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John Steinbeck's Fiction Revisited
Twaynes United States Authors Series presents concise critical introductions to great writers and their works. Devoted to critical interpretation and discussion of an authors work, each study takes account of major literary trends and important scholarly contributions and provides new critical insights with an original point of view. An Authors Series volumeaddresses readers ranging from advanced high school students to university professors. The book suggests to the informed reader new ways of considering a writers work. A reader new to the work under examination will, after reading the Authors Series, be compelled to turn to the originals, bringing to the reading a basic knowledge and fresh critical perspectives. Each volume
Hardcover
First published June 8, 1994
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May 11, 2021
This book covers the career of Steinbeck, not necessarily his personal life, and is a thorough dissection of each of his works, with pauses to recognize the notable milestones of success and disappointment that even a Nobel laureate has to contend with.
After a string of minor works (his first three novels were remaindered as each publisher went bankrupt!) Steinbeck won national attention with Tortilla Flat in 1935, followed shortly by Of Mice and Men in 1937, and his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 that won the Pulitzer Prize. Fame was assured after that, with access to the President of United States and other centres of influence. But with fame also came the loss of his creative power, for he subsided into a series of forgettable books, even writing war propaganda with Bombs Away, Lifeboat, and The Moon is Down, until Cannery Row in 1945 showed some of his former promise; and then the long slide into irrelevance, despite snagging the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
He had a disappointing career in Hollywood, where many of his projects and scripts were overshadowed or scrapped for the wrong reasons. Even his autobiographical novel, East of Eden (1952), also made into a movie and written towards the end of his career, did not make the impact he expected because by that time his writing had turned to extreme moralizing. Steinbeck was harshly viewed and dissected by critics who either expected him to write more of the same books that had made him famous – his depictions of the underprivileged in the Salinas Valley – or expected him to capture the zeitgeist all the time. For his part, Steinbeck was trying to further his art, and experimented, often discarding projects that held no promise to him. And as for the zeitgeist, he lost that connection after the war, and his portrayal of the characters populating The Wayward Bus (1947) showed just how far out of touch he had become. He did start another career as a journalist after the war and enjoyed success again, but that part is not covered in this book which only deals with his fiction.
Steinbeck’s archetypal hero is Tom Joad – the man who does not conform to society and lives by his own rules, and yet the fame he acquired from the writing of those very novels about characters like the Joads, moved him to the other side, where fame obscured the artist. He looked up to the Beat generation of writers who came after him, for he could never express himself as boldly as they did.
Steinbeck is summed up as a pre-war Naturalistic writer who portrayed, successfully, the confused and the defeated, rather than dramatizing intellectual solutions to moral dilemmas.
After a string of minor works (his first three novels were remaindered as each publisher went bankrupt!) Steinbeck won national attention with Tortilla Flat in 1935, followed shortly by Of Mice and Men in 1937, and his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 that won the Pulitzer Prize. Fame was assured after that, with access to the President of United States and other centres of influence. But with fame also came the loss of his creative power, for he subsided into a series of forgettable books, even writing war propaganda with Bombs Away, Lifeboat, and The Moon is Down, until Cannery Row in 1945 showed some of his former promise; and then the long slide into irrelevance, despite snagging the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
He had a disappointing career in Hollywood, where many of his projects and scripts were overshadowed or scrapped for the wrong reasons. Even his autobiographical novel, East of Eden (1952), also made into a movie and written towards the end of his career, did not make the impact he expected because by that time his writing had turned to extreme moralizing. Steinbeck was harshly viewed and dissected by critics who either expected him to write more of the same books that had made him famous – his depictions of the underprivileged in the Salinas Valley – or expected him to capture the zeitgeist all the time. For his part, Steinbeck was trying to further his art, and experimented, often discarding projects that held no promise to him. And as for the zeitgeist, he lost that connection after the war, and his portrayal of the characters populating The Wayward Bus (1947) showed just how far out of touch he had become. He did start another career as a journalist after the war and enjoyed success again, but that part is not covered in this book which only deals with his fiction.
Steinbeck’s archetypal hero is Tom Joad – the man who does not conform to society and lives by his own rules, and yet the fame he acquired from the writing of those very novels about characters like the Joads, moved him to the other side, where fame obscured the artist. He looked up to the Beat generation of writers who came after him, for he could never express himself as boldly as they did.
Steinbeck is summed up as a pre-war Naturalistic writer who portrayed, successfully, the confused and the defeated, rather than dramatizing intellectual solutions to moral dilemmas.
February 10, 2020
Did a lot of Steinbeck research this past few weeks - basically took out everything they had at my library. Warren French seemed to have a strong dislike for Steinbeck personally, and a dislike for his works. Why did he want to write a book about Steinbeck in the first place? I read the first 25 pages or so, and gave up. It did not address the issues I was looking for, and it wasn't enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews