Cup of Gold

by John Steinbeck

From the mid-1650s through the 1660s, 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: to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja and to conquer Panama, the “cup of gold.” Steinbeck’s first novel and sole work of historical fiction, Cup of Gold is a lush, lyrical swashbuckling pirate fantasy, and sure to add new dimensions to readers’ perceptions of this all-American writer. This edition features an introduction by Susan F. Beegel.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Pirates, Adventure, Literature, American

187 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters."
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward F. Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize–winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.

Reviews

[PirateSteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Steinbeck wrote a romance novel???
Well that's what the publishers at Popular Library want readers to believe.
It seems Cup of Gold, Steinbeck's first novel, needed some good ol fashion salesmanship in order to make everybody involved some money. So they tried to pass this book off as a romance.
From the front cover: " He Sacked Panama For A Woman's Kisses".
From the back cover: "She was the lovely mystery woman of Panama. Every foulmouthed buccaneer on the Spanish Main dreamed of possessing her. It was desire to take this woman that brought Henry Morgan, King of the Pirates, to Panama. With torch and cutlass he laid waste to the mightiest citadel in Spanish America. And he did it all for Ysobel."

I'm no romance expert... but I found no romance in this book.
It is Steinbeck's well written historical fiction account of Henry Morgan.
And Henry Morgan, successful rascal that he was, lusted for two things.... wealth and fame.

This book is not even close to Steinbeck's best work but it does show signs of the brilliance to come.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could go back in time and tell that bright-eyed, handsome —still had a full head of hair and his entire life before him—25-year-old me who started this quest to read all of Mr. Steinbeck's books, to start at the beginning!

This isn't The Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden; this is John's first published novel. This is late-twenties Steinbeck just starting on his journey to becoming one of the greatest American authors to ever put pen to paper. It might not be his best, but if you pay attention, you'll see a glimpse of the author to come. In ten short years, we go from this to some of the greatest works ever written: Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, and of course, The Grapes of Wrath. To go back in time and tell that dumb kid just starting out on his benevolent quest, START AT THE BEGINNING! (He says with gusto.) Grow into Steinbeck, like he grew into the literary giant he is.

While it's not his best work, it's still an amazing story. It's Steinbeck, so the writing is on point, of course, and his characters are beautifully flawed. You can never go wrong with Steinbeck, and if you've taken my advice and started your journey here at the beginning, hang in there! It only gets better from here!

[Велислав Върбанов · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Боговете убиват щастието от ревност.“


Чудесна многопластова книга! Това е дебютният роман на Джон Стайнбек, като още в него си личи огромният талант на един от най-големите писатели...

Сюжетът проследява житейския път на сложния и противоречив образ Хенри Морган, който от обикновено момче от Уелс се превръща в жесток пират. Той започва като вълнуващ приключенски роман, но постепенно преминава в сериозна историческа драма... „Златната чаша“ е доста увлекателно четиво, което същевременно съдържа и много стойностни философски размисли!





„Сигурно у него имаше нещо чудовищно, защото не можеше да прави разлика между желанието и омразата.“


„В тропическите океани има покой, от който изчезва желанието за разбиране на каквото и да било. Крайната точка на пътуването вече не е цел, а само порив да плаваш, да плаваш извън царството на времето.“


„Планините са нещо като мехлем за абстрактната човешка болка. Сред тях човек се смее много повече, отколкото плаче.“


„Строителят на вашата катедрала е забравен, но аз, който я изгорих, може би ще бъда помнен стотина години и този факт навярно означава нещо за човечеството.“

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

To me there's something appealing about the idea of reading a writer's novels in chronological order. Apart from having the opportunity to observe a development in literary skills, it feels like a properly organised thing to do. So for quite a while I regretted that I didn't do just that when I embarked on reading the works of John Steinbeck. I no longer feel that way. If this, Steinbeck's first novel, had been my introduction to his work, there's at least a chance I would have gone no further.

The subtitle of the novel is "A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History". It re-imagines aspects of the life and career of the real life 17th century privateer and British colonial administrator, beginning with his youth in Wales, going on to his experiences as a bonded worker in Barbados and his career as a privateer (a polite word for pirate), which culminates in the sack of Panama.

I appreciated the novel more than I might otherwise have done because of my familiarity with Steinbeck's life and fiction. It's an uneven mixture of swashbuckling boys' own adventure and coming of age story, with an overtone of Arthurian quest. Steinbeck was passionate about Arthurian legend and its varous literary incarnations and it's interesting to observe this obsession manifesting itself in his early work. Although quite different from Steinbeck's later, better, work, it shows hints of what would come to characterise his fiction: a strong sense of the natural environment and compassion for human frailty.

Like most of Steinbeck's novels, this work has a moral. It's not a particularly subtle moral: essentially a variation on "be careful what you wish for". The manner in which the moral plays itself out is a little tedious, the last quarter of the work is disappointing and the ending is odd. These are definite weaknesses, but it is a first novel after all, and one that I mostly enjoyed.

This is one for the Steinbeck completist and not the place to start with Steinbeck's fiction. Not great, not terrible, three and a bit stars because I'm such a fan.

[zuza_zaksiazkowane · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Daniel Villines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cup of Gold is a work of historical fiction based on the life of Captain Henry Morgan. Morgan was a British privateer who committed extremely violent acts against Spanish colonies in Caribbean. He was eventually knighted for his deeds, but in the eyes of Spain, he was a pirate. He operated out of Port Royal, Jamaica in the 1660s during the reign of Charles II.

For being a first novel, Cup of Gold has some strong points. In the opening chapters, Steinbeck creates the feeling of 17th century Wales through his use of dialogue between characters and a writing style that conveys a darkish Welsh-like setting. Then, as the plot moves on, the Morgan character is developed to show his thirst for adventure and the ignorant bravado of his youth.

The novel starts to weaken in its delivery from around its halfway point where Steinbeck seems to overshoot the realism that he initially achieves. Steinbeck may have wanted to illustrate the process of power leading to corruption, but his depictions of Morgan's path is overplayed, almost to the point of fantasy. While this may have been done purposely to emphasize his intentions, it did not sit well with my desires for realism.

By the end of the novel, Steinbeck reins in his writing back towards the plausible. The end closes out Morgan's active life and depicts him in his capacity as the Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. It’s during these final pages that Steinbeck shows how easily human perceptions can change and how those changes can lead to an unconscious betrayal of our younger selves.

[3.5 Stars]

[Jason Koivu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notorious pirate Captain Henry Morgan gets the John Steinbeck treatment, and I LOVED it!

But what is this? It's sort of a biography, but there are obvious fantastical elements to it. History, fiction, historical fiction? Whatever the case, Steinbeck does an admirable job of bringing Henry Morgan to life. How much of it is real life? Who's to say?

It begins in Wales with Morgan as a child being enthralled by the dark and mysterious tales of a salty dog. He is overcome with an undeniable impetus to go a buccaneering. And so he does. Steinbeck shows the influences that transformed the young Welshman into the legend he would become. We then get a taste of his pirating. Not a great deal. Anyone that came into this hoping for wall-to-wall swashbuckling adventure will be disappointed. I've read enough Steinbeck to know what to expect. One of those books was his attempt at the Arthurian legends, so I knew Steinbeck was capable and willing to dive in to the fantastical elements. The man liked tall tales and adventure. This fits right in.

My review is based on the audiobook version narrated by Ronan Vibert, who does an absolutely excellent job capturing the introspective tone that takes up much of this book. Vibert, an English actor, also proved masterly at handling the many and widely varied accents within Cup of Gold: English (classes and regions), Spanish, Creole, and most importantly, the fairly difficult Welsh. He jumped between these, as well as male and female version of them, with great dexterity.

[فهد الفهد · Rating 3 out of 5]

كأس من ذهب

أول رواية كتبها شتاينبك، وهي روايته التاريخية الوحيدة، كما أن أسلوب الرواية مختلف عن أسلوب شتاينبك الذي طوره في الروايات التالية، تتناول الرواية قصة القرصان البريطاني هنري مورجان والذي جاء من بيئة فقيرة واستطاع بناء إمبراطورية خاصة به من السطو والاحتلال للمستوطنات الإسبانية، إنها قصة البحث الدائم عن شيء ما، الشهرة والثروة والمرأة، ولكن في كل مرة يصل الإنسان إلى ما يريده يكتشف أنه ليس كما تخيله، وأنه متروك لجوعه القديم.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

E’ il primo romanzo scritto da Steinbeck, e si sente. La vita avventurosa del pirata Henry Morgan risulta piatta, senza picchi di pathos neanche quando incontra a Panama la Santa Roja, una dama spagnola su cui sono sorte nei mari dei Caraibi leggende di straordinaria bellezza. Alcune riflessioni però sono da incorniciare e saranno presenti nello Steinbeck futuro...
“Tutti i grandi del mondo sono stati fanciullini che volevano la luna; correvano, si arrampicavano, e talvolta riuscivano ad acchiappare una lucciola. Ma se si diventa grandi e ci si fa una mente da uomo, questa mente non può non vedere che la luna è irraggiungibile...e così non si prende neppure la lucciola...ma c’è un dono nella rovina; la gente sa che un uomo è fallito e gli si mostra dolente e gentile. Quell’uomo ha tutto il mondo dalla sua; un ponte che lo tiene in contatto con la sua gente; la veste della mediocrità. Ma colui che ripara una lucciola nel cavo di una mano, una lucciola presa mentre egli tendeva il braccio verso la luna, è doppiamente solo; può rendersi conto soltanto del suo pieno fallimento, può constatare la propria meschinità, le proprie paure, le proprie evasioni.”

[Kuszma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nem vagyok oda a kalózokért. Hallottam olyan értelmezést, hogy ezek a pacákok a szabadság faragatlan zászlóvivői, sótól cserzett arcuk a láthatárt kémleli: ostorai ők az urbánus kötöttségeknek, no meg az eltunyult merkantilista szemléletnek. Nekem viszont csak a pocsék szájhigiénia jut róluk eszembe, no meg az, hogy tutira felgyújtanák a könyvesboltomat. Viszont megértem, mi��rt választotta őket Steinbeck első regényének témájául. Írónk ugyanis akkoriban egy behavazott tanyát őrzött tök egyedül fél éven át, nyilván jól esett neki pihenésképp a trópusokra képzelni magát, ahogy újvilági spanyol városok üszkös romjai között bóklászik. Sajnos az is látszik, hogy az ominózus tanyán csak egy Stevenson-összes és pár kalózos ponyva állt rendelkezésére, nagyjából ez az a két forrás ugyanis, ami nyomott hagyott a szövegen. Amit írt, az mindazonáltal Stevenson-regénynek gyenge, bár ponyvának – mondjuk – megjárja.

Választott hőse létező személy, maga a nagy Henry Morgan, akit a legnagyobb tisztesség ért, ami kalózt csak érhet: rumot neveztek el róla. Persze Steinbeck nem ragaszkodik rigorózusan a történelmi tényekhez - e téren alig szuperál jobban, mint a Karib-tenger kalózai c. mozi -, de ez nem akkora baj, ezt még megbocsátanám. A baj az, hogy ismerve Steinbeck későbbi munkásságát, megdöbbentően felületes ez a regény. Pedig izgalmas elképzelés, hogy gyerekkorától kísérjük figyelemmel Morgant, és látjuk, miből lesz a cserebogár, ám úgy fest, az írónak ekkor még nem volt meg az eszköztára ahhoz, hogy ezt a nehéz feladatot – az összetett jellemrajz felépítését – kielégítően elvégezze. Megtudjuk persze, hogy az ifjú Morgan ambiciózus fiatalember, aki tengerre vágyik, aztán rabszolga lesz, majd kalózkapitány, végül kormányzó. A cél az volna, hogy lássuk, hogyan alakul át könyörtelen rablóvezérré – de nincs igazi átalakulás. Egyszerűen csak az lesz, kész, pont. Biztos akarta Steinbeck érzékeltetni az emberi vívódást (látszik a törekvés rá), csak éppen nem sikerült. A motivációk nem komplexek, nagyjából kimerülnek abban, hogy „kalóz akarok lenni, mert hatalom és pénz, és ágyúval bumm-bumm”. Igaz, a szerző az utolsó harmadra beemel valami szerelmi szál szerűt, de hát az meg tényleg ilyen:


(Köszönöm, Agymosás magazin.)

Persze értem én a tanulságot: a hatalom korrumpál, a korlátlan hatalom meg korlátlanul korrumpál, de önmaga elől mégse menekül az ember. De ez a tanulság már azelőtt tök nyilvánvalóvá válik, hogy Morgan egyáltalán elindul a szénporos Wales-ből az óceán túlpartjára. Szóval felesleges volt miatta kinyírni a fél spanyol flottát. Összegezve: egynek elment a könyv. De meg nem mondtam volna róla, hogy Steinbeck. És ha nem Steinbeck, akkor sose adják ki. És nem vesztettünk volna semmit.

Ui.: És igenis szeretem a hajós regényeket. Ugyanakkor azt is látni kell, hogy Steinbeck nem hajós regényt írt, "csak" egy morális elmélkedést némi kardozással. Le merném fogadni, azt se tudja, mi az a tatvitorla, meg a kreuzolás, viszont nagyon okosan el is kerüli, hogy említenie kelljen őket.

[Maxwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Steinbeck’s first novel is competently written and enjoyable at times, but overall not something I’m super interested in. If I weren’t working my way through all of Steinbeck’s books, I probably would never have picked this up. It’s not one I see myself recommending or having mass appeal these days. Some of the anecdotes are fun, as Captain Morgan is a swashbuckling buccaneer. But the story focuses too much on history and politics rather than character depth or growth to be a rich novel for modern times. Still a perfectly respectable first outing from an author who could be considered the greatest American writer of the 20th century.

[Carlo Mascellani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uno steinbeck molto diverso da quello al quale siamo abituati con la lettura dei grandi capolavori della maturità. Una prima prova un po' tiepida, nella quale si intravedono alcuni dei temi che renderanno grande l'autore in seguito, ma mal sviluppati e, forse, ancora troppo influenzati dai romanzi d'avventura.

[Daniel Chaikin · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd first novel. There some more serious themes and some very striking prose here and there, but they are woven into a kind of adventure story. The mixture is messy; readable, but very awkward.

Sir Henry Morgan was a famous Welsh pirate with unofficial government blessing. He put together huge fleets for major raids on fortified Spanish towns in the Americas in the 1660's, most famously raiding, in 1671, the central city in Panama where all the gold and silver from Pacific side Spanish mines was held, before transfer across the Isthmus to the Caribbean. He was called to trial in England when his raids continued despite a Spanish-English treaty, then, when the treaty collapsed, awarded a governorship in the Caribbean and knighted by Charles II. He was the subject of a contemporary biography that characterized him as a one-time indentured servant who turned himself into an infamous ruthless pirate, horribly treating the Spanish and his own men. He sued for libel and won, but the mythology has stuck. (He was likely navy sailor with connections. He had two uncles with successful military careers, and one was an English governor in the Caribbean. He married that uncle's daughter, his first cousin.)

Steinbeck is writing fiction, taking characters from his own life and putting them into this pirate story. But he pointedly ties to the real history and the mythology. This is such an odd book. There is a sort of druid priest, a dreamy lonely landlord of indentured and permanent slaves lost in this deep reading, a sort of fierce Spanish heroin who defeats our pirate with a pin used in place of a sword, and sends him into spiraling uncertainty. And this pirate, who conquers his slave owner, women, the economic barriers, and the ruthless recruits, still spirals into doubt. It's just odd. I was struck by the sense of reading a really arrogant author, like male-arrogant. It's not the kind of thing I would expect of a future Nobel Prize winner, but it is maybe revealing in ways his later works don't show.

Unlike Il Filostrato (which I read at the same time), this comes with a terrific introduction, which I read afterward. Susan F. Beegel goes into where Steinbeck was coming from with this novel, what his influences and inspirations were, what this determined author was doing in writing his first novel, and why it came out this awkward way. I think I found this better than the book. It's here I learned that this is essentially an allegory of some dark aspects of American capitalism, the 1920's robber barons being the contemporary pirates (and it was published a two months before the stock market crash).

While I'm happy to recommend Beegel's intro, I can't recommend the book. It's not terrible, but it was disappointing for me. I was toying with reading through Steinbeck's work. But I'm not sure I like the author who wrote this, and I'm not sure I will do that now.

-----------------------------------------------

51. Cup of Gold : A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History by John Steinbeck
introduction Susan F. Beegel, 2008
published: 1929
format: 227-page Penguin Classics paperback, published 2008
acquired: 2020
read: Sep 21 – Oct 23
time reading: 8:34, 2.3 mpp
rating: 3
locations: 17th-century Wales, Caribbean, Panama
about the author: 1902-1968, born in Salinas, CA

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, the woman who wrote the introduction should be hanged for treason. "Thoroughly masculine and should find much favor with those male readers who delight in bloody tales of piracy and rebellion." Male readers? Hello! I quite enjoy a little bit of bloodthirsty swashbuckling and I ain't male.

And I obviously really enjoyed this story :) It was really very fun and I loved seeing Morgan's character evolve all the way from pitiful on up. He was a fascinating character. Although not particularly complex, it showed how both external and internal factors formed and changed him. And yes, we get bloodthirsty swashbuckling pirate-y fun, and quite a magnificent raid on Panama. Oh hell, it was fun!

[Sue K H · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 I loved the first 3rd and the last 3rd of this short novel, but somewhere in the middle third (where the actual pirating went on) I got bored. Still, I'm happy to have read this little piece of historical fiction about Captain Henry Morgan. This early work of Steinbeck's shows some of his brilliance. I rounded up because I don't think it deserves it's low rating.

[BrokenTune · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cup of Gold had all the elements that promised an enjoyable read for me: Steinbeck, pirates, historical fiction.

And, yet, I was so bored.

Apparently, this is Steinbeck's first novel. Knowing this, I can forgive the book some of the tediousness and lack of message, but still, knowing what Steinbeck is capable of creating in his later books makes it difficult to like this book any better.

[Michelle Curie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had no idea John Steinbeck's first novel was a romantic story about pirates! I'm on a personal quest to read his work chronologically, so it made sense to start here. And it turned out to be an origin story as far as writers have one.



Well, yeah, the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of Sir Henry Morgan is the whiskey, but there's certainly more to his story.

Cup of Gold traces his life from early childhood to his eventual death, retelling all kinds of adventures and romantic encounters that happened in between. It's a lush first novel that didn't attract much attention upon its original publication and only received mixed reviews back in the day, but it's particularly interesting to read now, knowing what an outstanding writer Steinbeck would eventually become. And even in a work as early as this, you already have those classic poetic descriptions of landscapes:

"The wind had died, leaving a thick silence on the hills. Everywhere the sad, soundless ghosts flitted about their haunting."

Ah, what would Steinbeck be without phrases like these! But on a grander scale, this felt more like a character study. The Henry Morgan we meet here was made for big things, with an impulsive and adventurous character. As his own father marks early on:

"I say to you, without pleasure, that this son of ours will be a great man, because he is not very intelligent. He can see only one desire at a time. I said he tested his dreams; he will murder every dream with the implacable arrows of his will. This boy will win to every goal of his aiming; for he can realize no thought, no reason, but his own."



But Morgan has a weakness: women. Or to be more specific, it's one in particular. His true love named Elizabeth, who makes him beware of female power and turns him into a man unable to have meaningful relationships for the rest of his life. And it is this conflict, the fear or feeling, that followed Morgan onto his deathbed, that made this short and debutant novel worth your time.

"We are rich with all the little pictures of the past and the things he played with. They can never go while life is here."

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Steinbeck really is my favorite author. This isn't one of his finest works. There are even some weird scenes with a guy named Merlin who is known to dabble in magic which seemed odd for a book about a Welsh lad who wants to be a pirate. So this was Steinbeck's first published novel - back in 1929 - and he certainly figured it over the next ten years when he began writing about what he knew so well - life in the Salinas Valley. .

This book does get better towards the latter half and might have been a four star book if he had skipped some of the backstory. It just took a long time to get through Henry's youth while I was waiting for Morgan's sacking of Panama City. It was interesting that in his role as Governor he later had to condemn pirates who once worked for him, of course this is primarily fiction but who knows maybe it happened.

If you are looking for strong character development, this is not the Steinbeck book to read. Read East of Eden - which in my opinion - is the great American novel.

3.5 stars

[Djrmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be a fair critic of this book, you'd need to not know who the author was before you started the book. As a first book, it doesn't deserve to carry the literary stigma of The Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men. And it is a stigma, because any reader who has read those books will go looking for at least the seed of what was to become some of the greatest writing of the 20th century, and if it's a readers first Steinbeck, they're going to be expecting to see what is so great about his work. Unfortunately for this book, it just wasn't there yet. And of course it shouldn't be, how many really good authors do their best work first? That's not to say this is bad writing, rookie Steinbeck is still better that 50% of what I've read. The theme, a young man dreams of more, believes he can obtain it through hard work, and then discovers that life isn't that simple (okay, so there's that seed of future Steinbeck) is portrayed through a fictionalized version of the life of the very real pirate/privateer Henry Morgan. There's an odd sort of realism to the book, Steinbeck's pirates do have pillage and torture, rape is alluded to, they make use of the services of prostitutes, but there's no mention of them killing anyone when they do these things. Whole Spanish ships are captured through the use of fire and canonball, but there would appear to be no casualties. That lack of finality weakens the story tremendously, and when Morgan does kill two members of his own crew, one that he's grown very attached to, it makes the previous omissions of mortality all the more obvious.

I'd go with 2 1/2 stars if I could, but I'll bump it up because a)Steinbeck and b) Pirate.

[Abyssdancer (Hanging in there!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is John Steinbeck’s first novel … it’s an adventure novel about a buccaneer named Henry Morgan, who leaves his home in Wales to sail to the West Indies to realize his dreams of being a sailor and plundering treasure … he is quite successful as a pirate, and eventually he decides to conquer the ultimate prize, the city of Panama …

However, Steinbeck creates this story not as a mere adventure … he delves into the psychology of realizing one’s greatest dream and the disappointment of having no further desires to accomplish … this novel is basically a character study, not a tale of bravado … Steinbeck studies the conscience of the pirate, and fleshes out the pirate into a soulful man capable of remorse …

[Kovalsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romanzo d’esordio di John.
Si sente che è un lavoro ancora un po’ acerbo ed “immaturo”, a tratti pure un tantino confusionario ma si intravede l’immenso autore che diverrà.
È una storia pertanto molto differente dalle solite scritte da Steinbeck e in alcuni passaggi ci si dimentica che l’autore sia lui.
Intanto è una storia che parte dal Galles e inizia con elementi quasi soprannaturali e pagani e questo per un autore profondamente americano e profondamente concreto è tanto inedito quanto interessante.
Il protagonista è Henry Morgan ( richiamo voluto a Morrigan? ), un giovane ragazzo che sogna di fare qualcosa di molto grande nella sua vita per cui abbandona le verdi terre gallesi per scoprire il mondo oltremare a bordo di navi di ogni tipo, compresi i galeoni pirata.
E diverrà egli stesso un temibile e spietato pirata e bucaniere, pronto a conquistare Panama per amore di una misteriosa donna la cui fama ha valicato i confini della sua terra.
Ma cosa troverà davvero Henry a Panama?
Un libro che sicuramente non può essere annoverato fra i capolavori di Steinbeck ma che a mio avviso è comunque molto interessante e offre già i primi esempi della scrittura profonda ed intensa di uno dei più grandi scrittori di tutti i tempi.

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unusual part of Steinbeck's bibliography, Cup of Gold is an adventurous pirate tale. On top of that, it is also draws heavily on Celtic themes, complete with Merlin, Annwn, and witchcraft (although it never fully becomes fantasy, leaving these things firmly in the realm of "maybe it was real but maybe not"). This might seem like an odd combination but Steinbeck makes it work, turning this into an almost Arthurian pirate adventure tempered with the heavier themes that Steinbeck is so good at employing.

[Julie Kuvakos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about dreams, adventure and life events of Captain Henry Morgan. This is Steinbeck’s debut novel and is very strong for being a first novel. It has a lot of that good old fashioned Steinbeck-ism sandwiched I’m between the story.

Some favorite quotes I jotted down in my notes I want to remember:

“You are a little boy. You want the moon to drink from as a golden cup; and so, it is very likely that you will become a great man / if you only remain a little child. All the worlds great have been little boys who wanted the moon; running and climbing, they sometimes caught a firefly. But if one grow to a man’s mind, that mind must see that it cannot have the moon and would not want it if it could - and so, it catches no fireflies.”

“He is still a little boy and wants the moon. I suppose he is rather unhappy about it. Those who say children are happy, forget their childhood.”

“What makes boys grow to men? What circumstance rots out their wing roots?”

[Jo Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't even BEGIN to say enough about this book! It starts wonderfully, lags a bit, then finishes with Steinbeck awesomeness!! Henry Morgan is probably the most famous English pirate to ever sail! It would be fair to say that the romanticizing of pirates in movies and stories also came partially from the story of his life. In Cup of Gold, Steinbeck takes that life and turns it into a tale that captivates..The story of young Henry feeling the call of the sea; the joining of himself to other pirates; the search for the most sought after woman in the world; and finally the conquering of Panama! Old Henry does not feel the same about the world, but more importantly, he does not feel the same about himself. We see the Henry of all ages as he strives for something he cannot name, but can't seem to stop chasing! I highly recommend this book! I almost wish that I didn't know that Steinbeck had to balance biography and historical fiction to concoct this beautiful tale!

[Angeliki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steinbeck Year 2016 Book 1

Cup of Gold was an awkward book. Trying to combine the history of captain Morgan with the Holy Grail was a funny idea. But you can still see something of what is to follow in this little novel.
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“He has come to be the great man he thought he wanted to be. If this is true, then he is not a man. He is still a little boy and wants the moon.”

“Why do men like me want sons?" he wondered. "It must be because they hope in their poor beaten souls that these new men, who are their blood, will do the things they were not strong enough nor wise enough nor brave enough to do. It is rather like another chance at life; like a new bag of coins at a table of luck after your fortune is gone.”

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bawdy and rather pointless adventure tale smeared with all the sexism and racism you would expect from sensationalist writing in the twenties. It's interesting that this was Steinbeck's first novel. The singularly best part of the book was the opening paragraph, composed with Steinbeck's exceptional gift for descriptive writing.

"All afternoon the wind sifted out of the black Welsh glens, crying out notice that Winter was come sliding down over the world from the Pole; and riverward there was the faint moaning of new ice. It was a sad day, a day of gray unrest, of discontent. The gently moving air seemed to be celebrating the loss of some gay thing with a soft, tender elegy. But in the pastures great work horses nervously stamped their feet, and all through the country small brown birds, in cliques of four or five, flew twittering from tree to tree and back again, seeking and calling in recruits for their southing. A few goats clambered to the tops of high lone rocks and long stared upward with their yellow eyes and sniffed the heavens."

Unfortunately, nothing else in the book rises to meet this evocative opening.

[piperitapitta · Rating 3 out of 5]

A vele ammainate

Di pirati e terre da conquistare: John Steinbeck (questo il suo primo romanzo) racconta la vita romanzata di Henry Morgan, pirata inglese del XVII secolo, che dal Galles partì fanciullo per il continente, solcò i mari alla conquista di Panama e infine fu nominato baronetto del Regno Unito e governatore della Giamaica.
Alcune descrizioni, mirabili, lasciano presagire lo Steinbeck che verrà e che amo, ma resta in ogni caso uno dei miei romanzi "spreferiti" fra quelli di uno degli autori che più amo.

[Terri Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge Steinbeck fan and have been for ages but this one disappointed me terribly. I didn't hate it but I felt that this-Steinbeck's very first novel-wasn't great in any aspect! Fortunately, after this first highly forgettable novel, Steinbeck improved his writing and became a superstar of literary classics that we came to know and love.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wondrous first novel by Steinbeck. Great introduction to the 1936 copy...

[Ana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not for me. It has neither swashbuckling, nor romance and lets not get started on the way it talks about colonialism and people of color. Would recommend only to Steinbeck die-hards.