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Well in this short report on John Steinbeck I am about to include all of the
work that I have done in this class Including my full report on one of his
books, a little background on Mr. Steinbeck and many other things, All out of
the mind and the computer of Jeremy Slaven. An American author and winner of the
1962 Nobel Prize for literature, John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr., b. Salinas, Calif.,
Feb. 27, 1902, d. Dec. 20, 1968, based most of his novels on the American
experience, often with sympathetic focus on the poor, the eccentric, or the
dispossessed. Steinbeck grew up in Salinas Valley, a rich agricultural area of
Monterey County and the setting of many of his works, where he learned firsthand
of the difficulties of farm laborers. From 1919 to 1925 he studied
intermittently at Stanford University but did not receive a degree. His early
novels (Cup of Gold, 1929; The Pastures of Heaven, 1932; and To a God Unknown,
1933) aroused little public interest. The latter novel, however, a mystical
story of self-sacrifice, is one of Steinbeck's strongest statements about the
relationship between people and the land. Steinbeck turned to filmmaking after
the film success of The Grapes of Wrath.
He wrote impressive screenplays for the
Mexican-based The Forgotten Village (1941) and Viva Zapata! (1952), as well as
film scripts for his stories The Red Pony (1938) and The Pearl (1947). Another
novel and play, The Moon Is Down (1942), about the German invasion of Norway,
won critical praise. After World War II, in which he served as a war
correspondent, Steinbeck wrote increasingly about social outcasts. Cannery Row
(1945) relates the story of a group of vagabonds on the Monterey coast. The
Wayward Bus (1947) presents a morality tale about characters who supposedly
represent middle-class society. Burning Bright (1950) preached universal
brotherhood but was largely unsuccessful. Steinbeck devoted several years to his
most ambitious project, East of Eden (1952; film, 1955), which paralleled the
history of his mother's family and was an allegorical modernization of the
biblical story of Adam. Subsequent novels proved anticlimactic--Sweet Thursday
(1954), a sentimental sequel to Cannery Row; The Short Reign of Pippin IV
(1957), a burlesque; and The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), a moralistic tale
about a decaying Long Island seaport. Steinbeck wrote popular sketches of his
travels in Once There Was a War (1958), Travels with Charley (1962), and America
and Americans (1966). He spent many of his later years writing a modern version
of Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, which was published, incomplete and
posthumously, as The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976). He has
remained popular principally, however, for his compassionate portrayal of
America's forgotten poor.(griolers) The works of Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath
(1939) by U.S. novelist John Steinbeck is one of the most powerful chronicles in
American literature of the Depression of the 1930s. It deals with the Joads, a
family that loses its farm through foreclosure and leaves the Oklahoma Dust Bowl
for California in the hope of finding work. The eldest generation has the
comfort of religion, the next one has a dogged perseverance, but the youngest
has little to believe in. Embittered by the brutal exploitation of migrant
workers, Tom, who had been jailed for murder and who later kills again, becomes
a labor organizer. In this Pulitzer Prize-winning (1940) novel, Steinbeck
alternates his narrative with serious discussion of the problems of migrant
laborers.(Groliers) Of Mice and Men (1937; film, 1939), a short novel by John
Steinbeck set in Salinas, Calif., has been called Steinbeck's most successful
work. The novel deals with two migrant workers: Lennie, a physically powerful
but mentally retarded giant, and George, his friend and protector. They share
the dream of someday buying a farm together. The dream is shattered when Lennie
accidentally kills the wife of a rich farmer and is then sought by a lynch mob.
He and George tenderly recall their dream just before George shoots Lennie to
save him from the crueler death he will inevitably face at the hands of the mob.
The book established Steinbeck as a writer of distinction. It was made into a
play shortly after publication. These are just a few of his most well recognized
works. (Grolier's) My report on of mice and men The book that I have read that
has really stayed with me is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I really enjoyed
reading it, which is unusual, because I usually don't enjoy reading too much.
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