (1867–1934), a former school teacher, shared Steinbeck's passion for reading and writing.[10]The Steinbecks were members of theEpiscopal Church,[11]although Steinbeck later becameagnostic.[12]Steinbeck lived in a small rural valley (no more than a frontier settlement) set in fertile soil, about 25 miles from thePacific Coast.Both valley and coast would serve as settings for some of his best fiction.[13]He spent his summers working on nearby ranches including thePost RanchinBig Sur.[14]He later labored with migrant workers onSpreckelssugar beet farms. There he learned of the harsher aspects of the migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which supplied him with material expressed inOf Mice and Men.He explored his surroundings, walking across local forests, fields, and farms.[15]While working at Spreckels Sugar Company, he sometimes worked in their laboratory, which gave him time to write. He had considerable mechanical aptitude and fondness for repairing things he owned.[16]

TheSteinbeck Houseat 132 Central Avenue,Salinas, California,theVictorianhome where Steinbeck spent his childhood

Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and went on to study English literature atStanford UniversitynearPalo Alto,leaving without a degree in 1925. He traveled to New York City where he took odd jobs while trying to write. When he failed to publish his work, he returned to California and worked in 1928 as a tour guide and caretaker[16]atLake Tahoe,where he met Carol Henning, his first wife.[10][16][17]They married in January 1930 in Los Angeles, where, with friends, he attempted to make money by manufacturing plastermannequins.[16]

When their money ran out six months later due to a slow market, Steinbeck and Carol moved back toPacific Grove, California,to a cottage owned by his father, on theMonterey Peninsulaa few blocks outside theMontereycity limits. The elder Steinbecks gave John free housing, paper for his manuscripts, and from 1928, loans that allowed him to write without looking for work. During theGreat Depression,Steinbeck bought a small boat, and later claimed that he was able to live on the fish and crabs that he gathered from the sea, and fresh vegetables from his garden and local farms. When those sources failed, Steinbeck and his wife accepted welfare, and on rare occasions, stole bacon from the local produce market.[16]Whatever food they had, they shared with their friends.[16]Carol became the model for Mary Talbot in Steinbeck's novelCannery Row.[16]

In 1930, Steinbeck met the marine biologistEd Ricketts,who became a close friend and mentor to Steinbeck during the following decade, teaching him a great deal about philosophy and biology.[16]Ricketts, usually very quiet, yet likable, with an inner self-sufficiency and an encyclopedic knowledge of diverse subjects, became a focus of Steinbeck's attention. Ricketts had taken a college class fromWarder Clyde Allee,a biologist and ecological theorist, who would go on to write a classic early textbook onecology.Ricketts became a proponent of ecological thinking, in which man was only one part of agreat chain of being,caught in a web of life too large for him to control or understand.[16]Meanwhile, Ricketts operated a biological lab on the coast of Monterey, selling biological samples of small animals, fish, rays, starfish, turtles, and other marine forms to schools and colleges.

Between 1930 and 1936, Steinbeck and Ricketts became close friends. Steinbeck's wife began working at the lab as secretary-bookkeeper.[16]Steinbeck helped on an informal basis.[18]They formed a common bond based on their love of music and art, and John learned biology and Ricketts's ecological philosophy.[19]When Steinbeck became emotionally upset, Ricketts sometimes played music for him.[20]

Career

Writing

Steinbeck's first novel,Cup of Gold,published in 1929, is loosely based on the life and death ofprivateerHenry Morgan.It centers on Morgan's assault and sacking ofPanamá Viejo,sometimes referred to as the "Cup of Gold", and on the women, brighter than the sun, who were said to be found there.[21]In 1930, Steinbeck wrote a werewolf murder mystery,Murder at Full Moon,that has never been published because Steinbeck considered it unworthy of publication.[22]

Between 1930 and 1933, Steinbeck produced three shorter works.The Pastures of Heaven,published in 1932, consists of twelve interconnected stories about a valley near Monterey, which was discovered by a Spanishcorporalwhile chasing runawayIndianslaves. In 1933 Steinbeck publishedThe Red Pony,a 100-page, four-chapter story weaving in memories of Steinbeck's childhood.[21]To a God Unknown,named after aVedichymn,[16]follows the life of ahomesteaderand his family in California, depicting a character with a primal and pagan worship of the land he works.

Before his novelTortilla Flat(1935), Steinbeck was an obscure writer "with little success".[23]Although he had not achieved the status of a well-known writer, he never doubted that he would achieve greatness.[16]

Steinbeck achieved his first critical success withTortilla Flat,a novel set in post-war Monterey, California, that won the CaliforniaCommonwealth Club's Gold Medal.[21]It portrays the adventures of a group of classless and usually homeless young men in Monterey afterWorld War I,just before U.S.prohibition.They are portrayed in ironic comparison to mythic knights on a quest and reject nearly all the standard mores of American society in enjoyment of a dissolute life devoted to wine, lust, camaraderie and petty theft. In presenting the 1962 Nobel Prize to Steinbeck, the Swedish Academy cited "spicy and comic tales about a gang ofpaisanos,asocial individuals who, in their wild revels, are almost caricatures ofKing Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.It has been said that in the United States this book came as a welcome antidote to the gloom of the then prevailing depression. "[1]Tortilla Flatwas adapted as a1942 film of the same name,starringSpencer Tracy,Hedy LamarrandJohn Garfield,a friend of Steinbeck.[24]With some of the proceeds, he built a summer ranch-home inLos Gatos.[citation needed]

Steinbeck began to write a series of "California novels" andDust Bowlfiction, set among common people during theGreat Depression.These includedIn Dubious Battle,Of Mice and MenandThe Grapes of Wrath.He also wrote an article series calledThe Harvest Gypsiesfor theSan Francisco Newsabout the plight of the migrant worker.

Of Mice and Menwas adramaabout the dreams of two migrant agricultural laborers in California. Steinbeck, on vacations to Mexico, witnessed sold-out theater troupes with often poor and illiterate workers consisting of the audience. As such, Steinbeck chose to writeOf Mice and Menwith a stage play in mind. It was critically acclaimed[21]and Steinbeck's 1962 Nobel Prize citation called it a "little masterpiece".[1] Its stage production was a hit, starringWallace Fordas George andBroderick Crawfordas George's companion, the mentally childlike, but physically powerful itinerant farmhand Lennie. Steinbeck refused to travel from his home in California to attend any performance of the play during its New York run, telling directorGeorge S. Kaufmanthat the play as it existed in his own mind was "perfect" and that anything presented on stage would only be a disappointment. Steinbeck wrote two more stage plays (The Moon Is DownandBurning Bright).

Of Mice and Menwas also adapted as a1939 Hollywood film,withLon Chaney Jr.as Lennie (he had filled the role in the Los Angeles stage production) andBurgess Meredithas George.[25]Meredith and Steinbeck became close friends for the next two decades.[16]Another film based on the novella was made in 1992 starringGary Siniseas George andJohn Malkovichas Lennie.

Steinbeck followed this wave of success withThe Grapes of Wrath(1939), based on newspaper articles about migrant agricultural workers that he had written in San Francisco. In August 1936, the San Francisco News asked Steinbeck to personally interview multiple families in the impoverishedHoovervillesof theSan Joaquin Valley.As Steinbeck visited the slums that hugged the highways across the Central Valley, he was harrowed by what he saw. He talked with multiple families and vowed to make a book depicting their struggles. It is commonly considered his greatest work. According toThe New York Times,it was the best-selling book of 1939 and 430,000 copies had been printed by February 1940. In that month, it won theNational Book Award,favorite fiction book of 1939, voted by members of theAmerican Booksellers Association.[26]Later that year, it won thePulitzer Prize for Fiction[27]and was adapted as a film directed byJohn Ford,starringHenry Fondaas Tom Joad; Fonda was nominated for the best actor Academy Award.Grapeswas controversial. Steinbeck'sNew Dealpolitical views, negative portrayal of aspects of capitalism, and sympathy for the plight of workers, led to a backlash against the author for displaying communist views, especially in his hometown of Salinas.[28]Steinbeck received so many threats that he purchased a handgun for his own safety. Claiming the book both was obscene and misrepresented conditions in the county, theKern CountyBoard of Supervisorsbanned the bookfrom the county's publicly funded schools and libraries in August 1939. This ban lasted until January 1941.[29]

Of the controversy, Steinbeck wrote, "The vilification of me out here from the large landowners and bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that theOkieshate me and have threatened to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing. It is completely out of hand; I mean a kind of hysteria about the book is growing that is not healthy. "[30]

The then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, already a fan of Steinbeck's work fromOf Mice and Men,defended Steinbeck's work in her nationally syndicated newspaper column, “My Day". She wrote: “Now I must tell you that I have just finished a book which is an unforgettable experience in reading. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, both repels and attracts you. The horrors of the picture, so well drawn, make you dread sometimes to begin the next chapter, and yet you cannot lay the book down or even skip a page.”[31]After visiting California labor camps in 1940, a reporter asked her if she believed that The Grapes of Wrath was exaggerated. Roosevelt responded, "I have never believed that The Grapes of Wrath was exaggerated".[32]

Ed Ricketts

In the 1930s and 1940s,Ed Rickettsstrongly influenced Steinbeck's writing. Steinbeck frequently took small trips with Ricketts along the California coast to give himself time off from his writing[33]and to collect biological specimens, which Ricketts sold for a living. Their coauthored book,Sea of Cortez(December 1941), about a collecting expedition to theGulf of Californiain 1940, which was part travelogue and part natural history, published just as the U.S. entered World War II, never found an audience and did not sell well.[33]However, in 1951, Steinbeck republished the narrative portion of the book asThe Log from the Sea of Cortez,under his name only (though Ricketts had written some of it). This work remains in print today.[34]

Although Carol accompanied Steinbeck on the trip, their marriage was beginning to suffer, and ended a year later, in 1941, even as Steinbeck worked on the manuscript for the book.[16]In 1942, after his divorce from Carol he married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger.[35]

Ricketts was Steinbeck's model for the character of "Doc" inCannery Row(1945) andSweet Thursday(1954), "Friend Ed" inBurning Bright,and characters inIn Dubious Battle(1936) andThe Grapes of Wrath(1939). Ecological themes recur in Steinbeck's novels of the period.[36]

Steinbeck's close relations with Ricketts ended in 1941 when Steinbeck moved away from Pacific Grove and divorced his wife Carol.[33]Ricketts's biographer Eric Enno Tamm opined that, except forEast of Eden(1952), Steinbeck's writing declined after Ricketts's untimely death in 1948.[36]

World War II

Steinbeck's novelThe Moon Is Down(1942), about theSocrates-inspired spirit of resistance in an occupied village inNorthern Europe,was made into a film almost immediately. It was presumed that the unnamed country of the novel was Norway andthe occupiersthe Germans. In 1945, Steinbeck received theKing Haakon VII Freedom Crossfor his literary contributions to theNorwegian resistance movement.[37]

In 1943, Steinbeck served as a World War IIwar correspondentfor theNew York Herald Tribuneand worked with theOffice of Strategic Services(predecessor of the CIA).[38]It was at that time he became friends withWill Lang Jr.ofTime/Lifemagazine. During the war, Steinbeck accompanied the commando raids ofDouglas Fairbanks Jr.'sBeach Jumpersprogram, which launched small-unit diversion operations against German-held islands in theMediterranean.At one point, he accompanied Fairbanks on an invasion of an island off the coast of Italy and used aThompson submachine gunto help capture Italian and German prisoners. Some of his writings from this period were incorporated in the documentaryOnce There Was a War(1958).

Steinbeck returned from the war with a number of wounds fromshrapneland some psychological trauma. He treated himself, as ever, by writing.[39]He wroteAlfred Hitchcock's movie,Lifeboat(1944), and with screenwriterJack Wagner,A Medal for Benny(1945), aboutpaisanosfromTortilla Flatgoing to war. He later requested that his name be removed from the credits ofLifeboat,because he believed the final version of the film had racist undertones. In 1944, bruised, battered, and homesick, Steinbeck wroteCannery Row(1945), a love letter to the city of Monterey. In 1958, Ocean View Avenue inMonterey,the setting of the book, was renamed Cannery Row in his honor.

John Steinbeck plaque in Sag Harbor, N.Y. (20180916 151050)

After the war, he wroteThe Pearl(1947), knowing it would be filmed eventually. Steinbeck's relationship with Hollywood had solidified to the point where his books were beinggreen-litas movies as they released. The story first appeared in the December 1945 issue ofWoman's Home Companionmagazine as "The Pearl of the World". It was illustrated byJohn Alan Maxwell.The novel is an imaginative telling of a story which Steinbeck had heard in La Paz in 1940, as related inThe Log From the Sea of Cortez,which he described in Chapter 11 as being "so much like a parable that it almost can't be". Steinbeck traveled toCuernavaca,[40]Mexico for the filming with Wagner who helped with the script; on this trip he would be inspired by the story ofEmiliano Zapata,and subsequently wrote a film script (Viva Zapata!) directed byElia Kazanand starringMarlon BrandoandAnthony Quinn.

In 1947, Steinbeck made his first trip to theSoviet Unionwith photographerRobert Capa.They visitedMoscow,Kyiv,Tbilisi,BatumiandStalingrad,some of the first Americans to visit many parts of the USSR since thecommunist revolution.Steinbeck's 1948 book about their experiences,A Russian Journal,was illustrated with Capa's photos. In 1948, the year the book was published, Steinbeck was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters.

New York

Over the course of 276 days in 1952, Steinbeck wrote the first draft ofEast of Eden,a book he considered his ultimate test as a writer. He wrote a daily letter to his editor while writing the book. Through them, Steinbeck explored himself, his creative process, his love for writing, and his family life, for he had just married his third wife, Elaine Scott, the year prior. Steinbeck, according to Elaine Scott, consideredEast of Edenhismagnum opus,his greatest novel. As the book was released, he wrote to John Beskow, a Swedish artist and a confidant of his: "I have put all the things I have wanted to write all my life. This is 'the book'... having done this, I can do anything I want".[16]Also in 1952, John Steinbeck appeared as the on-screen narrator of20th Century Fox's film,O. Henry's Full House.Although Steinbeck later admitted he was uncomfortable before the camera, he provided interesting introductions to several filmed adaptations of short stories by the legendary writerO. Henry.About the same time, Steinbeck recorded readings of several of his short stories forColumbia Records;the recordings provide a record of Steinbeck's deep, resonant voice.

Following the success ofViva Zapata!,Steinbeck collaborated with Kazan on the 1955 filmEast of Eden,James Dean's movie debut. Jack Moffitt ofThe Hollywood Reporter,in a review that appeared after the March 1955 premiere, wrote "Beautifully acted, and superbly directed by Elia Kazan, it is bound to be one of the year’s important contributions to screen literature."[41]

From March to October 1959, Steinbeck and his third wife Elaine rented a cottage in the hamlet of Discove,Redlynch,nearBrutoninSomerset,England, while Steinbeck researched his retelling of theArthurian legendofKing Arthurand theKnights of the Round Table.Glastonbury Torwas visible from the cottage, and Steinbeck also visited the nearbyhillfortofCadbury Castle,the supposed site of King Arthur's court ofCamelot.The unfinished manuscript was published after his death in 1976, asThe Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights.Steinbeck grew up enthralled by the stories of King Arthur, and the Steinbecks recounted the time spent in Somerset as the happiest of their life together.[42][43]

Rocinante,camper truck in which Steinbeck traveled across the United States in 1960

Travels with Charley: In Search of Americais a travelogue of his 1960road tripwith hispoodleCharley. Steinbeck bemoans his lost youth and roots, while dispensing both criticism and praise for the United States. According to Steinbeck's son Thom, Steinbeck made the journey because he knew he was dying and wanted to see the country one last time.[44]

Steinbeck's last novel,The Winter of Our Discontent(1961), examinesmoral declinein the United States. The protagonist Ethan grows discontented with his own moral decline and that of those around him.[45]The book has a very different tone from Steinbeck's amoral and ecological stance in earlier works such asTortilla FlatandCannery Row.It was not a critical success. Many reviewers recognized the importance of the novel, but were disappointed that it was not anotherGrapes of Wrath.[45] In the Nobel Prize presentation speech the next year, however, the Swedish Academy cited it most favorably: "Here he attained the same standard which he set in The Grapes of Wrath. Again he holds his position as an independent expounder of the truth with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or bad."[1]

Apparently taken aback by the critical reception of this novel, and the critical outcry when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962,[46]Steinbeck published no more fiction in the remaining six years before his death.

Nobel Prize

Main article:1962 Nobel Prize in Literature
Steinbeck in Sweden during his trip to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962

In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his "realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception". The selection was heavily criticized, and described as "one of the Academy's biggest mistakes" in one Swedish newspaper.[46]The reaction of American literary critics was also harsh.The New York Timesasked why the Nobel committee gave the award to an author whose "limited talent is, in his best books, watered down by tenth-rate philosophising", noting that "[T]he international character of the award and the weight attached to it raise questions about the mechanics of selection and how close the Nobel committee is to the main currents of American writing.... [W]e 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".[46]Steinbeck, when asked on the day of the announcement if he deserved the Nobel, replied: "Frankly, no."[16][46]Biographer Jackson Benson notes, "[T]his honor was one of the few in the world that one could not buy nor gain by political maneuver. It was precisely because the committee made its judgment... on its own criteria, rather than plugging into 'the main currents of American writing' as defined by the critical establishment, that the award had value."[16][46]In his acceptance speech later in the year in Stockholm, he said:

the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature.

— Steinbeck Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech[47]

Fifty years later, in 2012, the Nobel Prize opened its archives and it was revealed that Steinbeck was a "compromise choice" among a shortlist consisting of Steinbeck, British authorsRobert GravesandLawrence Durrell,French dramatistJean Anouilhand Danish authorKaren Blixen.[46]The declassified documents showed that he was chosen as the best of a bad lot.[46]"There aren't any obvious candidates for the Nobel prize and the prize committee is in an unenviable situation," wrote committee memberHenry Olsson.[46]Although the committee believed Steinbeck's best work was behind him by 1962, committee memberAnders Österlingbelieved the release of his novelThe Winter of Our Discontentshowed that "after some signs of slowing down in recent years, [Steinbeck has] regained his position as a social truth-teller [and is an] authentic realist fully equal to his predecessors Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway."[46]

Although modest about his own talent as a writer, Steinbeck talked openly of his own admiration of certain writers. In 1953, he wrote that he considered cartoonistAl Capp,creator of the satiricalLi'l Abner,"possibly the best writer in the world today".[48]At his own first Nobel Prize press conference he was asked his favorite authors and works and replied: "Hemingway's short stories and nearly everythingFaulknerwrote. "[16]

In September 1964, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonawarded Steinbeck thePresidential Medal of Freedom.[49]

In 1967, at the behest ofNewsdaymagazine, Steinbeck went toVietnamto report on the war. He thought of theVietnam Waras a heroic venture and was considered ahawkfor his position on the war. His sons served in Vietnam before his death, and Steinbeck visited one son in the battlefield. At one point he was allowed to man a machine-gun watch position at night at afirebasewhile his son and other members of his platoon slept.[50]

Personal life

John and Elaine Steinbeck in 1950

Steinbeck and his first wife, Carol Henning, married in January 1930 in Los Angeles.[10]By 1940, their marriage was beginning to suffer, and it ended a year later.[16]In 1942, after his divorce from Carol, Steinbeck married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger.[35]With his second wife Steinbeck had two sons,Thomas ( "Thom" ) Myles Steinbeck(1944–2016) andJohn Steinbeck IV(1946–1991).

In May 1948, Steinbeck returned to California on an emergency trip to be with his friend Ed Ricketts, who had been seriously injured when a train struck his car. Ricketts died hours before Steinbeck arrived. Upon returning home, Steinbeck was confronted by Gwyn, who asked for a divorce, which became final in October. Steinbeck spent the year after Ricketts's death in deep depression.

In June 1949, Steinbeck metstage managerElaine Scottat a restaurant inCarmel, California.Steinbeck and Scott eventually began a relationship, and in December 1950 they married, within a week of Scott's finalizing her own divorce from actorZachary Scott.This third marriage for Steinbeck lasted until his death in 1968.[21]

Steinbeck was an acquaintance of modernist poetRobinson Jeffers,a Californian neighbor. In a letter to Elizabeth Otis, Steinbeck wrote: "Robinson Jeffers and his wife came in to call the other day. He looks a little older but that is all. And she is just the same."[51]

In 1962, Steinbeck began acting as friend and mentor to the young writer and naturalistJack Rudloe,who was trying to establish his own biological supply company, nowGulf Specimen Marine Laboratoryin Florida. Their correspondence continued until Steinbeck's death.[52]

In February 1966, Steinbeck and his wife traveled toIsrael.[53]He visited inTel Avivthe site ofMount Hope,a farm community established by his grandfather, whose brother, Friedrich Großsteinbeck, had been murdered by Arab marauders in 1858 during theOutrages at Jaffa.[54]

Death and legacy

The Steinbeck family graves in the Hamilton plot at the Salinas Cemetery

John Steinbeck died in New York City, where his writing career had begun, on December 20, 1968, during the1968 flu pandemicofheart diseaseandcongestive heart failure.He was 66, and had been a lifelong smoker. An autopsy showed nearly completeocclusionof themain coronary arteries.[21]

In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated, and interred on March 4, 1969[55]at the Hamilton family gravesite in Salinas, with those of his parents and maternal grandparents. His third wife, Elaine, was buried in the plot in 2004. He had written to his doctor that he felt deeply "in his flesh" that he would not survive his physical death, and that the biological end of his life was the final end to it.[33]

Steinbeck's incomplete novel based on theKing Arthurlegends of Malory and others,The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights,was published in 1976.

Many of Steinbeck's works are required reading in American high schools. In England,Of Mice and Menwas one of the key texts used by the examining bodyAQAfor itsEnglish LiteratureGCSEuntil its removal from thereformedspecification that was first examined in June 2018. The text is still widely studied byGCSEstudents in Wales and Northern Ireland, although calls have been made for its removal in Northern Ireland[56]due to concerns about the use of racial slurs in the text. A study by the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature in the United States found thatOf Mice and Menwas one of the ten most frequently read books in public high schools.[57]Steinbeck's works have also been banned.The Grapes of Wrathwasbannedin August 1939 by theKern CountyBoard of Supervisorsfrom the county's publicly funded schools and libraries.[29]It was burned in Salinas on two occasions.[58][59]In 2003, a school board inMississippibanned it on the grounds of profanity.[60]According to theAmerican Library Association,Steinbeck was one of the ten most frequently banned authors from 1990 to 2004, withOf Mice and Menranking sixth out of 100 such books in the United States.[61][62]

Literary influences

Steinbeck grew up in California's Salinas Valley, a culturally diverse place with a rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinctsense of place.[15][21] Salinas, Monterey and parts of theSan Joaquin Valleywere the setting for many of his stories. The area is now sometimes referred to as "Steinbeck Country".[33]Most of his early work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel,Cup of Gold,which concerns the pirate/privateerHenry Morgan,whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child.

In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. His childhood friend,Max Wagner,a brother of Jack Wagner and who later became a film actor, served as inspiration forThe Red Pony.Later he used actual American conditions and events in the first half of the 20th century, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter. Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class andmigrant workersduring theDust Bowland theGreat Depression.

His later work reflected his wide range of interests, includingmarine biology,politics, religion, history andmythology.One of his last published works wasTravels with Charley,atravelogueof aroad triphe took in 1960 to rediscover America.

Commemoration

Cannery Rowin Monterey
National Steinbeck CenterinSalinas, California
U.S. Route 101 is signed as the John Steinbeck Highway through Salinas.

Steinbeck'sboyhood home,a turretedVictorianbuilding in downtown Salinas, has been preserved and restored by the Valley Guild, a nonprofit organization. Fixed menu lunches are served Monday through Saturday, and the house is open fortourson Sunday afternoons during the summer.[63]

TheNational Steinbeck Centeris two blocks away at 1Main Street.Dana Gioia (chair of theNational Endowment for the Arts) told an audience at the center, "This is really the best modern literary shrine in the country, and I've seen them all."[citation needed]Its "Steinbeckiana" includes "Rocinante", the camper-truck in which Steinbeck made the cross-country trip described inTravels with Charley.

His father's cottage on Eleventh Street in Pacific Grove, where Steinbeck wrote some of his earliest books, also survives.[33]

In Monterey,Ed Ricketts's laboratorysurvives (though it is not yet open to the public), and at the corner which Steinbeck describes inCannery Row,also the store which once belonged to Lee Chong, and the adjacent vacant lot frequented by the hoboes of Cannery Row. The site of the HovdenSardineCannery next to Doc's laboratory is now occupied by theMonterey Bay Aquarium.In 1958 the street that Steinbeck described as "Cannery Row" in the novel, once named Ocean View Avenue, was renamedCannery Rowin honor of the novel. The town of Monterey has commemorated Steinbeck's work with an avenue of flags depicting characters fromCannery Row,historical plaques, and sculptured busts depicting Steinbeck and Ricketts.[33]

On February 27, 1979 (the 77th anniversary of the writer's birth), theUnited States Postal Serviceissued a stamp featuring Steinbeck, starting the Postal Service's Literary Arts series honoring American writers.[64]

Steinbeck was inducted in to theDeMolay InternationalHall of Fame in 1995.[65]

On December 5, 2007, California GovernorArnold Schwarzeneggerand First LadyMaria Shriverinducted Steinbeck into theCalifornia Hall of Fame,located atthe California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.[66]His son, authorThomas Steinbeck,accepted the award on his behalf.

Monterey Bay Roller Derbywas founded in 2010. Their team names over the years have referenced Steinbeck, including Beasts of Eden, Cannery Rollers, Steinwreckers and Babes of Wrath. Their juniors league was known as the Dread Ponies.

To commemorate the 112th anniversary of Steinbeck's birthday on February 27, 2014, Google displayed an interactive doodle utilizing animation which included illustrations portraying scenes and quotes from several novels by the author.[67][68][69]

Steinbeck and his friend Ed Ricketts appear as fictionalized characters in the 2016 novel,Monterey Bayabout the founding of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, by Lindsay Hatton (Penguin Press).[70]

In February 2016,Caltransinstalled signage to identify a five-mile segment ofU.S. Route 101in Salinas as the John Steinbeck Highway, in accordance with a 2014 state legislative resolution.[71]

John Steinbeck Waterfront Park

In 2019 the Sag Harbor town board approved the creation of the John Steinbeck Waterfront Park across from the iconic town windmill. The structures on the parcel were demolished and park benches installed near the beach. The Beebe windmill replica already had a plaque memorializing the author who wrote from a small hut overlooking the cove during his sojourn in the literary haven.

Religious views

Steinbeck was affiliated to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church and he stayed attached throughout his life toEpiscopalianismalthough Steinbeck later becameagnostic.[12]Especially in his works of fiction, Steinbeck was highly conscious of religion and incorporated it into his style and themes. The shaping of his characters often drew on theBibleand the theology ofAnglicanism,combining elements ofRoman CatholicismandProtestantism.[72][73]

Steinbeck distanced himself from religious views when he left Salinas for Stanford. However, the work he produced still reflected the language of his childhood at Salinas, and his beliefs remained a powerful influence within his fiction and non-fiction work. William Ray considered his Episcopal views are prominently displayed inThe Grapes of Wrath,in which themes of conversion and self-sacrifice play a major part in the characters Casy and Tom who achieve spiritual transcendence through conversion.[74]

Political views

John Steinbeck, with his 19-year-old son John (left), visits his friend,President Lyndon B. Johnson,in the Oval Office, May 16, 1966. John Jr. is shortly to leave for active duty in Vietnam.

Steinbeck's contacts withleftistauthors, journalists, andlabor unionfigures may have influenced his writing. He joined theLeague of American Writers,a Communist organization, in 1935.[75]Steinbeck was mentored by radical writersLincoln Steffensand his wifeElla Winter.ThroughFrancis Whitaker,a member of theCommunist Party USA'sJohn Reed Clubfor writers, Steinbeck met with strike organizers from theCannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union.[76]In 1939, he signed a letter with some other writers in support of theSoviet invasion of Finlandand the Soviet-establishedpuppet government.[77]

Documents released by theCentral Intelligence Agencyin 2012 indicate that Steinbeck offered his services to the Agency in 1952, while planning a European tour, and the Director of Central Intelligence,Walter Bedell Smith,was eager to take him up on the offer.[78]What work, if any, Steinbeck may have performed for the CIA during the Cold War is unknown. Documents released by theSecurity Service of Ukrainefollowing theRevolution of Dignityin 2014 indicate that the Soviet KGB suspected him of being an American agent when he visited locations within the USSR, includingKyiv,in 1947. Consequently, they watched Steinbeck closely and solicited information about him from their informers.[citation needed]

Steinbeck was a close associate ofplaywrightArthur Miller.In June 1957, Steinbeck took a personal and professional risk by supporting him when Miller refused to name names in theHouse Un-American Activities Committeetrials.[58]Steinbeck called the period one of the "strangest and most frightening times a government and people have ever faced".[58]

In 1963, Steinbeck visited theArmenian Soviet Socialist Republicat the behest ofPresident John F. Kennedy.During his visit he sat for a rare portrait by painterMartiros Saryanand visitedGeghard Monastery.He also met with Armenian poetHovhannes ShirazinYerevan.Steinbeck's letter of thanks for Shiraz's hospitality is now displayed at the Shiraz house museum in Gyumri.[79]Footage of this visit filmed by Rafael Aramyan was sold in 2013 by his granddaughter.[80]

In 1967, when he was sent to Vietnam to report onthe war,his sympathetic portrayal of theUnited States Armyled theNew York Postto denounce him for betraying his leftist past. Steinbeck's biographer,Jay Parini,says Steinbeck's friendship withPresident Lyndon B. Johnson[81]influenced his views on Vietnam.[21]Steinbeck may also have been concerned about the safety of his son serving in Vietnam.[82]Steinbeck opposed the anti-war movement in the United states, denouncing the "fallout, drop-out, cop-out insurgency of our children and young people, the rush to stimulant as well as hypnotic drugs, the rise of narrow, ugly, and vengeful cults of all kinds, the mistrust and revolt against all authority – this in a time of plenty such as has never been known."[83]

Along withAlbert Einstein,Steinbeck was one of the sponsors of thePeoples' World Convention(PWC), also known as Peoples' World Constituent Assembly (PWCA), which took place in 1950-51 at Palais Electoral,Geneva,Switzerland.[84][85]

Government harassment

Steinbeck complained publicly about government harassment.[86]Thomas Steinbeck, the author's eldest son, said thatJ. Edgar Hoover,the director of theFBIat the time, could find no basis for prosecuting Steinbeck and therefore used his power to encourage theU.S. Internal Revenue Serviceto audit Steinbeck's taxes every single year of his life, just to annoy him. According to Thomas, a true artist is one who "without a thought for self, stands up against the stones of condemnation, and speaks for those who are given no real voice in the halls of justice, or the halls of government. By doing so, these people will naturally become the enemies of the political status quo."[87]

In a 1942 letter to United States Attorney GeneralFrancis Biddle,John Steinbeck wrote: "Do you suppose you could ask Edgar's boys to stop stepping on my heels? They think I am an enemy alien. It is getting tiresome."[88]The FBI denied that Steinbeck was under investigation.[89]

Major works

Tortilla Flat

Main article:Tortilla Flat

Steinbeck's first commercial success, published in 1935, is anepisodicfiction recounting adventures of a loosely attached group of delinquent locals in a shabby coastal district of California. Like other books of Steinbeck's,Tortilla Flatwas adapted intoa feature film.[90]

In Dubious Battle

Main article:In Dubious Battle
Salinas migrant workers, photo by Dorothea Lange

In 1936, Steinbeck published the first of what came to be known as hisDust Bowltrilogy, which includedOf Mice and MenandThe Grapes of Wrath.This first novel tells the story of a fruit pickers' strike in California which is both aided and damaged by the help of "the Party", generally taken to be theCommunist Party,although this is never spelled out in the book.

Of Mice and Men

Main article:Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Menis a 1937 tragic novel that Steinbeck rewrote as a play that same year. The story is about two traveling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to earn enough money to buy their own farm/ranch. As it is set in 1930s America, it provides an insight into The Great Depression, encompassing themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence. Along withThe Grapes of Wrath,East of Eden,andThe Pearl,Of Mice and Menis one of Steinbeck's best known works. It was made into movies three times:in 1939,starringBurgess Meredith,Lon Chaney Jr.,andBetty Field;in 1981, starringRandy Quaid,Robert BlakeandTed Neeley;andin 1992,starringGary SiniseandJohn Malkovich.

The Grapes of Wrath

Main article:The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrathwas published during theGreat Depressionand had a contemporary setting, describing a family ofsharecroppers,the Joads, who were driven from their land by the dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The title is a reference to theBattle Hymn of the Republic.Some critics found it too sympathetic to the workers' plight and too critical of capitalism,[91]but it found a large audience of its own. It won both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction (novels) and was adapted as afilmstarringHenry FondaandJane Darwelland directed byJohn Ford.

Cannery Row

Main article:Cannery Row

The 1945 novel tells of a marine biologist in a seedy district dotted with sardine canneries inMonterey, California,who is feted by colorful neighbors in gratitude for his kindness to them.Cannery Rowand its sequel,Sweet Thursday,were adapted into amoviein 1982.

East of Eden

Main article:East of Eden(novel)

Steinbeck deals with the nature of good and evil in this 1952 Salinas Valley saga. The story follows two families: the Hamiltons – based on Steinbeck's own maternal ancestry[92]– and the Trasks, reprising stories about the Biblical Adam and his progeny. His paternal ancestry is also reflected in the story.[93]The book was published in 1952. Portions of the novel were made into a 1955 movie directed byElia Kazanand starringJames Dean.

Travels with Charley

Main article:Travels with Charley: In Search of America

In 1960, Steinbeck bought a pickup truck and had it modified with a custom-builtcamper top– which was rare at the time – and drove across the United States with his faithful "blue"standard poodle,Charley. Steinbeck nicknamed his truckRocinanteafterDon Quixote's "noble steed". In this sometimes comical, sometimes melancholic book, Steinbeck describes what he sees as he travels fromMainetoMontanato California, and from there toTexasandLouisianaand back to his home onLong Island.However, in 2011, after his death, a reporter who had followedTravels with Charley's trail using the author's own diaries controverted the book's accuracy, casting Steinbeck's claimed reportage as largely fictionalized, allegations supported by scholars and Steinbeck's son John.

The restored camper truck is on exhibit in theNational Steinbeck Centerin Salinas.

Bibliography

Main article:John Steinbeck bibliography

See also

  • Pigasus– a personal stamp used by Steinbeck

References

Citations

  1. ^abcdThe Swedish Academy citedThe Grapes of WrathandThe Winter of Our Discontentmost favorably.
    "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1962: Presentation Speech by Anders Österling, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy".NobelPrize.org.Archivedfrom the original on April 19, 2008.RetrievedApril 21,2008.
  2. ^"Nobel Prize in Literature 1962".Nobel Foundation.Archivedfrom the original on October 21, 2008.RetrievedOctober 17,2008.
  3. ^"Swedish Academy reopens controversy surrounding Steinbeck's Nobel prize".The Guardian.January 3, 2013.Archivedfrom the original on October 22, 2013.RetrievedJanuary 12,2019.
  4. ^"Who, what, why: Why do children study Of Mice and Men?".BBC News.BBC. March 25, 2011.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2015.RetrievedDecember 6,2014.
  5. ^"Novel".The Pulitzer Prizes.Archivedfrom the original on August 21, 2008.
  6. ^Bryer, R. Jackson (1989).Sixteen Modern American Authors, Volume 2.Durham, NC: Duke University Press. p.620.ISBN978-0-8223-1018-1.
  7. ^Chilton, Martin (September 16, 2015)."The Grapes of Wrath: 10 surprising facts about John Steinbeck's novel".The Telegraph.Telegraph (London).Archivedfrom the original on October 10, 2022.RetrievedOctober 13,2022.
  8. ^"John Steinbeck Biography".Biographywebsite.A&E Television Networks.February 6, 2018.Archivedfrom the original on April 6, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 26,2018.
  9. ^"Okie Faces & Irish Eyes: John Steinbeck & Route 66".Irish America. June 2007.Archivedfrom the original on November 21, 2012.RetrievedOctober 23,2012.
  10. ^abc"John Steinbeck Biography".Archived fromthe originalon March 5, 2010.RetrievedApril 14,2010..National Steinbeck Centre
  11. ^Alec Gilmore.John Steinbeck's View of GodArchivedMarch 4, 2016, at theWayback Machine.gilco.org.uk
  12. ^abJackson J. Benson (1984).The true adventures of John Steinbeck, writer: a biography.Viking Press. p.248.ISBN978-0-670-16685-5.Ricketts did not convert his friend to a religious point of view—Steinbeck remained an agnostic and, essentially, a materialist—but Ricketts's religious acceptance did tend to work on his friend,...
  13. ^John Steinbeck (1993).Of Mice and Men.Penguin Books. p. 0.ISBN978-0-14-017739-8.
  14. ^"Billy Post dies at 88; Big Sur's resident authority".Los Angeles Times.August 2, 2009.Archivedfrom the original on February 14, 2022.RetrievedFebruary 14,2022.
  15. ^abIntroduction to John Steinbeck,The Long Valley,pp. 9–10, John Timmerman, Penguin Publishing, 1995
  16. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrsJackson J. Benson,The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, WriterNew York: The Viking Press, 1984.ISBN978-0-14-014417-8,pp. 147, 915a, 915b, 133
  17. ^Introduction to 'The Grapes of Wrath' Penguin edition (1192) by Robert DeMott
  18. ^Jackson J. Benson,The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, WriterNew York: The Viking Press, 1984.ISBN978-0-14-014417-8,p. 196
  19. ^Jackson J. Benson,The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, WriterNew York: The Viking Press, 1984.ISBN978-0-14-014417-8,p. 197
  20. ^Jackson J. Benson,The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, WriterNew York: The Viking Press, 1984.ISBN978-0-14-014417-8,p. 199
  21. ^abcdefghJay Parini,John Steinbeck: A Biography,Holt Publishing, 1996
  22. ^Scott, Sam (July 27, 2021)."Beast of Eden".Stanford Magazine.Archivedfrom the original on August 4, 2021.RetrievedAugust 4,2021.
  23. ^Meyer, Michael (2008).The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing(8th ed.). Boston:St. Martin/Bedford.pp. 744–745.ISBN978-0-312-47200-9.
  24. ^Railsback, Brian E.; Meyer, Michael J. (2006).A John Steinbeck Encyclopedia.Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 387.ISBN978-0-313-29669-7.
  25. ^"Of Mice and Men (1939)".Internet Movie Database. January 12, 1940.Archivedfrom the original on October 30, 2007.RetrievedOctober 10,2007.
  26. ^"1939 Book Awards Given by Critics: Elgin Groseclose's 'Ararat' is Picked as Work Which Failed to Get Due Recognition",The New York Times,February 14, 1940, p. 25. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007).
  27. ^"Novel"ArchivedAugust 21, 2008, at theWayback Machine(Winners 1917–1947). The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
  28. ^Keith Windschuttle (June 2, 2002)."Steinbeck's myth of the Okies".Archived from the original on February 4, 2004.RetrievedAugust 10,2005.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).The New Criterion.
  29. ^ab"Steinbecks works banned".Archived from the original on October 5, 2006.RetrievedJune 4,2006.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).pacific.net.au
  30. ^Steiner, Bernd (November 2007).A Survey on John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath".GRIN Verlag. p. 6.ISBN978-3-638-84459-8.Archivedfrom the original on July 5, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 26,2018.
  31. ^"My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, June 28, 1939".www2.gwu.edu.Archivedfrom the original on February 16, 2024.RetrievedFebruary 16,2024.
  32. ^"THE PRESIDENCY: First Lady's Week".Time.April 15, 1940.ISSN0040-781X.Archivedfrom the original on February 16, 2024.RetrievedFebruary 16,2024.
  33. ^abcdefgSusan Shillinglaw (2006).A Journey into Steinbeck's California.Roaring Forties Press.
  34. ^A website devoted to Sea of Cortez literature, with information on Steinbeck's expedition.ArchivedJuly 20, 2009, at theWayback MachineRetrieved July 6, 2009.
  35. ^abFensch, Thomas (2002).Steinbeck and Covici.New Century exceptional lives. New Century Books. p. 33.ISBN978-0-930751-35-7.[permanent dead link]
  36. ^abBruce Robison, "Mavericks on Cannery Row,"American Scientist,vol. 92, no. 6 (November–December 2004), p. 1: a review of Eric Enno Tamm,Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Odyssey of Ed Ricketts, the Pioneering Ecologist who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph CampbellArchivedJune 4, 2009, at theWayback Machine,Four Walls Eight Windows, 2004.
  37. ^"THE MOON IS DOWN by John Steinbeck on Sumner & Stillman".Sumner & Stillman.Archived fromthe originalon January 13, 2019.RetrievedJanuary 13,2019.
  38. ^Coers, Donald V. (1995). "Introduction".The Moon Is Down.Penguin.
  39. ^"Once There Was a War".International Churchill Society.December 28, 2013.Archivedfrom the original on January 17, 2024.RetrievedJanuary 17,2024.
  40. ^"Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1945 – Mrs. Stanford Steinbeck, Gwyndolyn, Thom and John Steinbeck".California Faces: Selections from The Bancroft Library Portrait Collection.UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library.Archivedfrom the original on January 12, 2019.RetrievedJanuary 13,2019– via Calisphere.
  41. ^Moffitt, Jack (March 9, 2023)."'East of Eden': THR's 1955 Review ".The Hollywood Reporter.Archivedfrom the original on July 2, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 16,2024.
  42. ^Irvine, Lindesay (July 19, 2011)."Meeting John Steinbeck in Somerset".The Guardian.RetrievedJuly 3,2021.
  43. ^"John Steinbeck 1902–68".Bruton Museum. October 16, 2017. Archived fromthe originalon June 24, 2021.RetrievedJuly 3,2021.
  44. ^Steinbeck knew he was dyingArchivedSeptember 27, 2007, atarchive.today,"September 13, 2006. Audio interview with Thom Steinbeck
  45. ^abCynthia Burkhead,The students companion to John Steinbeck,Greenwood Press, 2002, p. 24ISBN978-0-313-31457-5
  46. ^abcdefghiAlison Flood (January 3, 2013)."Swedish Academy reopens controversy surrounding Steinbeck's Nobel prize".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on July 13, 2013.RetrievedJanuary 3,2013.
  47. ^Steinbeck Nobel Prize Banquet SpeechArchivedJanuary 9, 2010, at theWayback Machine.Nobelprize.org (December 10, 1962). Retrieved August 26, 2011.
  48. ^"ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive: Biography: Al Capp 2 – A CAPPital Offense".Archived fromthe originalon March 24, 2009.RetrievedNovember 18,2009..animationarchive.org (May 2008).
  49. ^"Remarks at the Presentation of the 1964 Presidential Medal of Freedom Awards. | The American Presidency Project".presidency.ucsb.edu.Archivedfrom the original on June 18, 2018.RetrievedJuly 9,2019.
  50. ^Steinbeck,A Life in Letters.
  51. ^Benson, Jackson J. (1984).The true adventures of John Steinbeck, writer: a biography.New York. p. 557.ISBN0-670-16685-5.OCLC8806095.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  52. ^Manning, Thomas; North, Suzanne Matos; Adler, Brian (2005). "Hidden Treasure: The Steinbeck-Rudloe Letters".Steinbeck Studies.16(1): 108–118.doi:10.1353/stn.2007.0014.ISSN1551-6903.S2CID146337768.Project MUSE212985.
  53. ^He wrote: "The impact of the country is stunning. The energy of the people is incredible." (Jackson J. Benson (1984). The true adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer. New York: The Viking Press, 1984. ISBN 0-670-16685-5. p. 978) He met officials, e.g.Teddy Kollek."At one of the receptions, he got talking about his grandfather's journey to the Holy Land". (Benson. p. 979)
  54. ^Perry, Yaron (2004)."John Steinbeck's Roots in Nineteenth-Century Palestine".Steinbeck Studies.15(1): 46–72.doi:10.1353/stn.2004.0018.S2CID144101837.Project MUSE172416.
  55. ^Burial in timeline at this site, taken from "Steinbeck: A Life in Letters".Steinbeck.org. Retrieved on August 26, 2011.
  56. ^Meredith, Robbie (May 25, 2023)."Call to remove Of Mice and Men from GCSE course".BBC News.Archivedfrom the original on July 8, 2023.RetrievedJuly 8,2023.
  57. ^Books taught in SchoolsArchivedOctober 12, 2007, at theWayback Machine,Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature. Retrieved 2007.
  58. ^abcJackson J. Benson,John Steinbeck, Writer: A Biography,Penguin, 1990ISBN978-0-14-014417-8
  59. ^The Grapes of Wrath Burnt in SalinasArchivedOctober 29, 2007, at theWayback Machine,National Steinbeck Centre. Retrieved 2007.
  60. ^Steinbecks work banned in Mississippi 2003ArchivedOctober 18, 2007, at theWayback Machine,American Library Association. Retrieved 2007.
  61. ^"Steinbeck 10 most banned list".Archived from the original on July 15, 2004.RetrievedOctober 5,2007.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link),American Library Association.
  62. ^"100 Most Frequently banned books in the U.S."Archived fromthe originalon March 23, 2008.RetrievedJuly 22,2008.,American Library Association. Retrieved 2007.
  63. ^"John Steinbeck's Home and Birthplace".Archived from the original on October 16, 2006.RetrievedOctober 3,2007.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link),Information Point. Retrieved 2007.
  64. ^"Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Gets 'Stamp of Approval'".United States Postal Service. February 21, 2008. Archived fromthe originalon March 26, 2008.RetrievedMarch 15,2008.
  65. ^"John Steinbeck".Archivedfrom the original on July 10, 2017.RetrievedJuly 10,2017.
  66. ^Steinbeck inducted into California Hall of FameArchivedSeptember 28, 2008, at theWayback Machine,California Museum. Retrieved 2007.
  67. ^Laura Stampler (February 27, 2014)."Google Doodle Celebrates John Steinbeck".Time Inc.Archivedfrom the original on August 27, 2016.RetrievedMarch 8,2014.
  68. ^Alison Flood (February 27, 2014)."John Steinbeck: Google Doodle pays tribute to author on 112th anniversary".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on March 4, 2014.RetrievedMarch 8,2014.
  69. ^Carolyn Kellogg (February 27, 2014)."Google Doodle celebrates the work of John Steinbeck".Los Angeles Times.Archivedfrom the original on March 8, 2014.RetrievedMarch 8,2014.
  70. ^"Penguin Press – Penguin Books USA".Archivedfrom the original on December 20, 2016.RetrievedDecember 6,2016.
  71. ^Zentz, Rachel (February 26, 2016)."Signs up marking 'John Steinbeck Highway'".The Salinas Californian.Archivedfrom the original on October 1, 2022.RetrievedOctober 1,2022.
  72. ^Ray, William (December 1, 2013)."John Steinbeck, Episcopalian: St. Paul's, Salinas".Steinbeck Review.10(2): 118–140.doi:10.5325/steinbeckreview.10.2.0118.ISSN1546-007X.
  73. ^Tate, William (2015)."Picturing Religious Experience: George Herbert, Calvin, and the Scriptures by Daniel W. Doerksen (review)".Christianity & Literature.64(3): 365–368.doi:10.1177/0148333115574407.ISSN2056-5666.
  74. ^Ray, William (December 11, 2013). "John Steinbeck, Episcopalian: St. Paul's, Salinas, Part One".Steinbeck Review.10(2): 118–140.doi:10.5325/steinbeckreview.10.2.0118.S2CID142177070.Project MUSE530751.
  75. ^Dave Stancliff (February 24, 2013)."Remembering John Steinbeck, a great American writer".Times-Standard.Archived fromthe originalon June 29, 2014.RetrievedJune 28,2014.
  76. ^Steinbeck and radicalismArchivedFebruary 4, 2004, at theWayback MachineNew Criterion. Retrieved 2007.
  77. ^"Terijoen hallitus sai outoa tukea" [The Terijoki Government received odd support].Helsingin Sanomat(in Finnish). November 29, 2009.
  78. ^Brian Kannard,Steinbeck: Citizen Spy,Grave Distractions, 2013ISBN978-0-9890293-9-1,pp. 15–17. The correspondence is also available at"Steinbeck Documents and Excerpt".Archived fromthe originalon March 1, 2014.RetrievedOctober 1,2013.
  79. ^Bedevian, Ruth (December 5, 2006)."The Fragrance of the Roses Lingers On... Hovhannes Shiraz".Armenian News Network / Groong.Archivedfrom the original on April 1, 2023.Among all the memorabilia, a letter from American writer, John Steinbeck, who was awarded both a Pulitzer Prize for his `Grapes of Wrath' (1939) and a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, caught my attention. I immediately asked to photograph it which was generously allowed. It was dated May 9, 1964 in which Steinbeck thanked Shiraz for his hospitality when he visited him in Yerevan.
  80. ^Coe, Alexis."Recent Acquisitions: John Steinbeck's Cold War Armenian Legacy".SF Weekly.Archived fromthe originalon May 2, 2021.RetrievedMay 2,2021.
  81. ^Jeanette Rumsby (2016)."Steinbeck's Influences".Steinbeck in the Schools.San Jose State University.Archivedfrom the original on January 13, 2019.RetrievedJanuary 12,2019.
  82. ^Gladstein, Mimi R.; Meredith, James H. (March 2011). "John Steinbeck and the Tragedy of the Vietnam War".Steinbeck Review.8(1): 39–56.doi:10.1111/j.1754-6087.2011.01137.x.S2CID109014468.
  83. ^Perlstein, Rick (2008).Nixonland: the rise of a president and the fracturing of America.Internet Archive. New York: Scribner. p. 62.ISBN978-0-7432-4302-5.
  84. ^Einstein, Albert; Nathan, Otto; Norden, Heinz (1968).Einstein on peace.Internet Archive. New York, Schocken Books. pp. 539, 670, 676.
  85. ^"[Carta] 1950 oct. 12, Genève, [Suiza] [a] Gabriela Mistral, Santiago, Chile [manuscrito] Gerry Kraus".BND: Archivo del Escritor.Archivedfrom the original on October 28, 2023.RetrievedOctober 19,2023.
  86. ^"John Steinbeck biography".biographyonline.net.Archivedfrom the original on July 13, 2022.RetrievedJanuary 12,2019.
  87. ^Steinbeck, Thomas (September 27, 2010)."John Steinbeck, Michael Moore, and the Burgeoning Role of Planetary Patriotism".Huffington Post.Archivedfrom the original on September 30, 2010.
  88. ^"John Steinbeck And The FBI's Wrath".The Smoking Gun.Archivedfrom the original on October 22, 2005.RetrievedJuly 3,2021.
  89. ^Williams, Charles (2014)."Steinbeck as Anti-Fascist".American Studies.53(4): 49–71.ISSN0026-3079.JSTOR24589397.
  90. ^Levant, Howard (1970)."Tortilla Flat: the Shape of John Steinbeck's Career".Publications of the Modern Language Association of America.85(5): 1087–1095.doi:10.2307/1261550.ISSN0030-8129.JSTOR1261550.
  91. ^"The Grapes of Wrath: Literary Criticism & Critical Analysis".Study.Archivedfrom the original on January 13, 2019.RetrievedJanuary 13,2019.
  92. ^Nolte, Carl (February 24, 2002)."In Steinbeck Country".Sfgate.Archivedfrom the original on September 22, 2017.
  93. ^DeMott, Robert (1996). Steinbecks's Typewriter: Essays on His Art. Troy, New York: The Whitston Publishing Company. p. 215. ISBN 0-87875-446-6. "the paternal Steinbeck line, whose gruesome experiences, including rape and murder, in Jaffa in the 1850s throw some startling new light onEast of Eden".

General sources

Further reading

Library resourcesabout
John Steinbeck
By John Steinbeck

Libraries

Videos

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Steinbeck&oldid=1250604688"