John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

"The ancient commission of the writer has not changed. He is charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement."

Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech 1962

Best known novels are The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1940, Of Mice and Men (1945), and The Red Pony (1937). When he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, he stated "I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature." He is only the fifth American to receive one of the most prestigious awards in writing.

Steinbeck's Nobel acceptance speech, also quoted in the Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series, spoke not of his accomplishments, however, but of a writer's duty to his fellow man. "The ancient commission of the writer has not changed," Steinbeck said. "He is charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams, for the purpose of improvement." Steinbeck believed that those services were in high demand in 1962. "Humanity," he said, "has been passing through a gray and desolate time of confusion."

In announcing the award, Nobel committee chair described Steinbeck as "an independent expounder of the truth with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or ill." This was a reputation the author had earned in a long and distinguished career that produced some of the twentieth century's most acclaimed and popular novels.

His Life:

After graduating from Salinas High School in 1919, Steinbeck attended college at nearby Stanford University until 1925. When not enrolled at the university, Steinbeck took temporary jobs including store clerk, surveyor, and painter. Working as a ranch hand near King City, California, Steinbeck experienced the characters and surroundings later featured in Of Mice and Men. His job with Spreckels Sugar Company introduced him to labor disputes, a topic that would figure in The Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck's sporadic studies were also preparing him for his future as a writer. A summer course in marine biology laid the foundation for his later explorations into the biological nature of man's behavior, a theme that pervades much of his work. And finally, Steinbeck's college years allowed him to develop the craft of writing. He began by producing short fiction, and in 1924 two Steinbeck stories appeared in the Stanford Spectator, a newspaper at the college.

After leaving Stanford, he became a newspaper reporter for the New York American, but was soon fired from the paper. He signed onto freighter and returned to California. Throughout this time, Steinbeck worked on short stories and on his first novel, Cup of Gold: A Life of Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, which he completed in 1928. A second novel was soon underway, but Steinbeck still had no publisher for his work. In 1928. he met Carol Henning, his future wife, and their romance continued after he moved to San Francisco later that year. Steinbeck continued to work on his fiction and he hoped that his status as an unpublished author would soon change. In January, 1929, he got his wish.

In a letter the next year, Steinbeck dismissed Cup of Gold as "an immature experiment," His uncertainty about the quality of his first novel would grow with the passing years. In 1932 Steinbeck dismissed Cup of Gold by saying, "I've outgrown it and it embarrasses me."

Two weeks after Cup of Gold was released, the stock market plummeted, and the Great Depression had begun. As the 1920s came to a close, Steinbeck had become a published author, but he had yet to achieve a literary voice that pleased him. As he grappled with his direction as a writer, he also paid increasing attention to the explosion of unemployment and misery caused by the Depression. In the following ten years these social concerns would become a vital source of material and inspiration for his work.

Pigasus, the flying pig was used by John Steinbeck throughout his life as a symbol of himself,
"earthbound but aspiring."

His Books:

In the 1670s Henry Morgan, a pirate and outlaw of legendary viciousness, ruled the Spanish Main. He ravaged the coasts of Cuba and America, striking terror wherever he went. Morgan was obsessive. He had two driving ambitions: one to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja, the other, to conquer Panama, the "cup of gold."

"John Steinbeck's first novel, and the only historical novel he ever wrote, CUP OF GOLD is a lush, lyrical fantasy. The themes of quest and disillusion echo in all his later work." (Publisher's Source) --

1932 The Pastures of Heaven, Steinbeck's next book, also drew on his western locale, relating various loosely connected tales about the inhabitants of a single California community. Steinbeck's model for the town was Corral de Tierra, a community between Monterey and Salinas that he had known since his childhood. Along with these familiar settings, Steinbeck began to feature characters who were also drawn from his own experience.

In a review of The Pastures of Heaven, Steinbeck's everyday characters gave the book "an effect as of real life." As Richard Astro pointed out in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, a great deal of frustration and failure is found in the author's common folks. "Steinbeck shows compassion, even affection for the plight of ordinary people who strive but cannot achieve happiness," Astro wrote. The reason for their failure, the critic maintained, is their inability to escape from the larger society. In The Pastures of Heaven they have withdrawn to the idyllic valley community, but this refuge proves short- lived. The characters soon face further dissatisfaction as a result of their shortcomings. "Steinbeck never condemns their innocence," Astro wrote, "but he portrays their self-destructive tendencies toward illusion and self-deception."

Tortilla Flat made Steinbeck a popular author. In this book, Steinbeck wrote about the slums of Monterey and a group of good-natured Mexican American characters -- the paisanos. Led by Danny, in whose house they all live, the paisanos are Steinbeck's version of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The knights' primary quest, in this case, is to acquire a regular supply of red wine and to avoid any responsibilities that might come their way. "Mr. Steinbeck knows the humorous side of his Paisanos," wrote one reviewer and it became a bestseller.

In Dubious Battle, Steinbeck presented a study of a labor strike in a California apple orchard. In 1930 Steinbeck had become a friend of Ed Ricketts, a marine biologist who lived in Monterey, a man Steinbeck would later characterize as "the greatest man I have known and the best teacher." Ricketts's studies went beyond sea life, however. He had evolved a theory of nature that saw all creatures--including humans--belonging to a single, interconnected system. As critics have noted, Steinbeck's writings after 1930 often emphasize the biological aspects of his character's behavior--how, for instance, they must adapt to changing conditions in order to survive. He also began to consider the individual's role in a larger group and the ways that people gain power by organizing with others.

Novella by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The tragic story, given poignancy by its objective narrative, is about the complex bond between two migrant laborers. The book, which was adapted by Steinbeck into a three-act play (produced 1937), earned him national renown. The plot centers on George Milton and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to Lennie, who is large and simpleminded, calming him and helping to rein in his immense physical strength. When Lennie accidentally kills the ranch owner's flirtatious daughter-in-law, George shoots his friend rather than allow him to be captured by a vengeful lynch mob.

Book of four related stories by John Steinbeck, published in 1937 and expanded in 1945. The stories chronicle a young boy's maturation. In "The Gift," the best-known story, young Jody Tiflin is given a red pony by his rancher father. Under ranch hand Billy Buck's guidance, Jody learns to care for and train his pony, which he names Gabilan. Caught in an unexpected rain, Gabilan catches a cold and, despite Billy Buck's care, dies. The other stories in The Red Pony are "The Great Mountains," "The Promise," and "The Leader of the People," in which Jody develops empathy and also learns from his grandfather about "westering," the migration of people to new places and the urge for new experiences. From The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, America, still recovering from the Great Depression, came face to face with itself in a startling, lyrical way. John Steinbeck gathered the country's recent shames and devastations--the Hoovervilles, the desperate, dirty children, the dissolution of kin, the oppressive labor conditions--in the Joad family. Then he set them down on a westward-running road, local dialect and all, for the world to acknowledge. For this marvel of observation and perception, he won the Pulitzer in 1940. The prize must have come, at least in part, because alongside the poverty and dispossession, Steinbeck chronicled the Joads' refusal, even inability, to let go of their faltering but unmistakable hold on human dignity. Witnessing their degeneration from Oklahoma farmers to a diminished band of migrant workers is nothing short of crushing. The Joads lose family members to death and cowardice as they go, and are challenged by everything from weather to the authorities to the California locals themselves. As Tom Joad puts it: "They're a-workin' away at our spirits. They're a tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped bitch. They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're workin' on our decency."

In 1940, Steinbeck and his friend, biologist Ed Ricketts, ventured into the Gulf of California to search for marine invertebrates along the beaches. This exciting, day-by-day account of their trip, drawn from the longer work, Sea of Cortez, is a wonderful combination of science, philosophy, and high-speed adventure that provides a fascinating portrait of Steinbeck and Ricketts.

In this masterful account set in Norway during World War II, Steinbeck explores the effects of invasion on both the conquered and the conquerors. Occupied by Nazi troops, a small, peaceable town comes face to face with evil imposed from the outside--and betrayal born within the close-knit community.

Novel by John Steinbeck, published in 1945. Like most of Steinbeck's postwar work, Cannery Row is sentimental in tone while retaining the author's characteristic social criticism. Peopled by stereotypical good-natured bums and warm-hearted prostitutes living on the fringes of Monterey, Calif., the picaresque novel celebrates lowlifes who are poor but happy.The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

"Sustained brilliance, complete credibility and vividness . . . striking, dramatic!" Saturday Review The bus travels the California backroads. Its passengers are the lost and lonely, the good and the greedy, the stupid and the scheming, the beautiful and the vicious. As they ride, their dreams and desires clash, their secret selves are revealed, and they become the face in anybodys mirror. Heres a bold, imaginative, and unsentimental portrait of humanity in all its guises.

A retelling of an old Mexican folk tale involving the discovery of a great pearl and the ensuing misfortune of the fisherman who found it.

This is a symbolic recreation of the biblical story of Cain and Abel woven into a history of California's Salinas Valley. Spanning the period between the American Civil War and the end of World War I, the novel highlights the conflicts of two generations of brothers; the first being the kind, gentle Adam Trask and his wild brother Charles. Adam eventually marries Cathy Ames, an evil, manipulative, and beautiful prostitute; she betrays him, joining Charles on the very night of their wedding. Later, after giving birth to twin boys, she shoots Adam and leaves him to return to her former profession. In the shadow of this heritage Adam raises their sons, the fair-haired, winning, yet intractable Aron, and the dark, clever Caleb.

Through the life of a New England patrician family the author portrays some of our shoddy attitudes toward honesty and success. The major theme of the novel is the loss of integrity in our world and the decline in our standards of personal, business, and political morality.

At age 58 John Steinbeck and his venerable standard poodle, Charley, set out on a journey across America in a camper. For three months these companions traveled the nation, meeting friends, strangers, relatives and immersing themselves in the fabric of the country as it was at that time.

Steinbeck's short story on which the 1953 Elia Kazan film was based chronicles the life of Emilio Zapata, the man who championed the cause of the peasants during the Mexican revolution, and is accompanied by the author's Academy Award-nominated script.

His best known novels are The Grapes of Wrath( Pulitzer Prize in 1940), Of Mice and Men, Tortilla Flat and The Red Pony .

When he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, he stated "I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no ______ 2 ______ nor any membership in literature."

He is only the fifth American to receive one of the most ______ 3______ awards in writing.

Steinbeck is described as "an independent
______ 4 _____ of the truth with an ______ 5 _____ instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or ill."

Two weeks after Cup of Gold was released, the stock market ______ 6 ____ , and the Great Depression had begun. Steinbeck had become a published author, but he had not achieved a
______ 7 ____voice that pleased him.

He also watched the explosion of unemployment and misery caused by the Depression. In the next ten years these social concerns became a vital source of material and inspiration for his work.

Steinbeck has worked on ______ 8 ____ jobs as a store clerk, surveyor, and painter. When he worked as a ranch hand near King City, California, he experienced the ____ 9______ and surroundings that are later featured in Of Mice and Men.

Tortilla Flat made Steinbeck a popular author. In this book, Steinbeck wrote about the slums of Monterey and a group of good-natured Mexican American characters -- the paisanos.

The plot Of Mice and Men centers on George Milton and Lennie Small, ______11_____ ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to Lennie, who is large and simpleminded, calming him and helping to rein in his immense physical strength.

When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, America, was recovering from the Great Depression. The book brought this time to life in a ____ 12 ____ , lyrical way. In this marvel of observation and ______13____, Steinbeck chronicled the Joad family's "refusal, even inability, to let go of their faltering but unmistakable hold on human _______14______ ." and it won the Pulitzer for him in 1940.

The Pearl is a retelling of an old Mexican folk tale involving the discovery of a great pearl and the ____ 15 ____ misfortune of the fisherman who found it.

Steinbeck's books remain so readable and ____16____ for any audience that they are favorites of both young adults and their teachers.