Cup of Gold (1929)

Steinbeck wrote and published his first novel when he was 29 years old. This historical novel, follows the career of Henry Morgan (1635?-1688), starting as a young boy dreaming of greatness. This fictive biography blends history and boys’ adventure stories to create a swashbuckling romance.

Steinbeck’s Henry Morgan is driven from one successful sea raid to the next, trying to satisfy his desire for fame. However, Steinbeck shows how this drive isolates Henry Morgan from those around him and leaves him unfulfilled. As in his later works, failure and restlessness are better teachers than success and contentment.

This work is also deeply influenced by Steinbeck’s early and abiding love of Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur and the quest for the Holy Grail. It blends a number of Steinbeck’s early influences and favorite themes: Arthurian legend, the myth of El Dorado, a symbolic and unattainable woman, the sack of Troy, naturalistic imagery, and many others. This first work of Steinbeck’s shows him exercising his craft in a long form work. In it, the seeds of later works started their slow growth towards maturity and mastery of his craft.

Fun Fact

The book’s full title is Cup of Gold: A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History.

Quotes

“[Henry] lay propped on one elbow and stared past the fire into his thoughts. The long gray afternoon, piercing to this mysterious night, had called up strong yearnings in him, the seeds of which were planted months before. It was a desire for a thing he could not name…” – John Steinbeck, Cup of Gold

The Pastures of Heaven (1932)

This work is Steinbeck’s first short story cycle. Set in a beautiful, fertile valley named Las Pasturas de Cielo, or the Pastures of Heaven, Steinbeck tells a series of stories of the ups and downs of residents of the Valley. The first story in the cycle tells how the valley gained the name “Pastures of Heaven.” Named by a Spanish officer during the colonial period, the beauty of the valley is juxtaposed with the oppression of the Native Americans.

The themes of beauty and pain, curse and blessing, run throughout the rest of the stories. The stories of later residents of the valley include both success and failure in farming, which plays a crucial role in this work. Steinbeck reminds readers of the need for stewardship and the inescapable role the earth plays in human life.

Quotes

“After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people.” – John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

To a God Unknown (1933)

Following the story of Joseph Wayne as he builds a homestead in California, this novel took Steinbeck five years to write. The inspiration for this novel came from a play that long-time friend, Webster “Toby” Street, wrote for a college creative writing class he and Steinbeck took together. Street’s “The Green Lady” included many of the themes that Steinbeck wrote into the final version of To a God Unknown, such as a character deeply connected with nature and his land and the threat of its destruction from natural disaster: a fire in Street’s play and drought in the final novel.

Street, unable to resolve many of the conflicting story points in the play, never got past the first of three planned acts. Steinbeck had expressed interest in the material, so Street gave Steinbeck the manuscript and his notes for revisions. Street’s inclusion of a character deeply, almost mystically, connected to nature appealed to Steinbeck. The presence of a woman, representing ambition and aspiration, also cleaved closely to Steinbeck’s Cup of Gold and Henry Morgan’s fascination with a woman known as “La Santa Roja.”

Joseph Wayne fulfills the role of the character connected to nature, in his connection to a grove of trees on his homestead, fed by spring, and the center of it: a large, mossy rock. Both Joseph and his ranch hand, Juanito, recognize the sacred, frightening nature of the grove. It becomes the center of Joseph’s understanding and connection to his land and, eventually, his faith.

Quotes

“The first grave. Now we’re getting someplace. Houses and children and graves, that’s home, Tom. Those are the things that hold a man down.” – John Steinbeck, To a God Unknown

“Everything seems to work with a recurring rhythm except life. There is only one birth and only one death. Nothing else is like that.” – John Steinbeck, To a God Unknown

The Red Pony (1933)

Set in Salinas Valley, The Red Pony is a four-part story about a young boy, Jody Tiflin. Jody learns lessons about life and death, responsibility and maturity through life on his family’s ranch. In “The Gift” and “The Promise,” Jody works with Billy Buck, the ranch hand, to bring up young horses to maturity. In “The Mountains,” and “The Leader of the People,” Jody is entranced by the stories told by a retired ranch hand, returning home, and his maternal grandfather. These stories allude to the spirit of the American West and the mysterious nature of the mountain ranges that flank the Salinas Valley.

This work is Steinbeck’s first foray into a coming-of-age tale. Jody’s passage to maturity towards manhood is rocky and difficult, though each setback pushes Jody toward an adult understanding of the world.

Fun Fact

For sixteen years, the Steinbeck Young Author’s program has inspired a love of reading and writing. It guides Monterey County middle schoolers through reading The Red Pony. Over 40,000 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders have participated in this program.

Every year, around 120 students are nominated by their teachers to come to the National Steinbeck Center’s Day of Writing. The essays that they write, in a one-on-one partnership with a writing coach, are awarded prizes by a panel of judges and published in the Gabilan Journal. Each student takes home a copy of their published essay.

The Steinbeck Young Author’s program is the National Steinbeck Center’s longest running program.

Tortilla Flat (1935)

Fun Facts

Did you know? For the New York production of the film with Jack Kirkland, Steinbeck wanted an all-Mexican cast that they would simply “pick up in and around LA.” This, however, ended up being an unrealistic demand.

In real life, Pilon was probably modeled on Eduardo Romero: “One of his quaint and hard traits is spending most all summer nights sleeping…in an abandoned trough up Iris Canyon way.” (Authur McEwen, Game and Gossip, January 9, 1954).

The novella received the California Commonwealth Club Annual Gold Medal for Best Book by a California Writer.

In Dubious Battle (1936)

Quotes:

“I think what I like most about In Dubious Battle is the main character, Jim Nolan. It’s one person, one man, and his struggle to try to express what is most important in life to him. Even though things go wrong through the course of the book, you still have a very interesting lesson there. Failure is shown to be a better teacher than success.” – Lisa, NSC Archivist

Of Mice and Men (1937)

The second book in John Steinbeck’s labor trilogy, Of Mice and Men is a touching tale of two migrant laborers in search of work and eventual liberation from their social circumstances. Fiercely devoted to one another, George and Lennie plan to save up to finance their dream of someday owning a small piece of land. The pair seems unstoppable until tragedy strikes and their hopes come crashing down, forcing George to make a difficult decision regarding the welfare of his best friend.

The novel is set on a ranch in Soledad, CA. Author Frank Bergon recalls reading Of Mice and Men for the first time as a teenager living in the San Joaquin Valley and remembers how he saw “as if in a jolt of light the ordinary surroundings of [his] life become worthy of literature.” Steinbeck works to propagate the notion that meaningful stories emerge from the marginalized; that even those on the fringes of society can make deserving contributions to the literary canon.

Did you know? The 1939 film adaptation of Of Mice and Men was nominated for five Academy Awards!

The Long Valley (1938)

This is the second of Steinbeck’s short story cycles, consisting of eleven unrelated stories set in locations around the central coast of California and the Salinas Valley. This collection also includes The Red Pony. Themes of isolation, loneliness, unfulfilling relationships, and repressed sexuality thread through all the stories. Several also reference characters and ideas seen in Steinbeck’s other works: communist organizers in “The Raid” parallel characters in In Dubious Battle; the migrant workers in “Breakfast” are similar to characters in The Grapes of Wrath; and the mentally challenged Johnny Bear has echoes in Lennie from Of Mice and Men.

Prior to publication in The Long Valley, these stories were published in various newspapers, magazines, and literary journals before being brought together in this volume, published by Viking in 1938.

 Quotes

“The village of Loma is built, as its name implies, on a low round hill that rises like an island out of the flat mouth of the Salinas Valley in central California. To the north and east of the town a black tule swamp stretches for miles, but to the south the marsh has been drained. Rich vegetable land has been the result of the draining, land so black with wealth that the lettuce and cauliflowers grow to giants.” – John Steinbeck, The Long Valley

The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

Winner of the National Book Award and 1940 Pulitzer Prize for fiction

Few novels stand alongside The Grapes of Wrath on the same levels of social consciousness and tangible impact. Jay Parini, writer and Steinbeck biographer, calls it “the finest example in American literature where a writer made a genuine work of art from a particular social crisis.” For those looking to understand what life for a Depression-era migrant worker was like, it’s time to put down the history textbooks. In The Grapes of Wrath, you can live it. You can feel the sun beating on your brow and the dust settling in your lungs.

The Grapes of Wrath follows the fictional Joad family’s painstaking trek to California and struggle to land on their feet once their vision of a bountiful promised land is replaced by a disappointing reality. It is a portrait of resilience and hope that awoke 1930’s America to the social crisis at hand. This awakening was undoubtedly violent; Steinbeck was called a communist and a liar for bringing into the spotlight a group of people that personified the shame of America. Yet the story that he told was painfully necessary. It set in motion the slow-grinding gears of social change and incited important conversations throughout the nation.

In an interview that now plays in the Grapes of Wrath exhibit here at the National Steinbeck Center, Elaine Steinbeck recalls a comment made by Eleanor Roosevelt, a good friend of hers. Roosevelt had been recalling the multitude of questions she received from people in Russia regarding the plight of American agricultural workers. Her response? An assurance that conditions had vastly improved – Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Steinbeck “took care of that.”

Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941)

Part travel narrative and part phyletic catalog, Sea of Cortez stands as one of the best examples of collaboration between Steinbeck and marine biologist Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck’s beloved friend and the inspiration for the character Doc of Cannery Row. The book outlines the details of their six-week specimen-collecting trip that took them from Monterey all the way to the Gulf of California. It features a narrative log of their day-to-day escapades blended with philosophical digressions that make for a thought-provoking read accompanied with a detailed catalog of the marine life of the region. The book propagates the idea of the citizen scientist; anyone with a spark of curiosity can contribute to the larger body of scientific knowledge if they so desire.

In 1951, the narrative log section of the book was republished as The Log from the Sea of Cortez, and Viking removed Ricketts as a co-author. Controversy remains over Steinbeck’s approval of this deletion, as he had previously been adamant about crediting Ricketts. Large segments of the narrative portion are directly lifted from Ricketts’s journal. His thought process on this matter is still unclear and the question of why he approved it will probably forever remain unanswered.

Did you know? Marine biologist William Gilly of Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station and his team are preserving the legacy of Steinbeck and Ricketts by studying the thriving marine ecosystems in the Sea of Cortez. Read about one of their expeditions here!

The Forgotten Village (1941)

Directed by Herbert Kline and narrated by Burgess Meredith, “The Forgotten Village” was Steinbeck’s first direct engagement with the art of film. The project was born out of Steinbeck’s desire to break away from Hollywood productions and produce an authentic portrait of Mexican culture. Featuring the real inhabitants of a rural hamlet in the mountains of Santiago in Mexico, this ethnographic cross between a documentary and a fictional film deals with the basic conflict between the deep-rooted indigenous culture and the sweeping tide of modernization. At stake are the lives of several of the village children, who quickly become the victims of a typhoid epidemic. Both the curandera and the village schoolteacher fight to bring the children back from the brink of death, and the villagers are forced to choose a side in a conflict that is larger than themselves. It is a dramatization of a clash that is familiar to cultures throughout the world, and there is a quality of undeniable realism that manifests itself as protagonist Juan Diego teeters between the beliefs and customs of two different worlds.

Steinbeck did not write the script for the movie ahead of time. Rather, he arrived at the filming location and let the story unfold through his interactions with the villagers. Biographer Jackson Benson noted that Steinbeck’s previous experiences with the needless destitution of the migrant camps shaped his portrayal of life in the impoverished village – a community that truly seemed to have been left behind by the developed world.

Despite Steinbeck’s sensitivity to their suffering, the public response to the film was largely negative. It was called “indecent” by the New York State Board of Censors, who banned the movie for its controversial childbirth scene. Steinbeck answered with outrage. He was frustrated that his snapshot of humanity was so quickly dehumanized by audiences. It was later released for general viewing and was better-received by critics, but it will always be a film that elicits a variety of reactions from viewers.

Decide for yourself!

• Available for free download at Internet Archives
• Full-film available on YouTube

Bombs Away (1942)

Steinbeck, in conjunction with photographer John Swope traveled more than 20,000 miles in 30 days, documenting the work it takes to form a bomber team. This work is a non-fiction account of Steinbeck’s time with several Air Force bomber teams. Steinbeck uses his uncanny understanding of and interest in people to bring these personal stories to life.

The Book Section of the Office of War Information released a summary of the book for OWI staff, suggesting that this work may influence public perceptions of the war, or be useful to OWI staff in their work. Their summary follows:

“John Steinbeck reveals in this book—written at the request of the U.S. Army Air Force—how American boys from all over the country and from every kind of background are being forced into the bomber teams that are today carrying the battle to Europe, the Near East, and the Pacific. He takes six typical men who are now in the Army Air Forces and tells the personal story of each, from his own town through the work and play of his training days until he gets into actual combat. They are pilot, navigator, bombardier, crew chief, gunner, and radio man—the six jobs that make up a bomber crew. The details of training and the story of each man’s progress from civilian life to combat assignment are given in personal terms.”

The Moon Is Down (1942)

This is John Steinbeck’s propaganda novel, in support of people living under Nazi occupation during World War II.

It tells the story of a small, anonymous town overrun by an invading army. The town’s iron ore mines are the object of desire to the invaders, led by a wary veteran of many wars. After the initial shock of invasion wears off, the townspeople resist the occupation. The resistance is clandestinely led by Mayor Orden, Doctor Winter, and Molly Morden, whose husband was executed by the invaders. The constant resistance by the townspeople wears on the invaders and Steinbeck explores the psychological consequences of maintaining an occupation. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck shows that free people cannot remain conquered.

The novel’s role in bolstering Norwegian morale won Steinbeck a commendation, the King Haakon IIV Freedom Cross. It was awarded for outstanding contributions to the Norwegian cause during World War II. This medal remained one of Steinbeck’s most treasured possessions for the rest of his life.

Quotes

“Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.” – John Steinbeck, The Moon is Down

“I am a little man and this is a little town, but there must be a spark in little men that can burst into flame.” – John Steinbeck, The Moon is Down

Cannery Row (1945)

“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.” – John Steinbeck, Cannery Row

Cannery Row is less of a novel and more of a series of episodes – poignant snapshots of a group of people who have little in common outside of their collective marginalization but who nevertheless care deeply about one another. Novelist Richard Russo noted the palpable “kinship that was both thrilling and reassuring” which binds the characters together. Take the brooding Doc, the esteemed Lee Chong, the regal Dora, and (lest we forget) the careless yet charming Mack; all of these characters lean on one another in times of darkness. And there is a darkness that casts shadows over the plot, for it quickly becomes clear that loneliness and suffering maintain pronounced presences on the Row.

Author Gerald W. Haslam designated Steinbeck as the writer who taught him that “literature could be about real people in real places.” Cannery Row is a prime example of this, for the work is grounded in Steinbeck’s memories of real Row inhabitants. We encounter characters who are believable and lovable as they float in and out of frame, holding on to each other as they brace against the waves that crash into their lives and send pearly droplets of saltwater flying up to the heavens.

The Wayward Bus (1947)

Taking place in the Salinas Valley, Steinbeck writes about several colorful characters taking a bus ride. The narrative focuses on the characters’ thoughts and feelings, each grappling with loneliness and isolation in their own way.

Juan Chicoy, a half-Mexican/half-Irish American drives the small bus between the fictional Rebel Corners and San Juan de la Cruz. Alice, Juan’s wife, runs the small restaurant that she and Juan own. They supplement their income by selling food and coffee to travelers on the bus route.

In this work, Steinbeck explores characters that are moving from one place to another, some with a destination in mind and some without. Rebel Corners, the location of Juan and Alice’s restaurant, like the travelers on the bus, is in-between. It is so small and obscure, that no one lives there besides Juan, Alice, and their employees—among which there is a high turnover rate. The characters in The Wayward Bus are on the move and stuck in place, a place that is between where they were and where they are going.

The Pearl (1947)

As in East of Eden, the perpetual clash between good and evil beats underneath the plot of The Pearl. Born of inspiration from a Mexican folk tale, the story focuses on a young family living in an impoverished fishing village. The family patriarch, Kino, comes across an extraordinary pearl – dubbed the “pearl of the world” – but soon realizes that wealth and good fortune do not necessarily walk hand-in-hand. Kino and his wife Juana must learn to navigate a world in which they can trust no one except each other.

In a 1945 letter to editor Pascal Covici, Steinbeck commented that The Pearl was a parable of “only black and white things and no in between.” Covici responded: “but what rich blacks and dazzling whites…One could also say…it only has three notes – love, hunger, and freedom from greed. But again what infinite longings you put into them.” The Pearl is a work that dives to the darkest depths of human nature, forcing us to question what we would do if we found ourselves in the same situations.

A Russian Journal (1948)

This is John Steinbeck’s eyewitness account of his visit to Russia during the early years of the Cold War. In conjunction with Robert Capa as photographer, Steinbeck intended this work to be a record of the real attitudes and thoughts of the people living under Soviet rule.

This book was published two years after Winston Churchill announced that the “Iron Curtain” had been drawn, closing Eastern Europe off from the West.  Steinbeck and Capa attempt to reveal the “private life of the Russian people.” This work is an account of their 34 day trip, from July 31, 1947 to September of the same year. Steinbeck’s text and Capa’s photos mirror each other as carefully crafted vignettes, capturing the artists’ emotional reactions to the Soviet people, their condition, worries, and lives.

Quotes

“They taught us a toast in Ukranian which we like: ‘Let us drink to make people at home happy.’ And they toasted again to peace, always to peace. Both of these men had been soldiers, and both of them had been wounded, and they drank to peace.” – John Steinbeck, A Russian Journal

Burning Bright (1950)

This work is in an experimental format that Steinbeck called a “play-novelette.” Burning Bright was Steinbeck’s third attempt at this format, which included Of Mice and Men and The Moon is Down. However, of the three, the final form of Burning Bright cleaves most closely to the format as Steinbeck original conceived of it.

Rather than providing only dialogue and short stage directions, as with a traditional play script, Steinbeck fleshed out the characters, situation, and environment to provide actors with clearer directions and understanding of the play. The goal was to create a theatrical piece that could still be easily read by the single, non-theatrical reader. While providing much more detail than a play script would, in terms of background information, Steinbeck provided less physical description of the characters to allow a director greater freedom in casting the play.

Burning Bright is a morality play, centering on Joe Saul and his wife Mordeen. While Mordeen loves Joe Saul, she suspects that he is sterile. She sleeps with Victor, Joe Saul’s assistant, in order to fulfill Joe Saul’s desire for a child. Ed, a longtime friend of the couple, helps them through the conflict between Joe Saul and Mordeen after they discover that he is, indeed, sterile and not the father of the child.

Steinbeck re-casts the actors and story into different settings and situations through the three acts of the play, to further convey that these characters and the conflict could be anyone. Initially, Steinbeck wanted to call the play Everyman.

East of Eden (1952)

“I will tell…the greatest story of all – the story of good and evil, of strength and weakness, of love and hate, of beauty and ugliness. I shall try to demonstrate…how these doubles are inseparable.” – John Steinbeck, Journal of a Novel

Steinbeck considered East of Eden to be his masterpiece. In his journal, Journal of a Novel (often read as a companion to the novel) he notes that “this is the book I have always wanted and have worked and prayed to be able to write.” Set primarily in the Salinas Valley in the early twentieth century, the novel traces three generations of two families – the Trasks and the Hamiltons – as they grapple with the ever-present forces of good and evil. From this plot emerged some of Steinbeck’s most fascinating characters – many of whom are modeled after people in his own life.

Part allegory, part autobiography, and part epic, East of Eden was an ambitious project from the start – a gift to Steinbeck’s sons that was meant to teach them about identity, grief, and what it means to be human. Tinged with biblical echoes of the fall of Adam and Eve and the rivalry of Cain and Abel, this sprawling saga has captivated audiences everywhere for generations. It is through the popularization of East of Eden that the Salinas Valley was truly transformed into “the valley of the world”; a place where everyone is able to find a piece of themselves in the golden, rolling hills.

Fun facts

Did you know? Jo Van Fleet won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Cathy/Kate in the 1955 film adaptation of East of Eden.

Quotes

“East of Eden made me fall in love with my home, the Salinas Valley, all over again.” – Jenna Garden, NSC Intern (summer 2017)

Sweet Thursday (1954)

The sequel to Cannery Row, this novel tells the story of Cannery Row and its inhabitants, set in the years after World War II.

Although many characters are the same, the ravages of time and the War have changed the Row. Doc returns from service as an Army medic to find that Western Biological Laboratories is defunct, his caretaker having abandoned his duties. Lee Chong sold his grocery store to pursue his dreams of sailing the South Pacific. The Bear Flag Restaurant has a new proprietor, Fauna, who sees romantic possibilities between Doc and a new prostitute, Suzy. Putting aside self-interest, Mack and the Boys, Fauna, and the other regulars of the Row conspire to bring Doc and Suzy together.

Quotes

“There are people who will say that this whole account is a lie, but a thing isn’t necessarily a lie even if it didn’t necessarily happen.” – John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday

“Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.” – John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday

The Short Reign of Pippin IV (1957)

This work is Steinbeck’s only work of political satire. Amateur astronomer, Pippin is proclaimed King of France, as a figure for Communists to revolt against. Deeply uncomfortable with the attention and limitations of his new role, Pippin spends a great deal of his time as king avoiding the responsibilities of rule.

Although set in 1950s France, Steinbeck wrote this novel a backdrop of McCarthyism in the United States. McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee were never far from Steinbeck’s mind in this period and they inspired two unpublished works of political criticism: “If This Be Treason” and “Titus Oates.”

In letter to Elizabeth Otis, Steinbeck’s literary agent, he wrote “With something of a shock I realize that I have written about nothing current for a very long time…It has occurred to me that we may be so confused about the present that we avoid it because it is not clear to us. But why should that be a deterrent? If this is a time of confusion, then that should be the subject of a good writer if he is to set down his time.” The Short Reign of Pippin IV attempts to capture the confusion and lack of clarity that Steinbeck felt in the mid-1950s, through a story on moral uncertainties.

Quotes

“The one thing our species is helpless against is good fortune. It first puzzles, then frightens, then angers, and finally destroys us.” – John Steinbeck, The Short Reign of Pippin IV

Once There Was A War (1958)

Originally appearing as a collection of articles in the New York Herald Tribune, this work brings together Steinbeck’s writing as a war correspondent during World War II.  From the summer to the fall of 1943, Steinbeck wrote dispatches from England, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. Steinbeck did not report “straight news,” as he called it. His reporting did not cover battles or interview leaders. Rather, much like Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck sought out the experiences of ordinary people and soldiers.

He included description of troop transports, the little superstitions and comforts of soldiers, descriptions of homesick men trying to recapture bits of home, the liberation of a small Sicilian town, and other similar experiences. Though dedicated to telling the stories of the people doing the work of fighting, Steinbeck often felt uncomfortable during his time as a correspondent. He was deeply aware that he could go home at any time, while the people he wrote about could not.

Although the articles appeared as standalone pieces, Sanford E. Marovitz suggests a unifying theme, setting, and set of characters in Once There Was a War: “The theme is man’s struggle for survival; the setting is the war zone; the characters are the civilians and servicemen existing under combat conditions.”

The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)

The Winter of Our Discontent was Steinbeck’s final novel, and in a letter to Elizabeth Otis he remarked that he had “poured every ounce of energy” and “aging passion” that he had left into it. The story centers on the tale of Ethan Hawley, a disillusioned store clerk in a coastal New York town (modeled after Sag Harbor). Ethan resents his once-wealthy family’s low social standing but still desperately clings to strict moral standards. As his bitterness grows, however, Ethan succumbs to the forces of pride and greed, falling prey to the same type of dishonesty he previously condemned. Winter is allegorical in that it’s not just a tale of longing and self-realization; it’s a moral portrait of America.

Although Winter received generally favorable but not glowing reviews, the Nobel Prize committee stated that the novel elevated Steinbeck back to “his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or bad.” It’s one of Steinbeck’s last calls to action for the American people – a fitting beginning to the end of his literary career.

Fun facts

Did you know? One of the most common criticisms leveraged against Winter is that the pet names Ethan reserves for wife Mary are cloying and saccharine. However, Steinbeck’s third wife Elaine recalled that he would use “all kinds of funny endearments” quite often to express his affection (Benson 873).

Quotes

“No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.” – John Steinbeck, Winter of Our Discontent

“It has been my experience to put aside a decision for future pondering. Then one day, fencing a piece of time to face the problem, I have found it already completed, solved, and the verdict taken. This must happen to everyone, but I have no way of knowing that.” – John Steinbeck, Winter of Our Discontent

Travels with Charley (1962)

“We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” – John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

Journeys are often transformative ventures. Whether we consciously acknowledge it or not, it is impossible to return from a journey as the same person you were when you first departed. Encountering new places, people, and perspectives changes us.

Steinbeck’s final full-length novel, Travels with Charley is a journey in both a physical and a spiritual sense. The novel details Steinbeck’s 1960 cross-country road trip in his pickup truck Rocinante (named for Don Quixote’s trusted steed) with his stately and consistently endearing French poodle Charley at his side. Biographer Jackson Benson called Travels “an act of courage,” for recent health scares had lent a sense of precariousness to Steinbeck’s life. Steinbeck and his family understood that “the end could come at any time” (Benson 881).

As Steinbeck proceeds across the country, he begins to re-acquaint himself with the spirit of America – to compensate for the fact that he, a self-described “American writer…writing about America,” was “writing of something [he] did not know about.” This is a novel of rediscovery, of bewilderment, and ultimately of hope, as Steinbeck’s trip takes him through a country he wants to feel, see, and know in his heart again.

Fun facts

Did you know? Both his wife Elaine and his agent, Elizabeth Otis, were initially extremely opposed to the trip due to Steinbeck’s deteriorating health. It was only a pleading nine-page letter in which Steinbeck framed his proposal as “a frantic last attempt to save [his] life and the integrity of [his] creative pulse” that persuaded Elizabeth and consequently Elaine to reluctantly approve of the undertaking (Benson 882).

Quotes

“Travels with Charley is an undeniably remarkable book. Trying to capture the essence of a nation and pin it down on paper is no easy task. Steinbeck is explicit about his struggle to do so. Yet in the end, his words flow with grace and the images he imparts on the mind of the reader are aptly chosen. In particular, his description of the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains will always stay with me.” – Jenna Garden, National Steinbeck Center summer intern 2017

America and Americans (1966)

The last book published in Steinbeck’s lifetime, this work is a collection of Steinbeck’s journalism and musings about the country that was his home and his countrymen. Steinbeck’s enduring theme of writing about ordinary people continued into America and Americans.

Shillinglaw and Benson explore this work in America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction. They note that since Letters from an American Farmer, written around the Revolutionary War, few attempted to classify Americans in the way Steinbeck does in this last work of his.

Although Steinbeck worried about moral decay in the United States, especially due to too much comfort and leisure, America and Americans still explores the beautiful, absurd, paradoxical, and worthy aspects of American culture, history, and people.

Quotes

“Our land is of every kind geologically and climatically, and our people are of every kind also – of every race, of every ethnic category – and yet our land is one nation, and our people are Americans.  Mottoes have a way of being compounded of wishes and dreams.  The motto of the United States, ‘E Pluribus Unum,’ is a fact.” – John Steinbeck, America and Americans

“For I believe that out of the whole body of our past, out of our differences, our quarrels, our many interests and directions, something has emerged that is itself unique in the world: America – complicated, paradoxical, bullheaded, shy, cruel, boisterous, unspeakably dear, and very beautiful.” – John Steinbeck, America and Americans

Journal of a Novel (1969)

Not originally intended for publication, this work is a series of letters written by John Steinbeck to his long-time friend and editor, Pascal Covici, during the writing of East of Eden. Throughout these letters, Steinbeck mentions his worries about various parts of East of Eden and provides insights to some of the characters. Readers also see glimpses of the rest of Steinbeck’s life in these letters. He mentions his sons, Thom and John, as well as his wife, Elaine.

Steinbeck: A Life in Letters (1975)

Throughout his life, John Steinbeck kept up a large correspondence with many friends and family members. These letters often served as warm-ups for the day’s writing. Since Steinbeck generally avoided the public eye and gave few interviews in his life, these letters represent a remarkably candid, thoughtful look at Steinbeck’s view of his work and the world around him.

Viva Zapata (1975)

Before the acclaimed film, Viva Zapata!, that won John Steinbeck an Academy Award nominations for best story and screenplay, Steinbeck wrote a narrative story of Emiliano Zapato. This short story became the basis for the screenplay adaptation and was published posthumously.

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

John Steinbeck’s love of reading began with a gift from his aunt. Originally, he resented the gift of a book, until he opened it and fell hopelessly in love with the adventure and drama of Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. In this work, Steinbeck attempts to translate Malory’s work for the modern day. Steinbeck dedicated himself to a year of research, living at Discove Cottage in Somerset and traveling to places relevant to Malory.

Although he was not able to complete this work during his life, it represents a long-held fascination for Steinbeck.

Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath (1989)

John Steinbeck had two requirements for this diary: first, that it not be published in his life time and second, that it be available to his sons, so that they might “look behind the myth and hearsay and flattery and slander a disappeared man becomes and to know to some extent what manner of man their father was.”

The diary was Steinbeck’s disciplinary tool which he used to keep himself on track for writing his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath. He vowed to write in it every weekday through the five months of writing The Grapes of Wrath. It was a sounding board and accountability measure for his work throughout the arduous process. In it, he despairs, gives himself pep-talks, and bemoans the constant distractions to his work. This work provides a daily, living insight into the trials and tribulations that Steinbeck went through while writing The Grapes of Wrath.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ergo opifex plus sibi proponet ad formarum quam civis excellens ad factorum pulchritudinem? Nam et complectitur verbis, quod vult, et dicit plane, quod intellegam; At ille pellit, qui permulcet sensum voluptate. Faceres tu quidem, Torquate, haec omnia; Quod autem satis est, eo quicquid accessit, nimium est; Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Sed quid sentiat, non videtis. Sed in rebus apertissimis nimium longi sumus. Tollenda est atque extrahenda radicitus. Comprehensum, quod cognitum non habet?

Header

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ergo opifex plus sibi proponet ad formarum quam civis excellens ad factorum pulchritudinem? Nam et complectitur verbis, quod vult, et dicit plane, quod intellegam; At ille pellit, qui permulcet sensum voluptate. Faceres tu quidem, Torquate, haec omnia; Quod autem satis est, eo quicquid accessit, nimium est; Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Sed quid sentiat, non videtis. Sed in rebus apertissimis nimium longi sumus. Tollenda est atque extrahenda radicitus. Comprehensum, quod cognitum non habet?

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Qua ex cognitione facilior facta est investigatio rerum occultissimarum. Cum id fugiunt, re eadem defendunt, quae Peripatetici, verba. Et ais, si una littera commota sit, fore tota ut labet disciplina. Quae cum essent dicta, finem fecimus et ambulandi et disputandi. Nunc ita separantur, ut disiuncta sint, quo nihil potest esse perversius. Minime vero istorum quidem, inquit. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Cupit enim dícere nihil posse ad beatam vitam deesse sapienti.