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John Ernst Steinbeck III (February 27, 1902
– December 20, 1968) was one of the most famous American writers of the
20th century. A winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, he is
best known for his novella Of Mice and Men (1937) and his Pulitzer
Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), both of which examine
the lives of the working class during the Great Depression.
Steinbeck wrote in the naturalist style, often
about poor working-class people, and his body of work reflects his wide range of
interests, including marine biology, jazz, politics, philosophy, history, and
myth.
Seventeen of his works, including Cannery Row
(1945) and The Pearl (1947), went on to become Hollywood films, and Steinbeck
himself achieved success as a Hollywood writer, garnering an Academy Award
nomination for Best Writing for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, in 1945. In
recognition of Steinbeck's work with marine biologist Ed Ricketts, a sea slug
species, Eubranchus steinbecki, was named after him in 1987.
****
Biography
Early life and work
Steinbeck was born to John Steinbeck (a
first-generation American of German descent, whose family name was originally
Grossteinbeck), and Olive Steinbeck (née Hamilton) (also a first-generation
American, but of Scots-Irish descent) in Salinas, California. He had three (3)
sisters: two older and one younger. Steinbeck's father worked in county
government as a treasurer, and Steinbeck's mother was a teacher.
Steinbeck enrolled in Stanford University in 1919
and attended until 1925, but dropped out and moved to New York City, where he
labored at various jobs, including as a construction worker while developing his
skills as a freelance writer. He was unable to find a publisher, and returned to
California.
Steinbeck's first novel, published in 1929, was the
unsuccessful mythological Cup of Gold. He married Carol Henning in 1930 and
while he continued to write, he also cared for his ailing parents—his mother
died in 1934, and his father in 1935. Steinbeck achieved his first critical
success with the novel Tortilla Flat, which won the California Commonwealth
Club's Gold Medal. The story of the adventures of young men in Monterey during
the Great Depression was made into a film of the same name in 1942, starring
Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, and John Garfield.
Political views increasingly influenced Steinbeck's
writing. Carol Henning was a Marxist who took him to radical political meetings
in San Francisco and the couple visited the Soviet Union in 1937, a common
voyage of American liberal intellectuals hoping to view the successes of the
world's foremost communist power. She registered as a member of the United
States Communist Party, reportedly over Steinbeck's objections.
Marriages and children
Steinbeck separated with Henning in 1941 and moved
to New York with Gwyndolyn Conger. His divorce from Henning was finalized in
1942. In 1943 Steinbeck married Conger, and the couple had two sons: Thomas
"Thom" Steinbeck who was born August 2, 1944, and John Steinbeck IV who was born
June 12, 1946. Conger and
Thomas Steinbeck is a fiction writer who lives on
the Central Coast of California and who has published a collection of stories,
Down to a Soundless Sea (2003, ISBN 0345455770) as well as numerous screenplays.
Emmy Award Journalist, Author - John Steinbeck IV
(June 12, 1946 - February 7, 1991), was the second child of the Nobel prize
winning author, John Steinbeck and Gwyndolyn Conger Steinbeck. John shared an
Emmy Award in 1967-1968 for his work in Vietnam on the documentary film"Charlie
Company". During his lifetime, he published one book, "In Touch". He was haunted
by a life-long battle with alcoholism and drug addiction, but was sober for the
last three years of his life. John Steinbeck IV died in San Diego, California on
February 7, 1991 after complications resulting from back surgery at the age of
44. His wife, Nancy, published his posthumous memoirs in a book called "The
Other Side of Eden" in 2001. The story follows the journey through her husband's
trials and tribulations as the child of a famous father, his experiences in
Vietnam as a soldier and journalist, and his battle with addiction, as she
weaves the story of their love affair amongst his writing. Publisher's Weekly
says "This is a powerful account of healing and liberation. This book will help
many people."
Actress Ava Gardner introduced Steinbeck to Elaine
Anderson Scott at a dinner party, and John married Elaine in December of 1950
within a week after her divorce from actor Zachary Scott became final. Elaine
survived John.
Critical success
Back in California, Steinbeck found his stride in
writing "California novels" and Dust Bowl fiction, set among common people in
the Great Depression. His socially-conscious novels about the struggles of rural
workers achieved major critical success. Of Mice and Men, his novella about the
dreams of a pair of migrant laborers working the California soil, was critically
acclaimed. Broadway producer Sam H. Harris approached Steinbeck to adapt his own
novella as a stage play, although Steinbeck had no previous experience as a
playwright, and did not consider himself up to the task. Harris also engaged
veteran director George S. Kaufman to direct the play, as yet unwritten. It was
Kaufman who guided and encouraged Steinbeck all through the process of adapting
his novella for the stage. Because Steinbeck would ultimately write only two
stage plays (his second was an adaptation of The Moon Is Down), and because
Kaufman was an experienced playwright, it is often assumed that Kaufman was
Steinbeck's uncredited co-author. However, correspondence between Steinbeck and
Kaufman verifies that the revisions were entirely done by Steinbeck.
The stage adaptation was a smash hit, starring
Broderick Crawford as the dim-witted but physically powerful itinerant farmhand
"Lennie" and Wallace Ford as his cousin and companion "George". However,
Steinbeck refused to travel from his home in California to attend any
performance of the play during its New York run, telling Kaufman that the play
as it existed in his own mind was "perfect", and that anything presented onstage
would inevitably be a disappointment.
The play was rapidly adapted into a 1939 Hollywood
film, in which Lon Chaney Jr. gave a standout performance as "Lennie" (he had
already portrayed this role in the Los Angeles production of the play) and
Burgess Meredith was cast as "George." Steinbeck followed this wave of success
with The Grapes of Wrath, (1939), based on newspaper articles he had written in
San Francisco, and considered by many to be his finest work. The novel won the
Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1940 even as it was made into a famous film
version starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford.
The success of The Grapes of Wrath, however, was
not free of controversy, as Steinbeck's liberal political views, portrayal of
the ugly side of capitalism, and mythical reinterpretation of the historical
events of the Dust Bowl migrations led to backlash against the author,
especially close to home. Of the controversy, Steinbeck himself wrote, "The
vilification of me out here from the large landowners and bankers is pretty bad.
The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hate me and have threatened
to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this
damned thing, It is completely out of hand ; I mean a kind of hysteria about the
book is growing that is not healthy."
The film versions of The Grapes of Wrath and Of
Mice and Men (by two different movie studios) were in production simultaneously,
and Steinbeck had the immensely satisfying experience of spending a full day on
the set of The Grapes of Wrath, then spending the next day on the set of Of Mice
and Men.
1940s–1960s
In 1940, Steinbeck's interest in marine biology and
his friendship with Ed Ricketts led him to voyage in the Gulf of California,
also known as the "Sea of Cortez," where they collected biological specimens.
Their account of this trip was later published as The Log from the Sea of
Cortez, and describes the daily experiences of the trip as well]
During the Second World War, Steinbeck served as a
war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune.
He continued to work in film, writing Alfred
Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944), and the film A Medal for Benny (1945), about
paisanos from Tortilla Flat going to war.
His novel The Moon is Down (1942), about the
Socrates-inspired spirit of resistance in a Nazi-occupied village in northern
Europe, was made into a film almost immediately. It is presumed that the country
in question was Norway, and in 1945 Steinbeck received the Haakon VII Medal of
freedom for his literary contributions to the Norwegian resistance movement.
After the war, he wrote The Pearl (1947), already
knowing it would be filmed, and traveled to Mexico for the filming; on this trip
he would be inspired by the story of Emiliano Zapata, and wrote a film script
that was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn.
In 1948 Steinbeck again toured the Soviet Union,
together with renowned photographer Robert Capa. In the same year he was also
elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Following the success of Viva Zapata!, Steinbeck
collaborated with Kazan on East of Eden, James Dean's film debut.
Steinbeck was a friend to Presidents John F.
Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for
Literature for his “realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does
sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” In his acceptance speech, he
said,
"the writer is delegated to declare and to
celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit – for
gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war
against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of
emulation. I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the
perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature."
In 1964, Steinbeck was awarded the United States
Medal of Freedom by President Johnson.
Legacy
The Salinas, California area, including the Salinas
Valley, Monterey, and parts of the nearby San Joaquin Valley, acted as a setting
for many of his stories. Because of his feeling for local color, the area is now
sometimes called "Steinbeck Country".
The day after Steinbeck's death in New York City,
reviewer Charles Poore wrote in the New York Times: "John Steinbeck's first
great book was his last great book. But Good Lord, what a book that was and is:
The Grapes of Wrath." Poore noted a "preachiness" in Steinbeck's work, "as if
half his literary inheritance came from the best of Mark Twain—and the other
half from the worst of Cotton Mather." But he asserted that "Steinbeck didn't
need the Nobel Prize—the Nobel judges needed him." Poore concluded: "His place
in [U. S.] literature is secure. And it lives on in the works of innumerable
writers who learned from him how to present the forgotten man unforgettably."
Political views
Steinbeck's literary background brought him into
close collaboration with leftist authors, journalists, and labor union figures,
who may have influenced his writing. Steinbeck was mentored by radical writers
Lincoln Steffens and his wife Ella Winter, and through Francis Whitaker, a
member of the United States Communist Party’s John Reed Club for writers,
Steinbeck met with strike organizers from the Cannery and Agricultural Workers'
Industrial Union.
While definitely sympathetic to the political left,
Steinbeck's politics were considerably more ambivalent than those of some of his
admirers. A fierce individualist, Steinbeck once stated "socialism is just
another form of religion, and thus delusional."
Although the FBI never officially investigated him,
Steinbeck did come to their attention because of his political beliefs, and he
was screened by Army Intelligence during World War II to determine his
suitability for an officer's commission. They found him ideologically
unqualified. "Do you suppose you could ask Edgar's boys to stop stepping on my
heels? They think I am an enemy alien. It is getting tiresome," Steinbeck wrote
to Attorney General Francis Biddle, in 1942.
In later years, he would be criticized from the
left by those who accused him of insufficient ideological commitment to
Socialism. In 1948 a women's socialist group in Rome, Italy condemned Steinbeck
for converting to "the camp of war and anti-Marxism.", and in 1955 an article in
the Daily Worker criticized Steinbeck's portrayal of the American Left. In 1967,
Steinbeck traveled to Vietnam to report on the war, and his sympathetic portrait
of the United States Army caused the New York Post to denounce him for betraying
his liberal past.
Works
East of Eden
Steinbeck turned his attention from social
injustice to human psychology, in a Salinas Valley saga loosely patterned on the
Garden of Eden story. The story follows two families: the Hamiltons--based on
Steinbeck's own maternal ancestrage--and the Trasks--a reimagined version of the
"first family." The book was published in 1952.
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath was written in 1939 and won
the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. The book is set in the Great Depression and
describes a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their land
due to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The title is a reference to the Battle
Hymn of the Republic. The book was made into a film in 1940 starring Henry Fonda
and directed by John Ford.
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men is a tragedy that was written in
the form of a novella in 1937. The story is about two traveling farm workers,
George and Lennie, trying to work up enough money to buy their own farm. It
encompasses themes of racism, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the
struggle for personal independence.
The Pearl
The Pearl is another novella that tells the story
about a poor diver named Kino who finds the largest pearl anyone has ever seen.
He wishes to use the money to pay for a doctor to treat his son's scorpion
sting. His dream for a better life for his family leads to greed, obsession and
ultimately, inevitable tragedy.
Full bibliography
Cup of Gold: A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer,
With Occasional Reference to History 1929
The Pastures of Heaven 1932
The Red Pony 1933
To a God Unknown 1933
Tortilla Flat 1935
In Dubious Battle 1936 The title is a reference to
John Milton's "Paradise Lost."
The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of
Wrath [newspaper articles, 1936]
Of Mice and Men 1937 The title is a reference to
the Robert Burns poem "To a Mouse."
The Long Valley 1938
The Chrysanthemums 1938
The Grapes of Wrath 1939 The title is a reference
to the American Civil War song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Forgotten Village 1941
Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and
Research 1941 with Edward F. Ricketts.
The Moon Is Down 1942 The title is a reference to
William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth"
Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team 1942
Cannery Row 1945
The Pearl 1947
The Wayward Bus 1947
A Russian Journal 1948 with Robert Capa as
photographer
Burning Bright: A Play in Story Form 1950
Log from the Sea of Cortez 1951
East of Eden 1952 The title is a reference to the
Bible, specifically Genesis 4:16.
Sweet Thursday 1954
The Short Reign of Pippin IV 1957
Once There Was A War 1958
The Winter of Our Discontent 1961 The title is a
reference to the William Shakespeare play "Richard the Third".
Travels With Charley: In Search of America 1962 (a
semi-documentary work about his late-life car trip, with his poodle Charley,
around the United States.)
America and Americans 1966
Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters 1969
Viva Zapata! the Original Screenplay 1975
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights 1976
Working Days: The Journals of the Grapes of Wrath
1938–1941 1989
Film credits
1939 – Of Mice and Men – directed by Lewis
Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field
1940 – The Grapes of Wrath – directed by John Ford,
featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
1941 – The Forgotten Village – directed by Herbert
Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith
1942 – Tortilla Flat – directed by Victor Fleming,
featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield
1943 – The Moon is Down – directed by Irving Pichel,
featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke
1944 – Lifeboat – directed by Alfred Hitchcock,
featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak
1944 – A Medal for Benny – directed by Irving
Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova
1947 – La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico) – directed by
Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués
1949 – The Red Pony – directed by Lewis Milestone,
featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern
1952 – Viva Zapata! – directed by Elia Kazan,
featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters
1955 – East of Eden – directed by Elia Kazan,
featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey
1956 – The Wayward Bus – directed by Victor Vicas,
featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins
1961 – Flight – featuring Efrain Ramírez and
Arnelia Cortez
1962 – Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)
1972 – Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)
1982 – Cannery Row – directed by David S. Ward,
featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger
Trivia
To symbolize himself, Steinbeck used the stamp of a
Pigasus, a flying pig, and the phrase Ad Astra Per Alia Porci (To the stars on
wings of pigs.)
In recognition of Steinbeck's work with marine
biologist Ed Ricketts, a sea slug species, Eubranchus steinbecki, was named
after him in 1987.
Bruce Springsteen's song and album The Ghost of Tom
Joad are written with reference to the character in The Grapes of Wrath, as is
Woody Guthrie's "Tom Joad."
The Beach Boys' song California Saga contains the
lines "Have you ever been down Salinas way? / Where Steinbeck found the valley /
And he wrote about it the way it was in his travelin's with Charley".
According to Travels With Charley, Steinbeck was
six feet tall. He had blue eyes and habitually wore a moustache. In later years,
he sported a goatee.
According to biographer Jay Parini, Steinbeck
described himself politically as an FDR Democrat.
According to Patrick Robertson in The Guinness Book
of Film Records, the film version of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was dubbed
into Russian and broadcast on television in the Soviet Union, in an attempt by
the Soviet government to convince Soviet citizens that the (impoverished) Joad
family were typical Americans, and that the poverty conditions in the Dust Bowl
were an accurate depiction of the U.S. economy. This plan backfired: most of the
Soviet viewers envied the Joad family, who (by Soviet standards) were wealthy!
****
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