"John Steinbeck 1902-1986" David Thomas LWT Productions 1994.
1. Life themes
After it 's all finished, there's still only one hard clean question
to answer: "Was my life good or evil? Have I done well or badly?"
2. Settings
For Steinbeck, California is the Garden of Eden: broad skies, teeming
sea, fertile soil Monterey gave him rich images to describe and a
small town as a microcosm of life Middle class origins, bourgeois
upbringing. Jay Parini (biographer speaks) he rejected the
pretentious of middle class; he was a truant dreamer of the king
Arthur legend, he lived the legend with sister Mary at Castle Rock
overlooking the sea, his getaway place.
3. Early works and themes
Elaine Steinbeck (widow speaks) Tortilla Flat (1935) his
first best seller, set in Monterey Cannery Row (1943)
nostalgia theme & rich imagery of sea coast and the town as
microcosm of the whole of life: the rich variety of life in a
stinking cannery town.
4. Steinbeck the man and his mental framework
Born half Irish (jovial) half German (surly): a curmudgeon -
sarcastic but wonderful Mentor was Ed Ricketts ("Doc") marine
biologist was a crucial influence in his life funny & a dreamer
too. They explored the tide pools together; environmentalism human
life has as much diversity as sea life Sea of Cortez 1941
dramatised this theme: relationships between animals; all individuals
are at inverted peak of pyramid in a food chain; all things are one.
"All religious feeling is really an understanding that we are
related to all reality."
His "phalanx" theory: Steinbeck explored man in group behaviour not individuals but units in a phalanx of life e.g., the functions of a school of fish Nature has drives and ends (goals) of its own.
5. Few novels changed history like The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck studied the Okies - Oklahoma dispossessed tenant farmers. bad prices, drought and failure: "all that men live by" What was different was these were Americans, victims of uncontrollable circumstances: A reading on red dust from The Grapes of Wrath p. 8. John at heart a journalist sent on assignment to reveal Okies' plight to world a journalist-fiction writer, a political novelist, Grapes grows out of concrete research On the surface, the intrepid Joad family act fairly to others and scrape to California. In effect, a study in the context of the chain of creation leading to conscience and change. Gor Vidal (leading essayist comments) he revealed the hitherto hidden economic facts; was a political realist. understood groups, social movements. men as part of a larger organism (p. 29) The now famous "I'll be there ..." passage as Tom's (and Steinbeck's) creed, manifesto
6. East of Eden is a fictitious story with factual times and themes: Cain and Abel story reversed; a serpent in the Garden of Eden: the survivor is a hero, where the sheer force of will ( a good person. Need to leave room for individuals to develop a conscience. Ultimate value of choice for each individual (to work for humanity). Vidal: He wrote in an epoch when the novelist was central to the culture in the concept of "famous novelist."
7. Translation of Thomas Mallory's "Morte d'Arthur" in Somerset UK 1959 sought refuge from an evil world. went to the real Castle Rock in King Arthur country broke down in the project just at the collapse of innocence, gallantry broke down in Arthur's court. This issue in society was a major concern for Steinbeck.
8. Travels with Charley series (1962) NBC TV "Steinbeck listening to America" He found prejudice, rootlessness, loss of values. "Home" is in the mothballs of memory.
9. Steinbeck and his critics
Many intelligentia rejected his Nobel Prize for Literature 1982. Most
critics were mid-Western journalists. was said he wrote only high
school classics. was just unfashionable. In 1967 sided with LBJohnson
over Vietnam. found himself on wrong side of public opinion.
Review: (Vidal) no single masterpiece (debatable!!) but had an
instinct about the country "captured the spirit of a country and his
age and his time - an honourable recorder" Each one a part of the
great Soul of humanity (444) Tom's credo re-read. #
Notes © G. Smith 1998.
Return to The Grapes of Wrath Page
Similar English Resources