Hey, Hypothetical Reader! Wanna talk about Steinbeck!
Oh? Thomas Steinbeck, the author of two novels and a collection of stories?
Be serious, we're gonna talk about his dad, Nobel laureate, chronicler of the Great Depression, extraordinary describer of California, and someone who's made me cry: John Steinbeck.
Oh, like in the style of Lucas Blogs About Dick from last year?
Yeah, but I think it's more of a Hey, Hypothetical Reader! kinda thing going forward.
All right, let's dive in!
Okay, so John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (1902-1968) is probably best known to American public school students for novels that have become assigned reading standards like Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden. Themes that run throughout his work include the beauty of the California landscape and the ugliness of living in poverty in America. In addition to well known novels he was a prolific writer of non-fiction and served as a war correspondent in both World War II and the Vietnam War. He had a number of screenwriting credits and many of his novels have been adapted into films.
Okay, enough of that bio malarky, let's get into the meat of it: John Steinbeck is an over-rated hack.
What?
That's right, the committee awarding the Nobel for Literature felt that he was the best of a bad bunch of nominees.
But if they really thought him undeserving, they could have elected not to give the award to anyone that year.
Hmph! WELL! You know that Travels with Charley is largely fictitious, right?
Yes, I do. Umm, by the way, the author of that article sure is pretty self-congratulatory.
Yeah, I probably shouldn't have picked the first link I found, huh?
Oh well. But what do you have against John Steinbeck?
Well, you know, you were forced to read him in school, weren't you?
Yeah, and I'll admit that I didn't really care for The Grapes of Wrath (I should probably take another crack at that sometime), but East of Eden is a masterpiece. It made me cry. And I've enjoyed a lot of his other works as well.
You don't think he's more than a little sentimental and hectoring?
He can be, yes, but I've also found that his books are profoundly moving. Even Travels with Charley, for all that it's not truly a work of non-fiction, is a beautifully written, heartfelt book. He also manages to inject humor into his books without undercutting the emotional beats. Like in East of Eden when the Trasks learn how to drive a Model T or when Steinbeck's mother "wins" a flight in an airplane.
And that's another thing, what's the deal with all the Hamilton/Steinbeck family history in East of Eden anyway?
Family is one of the major themes of the novel. It's not just about Charles' cruelty to Adam or Cal's cruelty to Aron or Cathy's alienation from her children. It's also about how Tom's siblings don't recognize or even ignore the warning signs leading up to his suicide and how Samuel eventually relents and moves into his daughter's house in the city even though leaving the farm kills him inside. It's all of those things. Steinbeck's dedication even says that the novel contains nearly everything he has.
So it tries to be all things to all people?
I wouldn't say that, but it is a novel that tries to encompass as large a part of the human experience as possible, and honestly, I don't see the thematic disconnect between the Trask family narrative and the Hamilton family narrative that several of my 11th grade English classmates did.
Well, maybe you're the one that's wrong.
It's possible. But if you want to deliberately overlook the fact that East of Eden is a towering literary achievement, I guess all I can say to you is," Timshel!"
Wow, you're really banking on the fact that anyone reading this has also read East of Eden, aren't you?
I guess so, but people have had 67 years to read it by now.
Okay, so what criticisms of Steinbeck do you have?
Well, he can be kind of a downer.
That's putting it mildly. I mean, look at the ending of The Pearl or Tortilla Flat. I suppose we could say that East of Eden has one of his more upbeat endings, but I wouldn't say that it's particularly happy.
But then again, since many of his works are railing against the ways that society treat the poor, the working class, and even people who just don't quite fit in, I guess his works would have —
Ugh, you're trying to pull the old, his weakness was really a strength trick?
Look, Steinbeck is one of the authors I love, his works are unapologetically sentimental and political and, at times, they can even be a little messy. They are also works of profound beauty that I would unabashedly recommend to friends and strangers (indeed that is a thing I have done), and my life as a reader has been greatly enriched by them. If that's not the case for you, that's fine, but you're wrong.
Oh, so you can make an unalloyed recommendation.
Links:
Here's the website for the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, it's pretty cool, they've got his Rocinante camper from Travels with Charley on display. John Steinbeck would have hated the whole thing.
Be serious, we're gonna talk about his dad, Nobel laureate, chronicler of the Great Depression, extraordinary describer of California, and someone who's made me cry: John Steinbeck.
 |
| A (semi-representative) sampling of the works of John Steinbeck. |
Oh, like in the style of Lucas Blogs About Dick from last year?
Yeah, but I think it's more of a Hey, Hypothetical Reader! kinda thing going forward.
All right, let's dive in!
Okay, so John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (1902-1968) is probably best known to American public school students for novels that have become assigned reading standards like Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden. Themes that run throughout his work include the beauty of the California landscape and the ugliness of living in poverty in America. In addition to well known novels he was a prolific writer of non-fiction and served as a war correspondent in both World War II and the Vietnam War. He had a number of screenwriting credits and many of his novels have been adapted into films.
Okay, enough of that bio malarky, let's get into the meat of it: John Steinbeck is an over-rated hack.
What?
That's right, the committee awarding the Nobel for Literature felt that he was the best of a bad bunch of nominees.
But if they really thought him undeserving, they could have elected not to give the award to anyone that year.
Hmph! WELL! You know that Travels with Charley is largely fictitious, right?
Yes, I do. Umm, by the way, the author of that article sure is pretty self-congratulatory.
Yeah, I probably shouldn't have picked the first link I found, huh?
Oh well. But what do you have against John Steinbeck?
Well, you know, you were forced to read him in school, weren't you?
Yeah, and I'll admit that I didn't really care for The Grapes of Wrath (I should probably take another crack at that sometime), but East of Eden is a masterpiece. It made me cry. And I've enjoyed a lot of his other works as well.
You don't think he's more than a little sentimental and hectoring?
He can be, yes, but I've also found that his books are profoundly moving. Even Travels with Charley, for all that it's not truly a work of non-fiction, is a beautifully written, heartfelt book. He also manages to inject humor into his books without undercutting the emotional beats. Like in East of Eden when the Trasks learn how to drive a Model T or when Steinbeck's mother "wins" a flight in an airplane.
And that's another thing, what's the deal with all the Hamilton/Steinbeck family history in East of Eden anyway?
Family is one of the major themes of the novel. It's not just about Charles' cruelty to Adam or Cal's cruelty to Aron or Cathy's alienation from her children. It's also about how Tom's siblings don't recognize or even ignore the warning signs leading up to his suicide and how Samuel eventually relents and moves into his daughter's house in the city even though leaving the farm kills him inside. It's all of those things. Steinbeck's dedication even says that the novel contains nearly everything he has.
So it tries to be all things to all people?
I wouldn't say that, but it is a novel that tries to encompass as large a part of the human experience as possible, and honestly, I don't see the thematic disconnect between the Trask family narrative and the Hamilton family narrative that several of my 11th grade English classmates did.
Well, maybe you're the one that's wrong.
It's possible. But if you want to deliberately overlook the fact that East of Eden is a towering literary achievement, I guess all I can say to you is," Timshel!"
Wow, you're really banking on the fact that anyone reading this has also read East of Eden, aren't you?
I guess so, but people have had 67 years to read it by now.
Okay, so what criticisms of Steinbeck do you have?
Well, he can be kind of a downer.
That's putting it mildly. I mean, look at the ending of The Pearl or Tortilla Flat. I suppose we could say that East of Eden has one of his more upbeat endings, but I wouldn't say that it's particularly happy.
But then again, since many of his works are railing against the ways that society treat the poor, the working class, and even people who just don't quite fit in, I guess his works would have —
Ugh, you're trying to pull the old, his weakness was really a strength trick?
Look, Steinbeck is one of the authors I love, his works are unapologetically sentimental and political and, at times, they can even be a little messy. They are also works of profound beauty that I would unabashedly recommend to friends and strangers (indeed that is a thing I have done), and my life as a reader has been greatly enriched by them. If that's not the case for you, that's fine, but you're wrong.
Oh, so you can make an unalloyed recommendation.
Links:
Here's the website for the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, it's pretty cool, they've got his Rocinante camper from Travels with Charley on display. John Steinbeck would have hated the whole thing.
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