Difference between revisions of "John Steinbeck"

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Revision as of 18:49, September 26, 2021

John Steinbeck (b.1902 in Salinas, California - d.1968 in NYC) was an American author known for describing human suffering, particularly among migrant workers.

Steinbeck attended Stanford University without graduating. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a migrant family entitled The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which was the best-selling book of that year with sales of 430,000 by February 1940. He also wrote fifteen other novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories. In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature. On the personal side, he forced his first wife to have an abortion against her desire to keep the baby; the abortion was botched to her severe harm.[1] They divorced in 1943, and soon afterwards Steinbeck married Gwedolyn “Gwyn” Conger, a 20-year-old jazz singer 17 years younger than Steinbeck, and they had two children. In 1948 they divorced, and in 1950 Steinbeck married his third wife, Elaine Scott.[2]

Steinbeck grew up in and spent most of his writing career in California. Some of his works have been made into movies, including Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947), Of Mice and Men (1939) (about two migrant workers who were friends) and East of Eden (1952) (which was turned into a successful movie). Steinbeck was also successful as a Hollywood writer, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Story in 1944 for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, although Steinbeck disliked the movie's distortion of his work and asked that his name be taken off its promotion.[3]

The titles of all three of Steinbeck's most prominent works were taken from the Bible (The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden) or a poem (Of Mice and Men). The movie versions of each of these are considered by many to be better than the books themselves. Steinbeck's first wife helped pick The Grapes of Wrath title after Steinbeck struggled in finding a catchy phrase for it.[4]

Steinbeck's books were highly controversial and have been the subject of many attempts at censorship, both by the left and the right. Of Mice and Men is number six on the American Library Association's list of the 100 most frequently censored books, 1990-2000.[5] The Grapes of Wrath is also a frequent target of censors. But Steinbeck's later novels, including East of Eden, are not considered as high in literary quality as his earlier works, culminating in The Grapes of Wrath.

John Steinbeck died in New York City on December 20, 1968, of heart disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66, and had been a lifelong smoker. An autopsy showed nearly complete occlusion of the main coronary arteries.

Legacy

The National Steinbeck Center to continue Steinbeck's legacy is located in the center of Salinas, California,[6] where Steinbeck was born. It is situated 17 miles east by car of Monterey and 60 miles south by car of San Jose.

California

Steinbeck grew up in Salinas, California, and included in his novels gossip from his town:

“ [H]is characters were often lonely, misunderstood farmers and ranchers; and in his books, dreams of ordinary workers are dashed—his books tell of failed dreams of land ownership in California. The Grapes of Wrath, his signature novel, published in 1939, traces the journey of the Joad family from Oklahoma to California, where they find not the fabled land of their dreams but a place with few jobs, low wages, and inadequate worker housing. Steinbeck’s novel excoriated the greed of the Associated Farmers, business interests in California.[6] ”

Partial Bibliography

Posthumous publishings include:

References

Notes

  1. ↑ https://thebridgehead.ca/2020/01/10/how-the-curse-of-abortion-has-haunted-americas-literary-greats/
  2. ↑ https://sits.sjsu.edu/context/influencers/
  3. ↑ https://www.flavorwire.com/256717/john-steinbeck-wanted-his-name-taken-off-hitchcocks-lifeboat
  4. ↑ https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-grapes-of-wrath-title-origin-meaning-analysis.html
  5. ↑ http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=85714
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://www.steinbeck.org/
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