John Steinbeck Summary

Steinbeck, John (1902-1968) A native Californian, writer John Steinbeck built his career on stories based primarily in Northern and Central California, around his hometown of Salinas, near Monterey. B... Read more

Biography EssayThrough a career which spanned four decades, John Steinbeck was a novelist of people. His best books are about ordinary men and women, simple souls who do battle against dehumanizing so... Read more

"I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature." With this declaration, John Steinbeck accepted the Nobel Prize... Read more

Throughout a career which spanned four decades, John Steinbeck was a novelist of people. His best books are about ordinary men and women, simple souls who do battle against dehumanizing social forces ... Read more

John Steinbeck may not be known for his work as a nature writer, at least in the sense of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, or Annie Dillard, but much of his work develops character... Read more

In the following essay, Schmidt offers a reappraisal of “Breakfast,” contrasting the story with a similar passage found in Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. When John Stei... Read more

In the following essay, Hearle asserts that the “discourses that are dialogically opposed to one another in The Pastures of Heaven represent variations on two competing perspectives—rura... Read more

In the following essay, Ditsky explores the depiction of women in several stories from The Long Valley. During the period in which John Steinbeck wrote the three Depression novels that are the spec... Read more

In the following essay, Shaw relates the origins and offers a thematic and stylistic analysis of the four stories that comprise The Red Pony. I. Background The Red Pony consists of four short stori... Read more

In the following essay, Spilka views “The Murder” as “a splendidly sexist example of social attitudes in fiction that reflect and extend our sanctioned prejudices about domestic v... Read more

In the following essay, Etheridge deems the Cain and Abel myth as central to the stories in The Red Pony. John Steinbeck once handed his friend Jules Buck a Bible and said, “I'm givin... Read more

Critical Essay by Edmund Wilson [Mr. Steinbeck's] virtuosity in a purely technical way has tended to obscure his themes. He has published eight volumes of fiction, which represent a variety of... Read more

Critical Essay by John S. Kennedy [Steinbeck's] first nine works were markedly different one from another in matter and tone and style. He shifted sharply and with a show of ease from costume ... Read more

Critical Essay by Peter Lisca In one of the little essays Steinbeck did for the Saturday Review in 1955, "Some thoughts on Juvenile Delinquency," he writes as follows concerning the rel... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Murray Davis Steinbeck critics have either ignored "The Murder," refusing it even the attention of condemnation, or treated it very gingerly because on the surf... Read more

Critical Essay by Dan Vogel More than a mere allegory, "Flight" reveals characteristics of myth and tragedy. A myth is a story that tries to explain some practice, belief, institution, ... Read more

In the following essay, Owens draws attention to Steinbeck's effort to evoke sympathy for the Joad family without sentimentalizing their plight. According to Owens, Steinbeck incorporates panor... Read more

The Great Depression was a period of struggle and anguish for citizens across the United States of America. Nevertheless the most alarming phase in American history produced some great artists, one o... Read more

John Steinbeck uses the theme that greed can do bad things people. In the books The Pearl, Of Mice and Men, and The Red Pony he uses events in his writing to prove his point. Kino is obsessed with k... Read more

The Life of John Steinbeck The author John Steinbeck faced many obstacles and accomplishments during his education and his career as an author. John Ernst Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California ... Read more

Capitalist-Communist Clash Even though John Steinbeck was very patriotic, many perceived him as a communist. This was because in his book, In Dubious Battle, he portrays two men, Mac and Jim, who a... Read more