John Steinbeck

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 most well-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.

Biography

Early life and work

Steinbeck was born to German-American John and Irish-American Olive Steinbeck in Salinas, California. He had three sisters: two older and one younger. Steinbeck's father worked in county government, and Steinbeck's mother was a teacher.

Related Topics:
German-American - Irish-American - Salinas - California

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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.

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Stanford University - 1919 - 1925 - New York City - Freelance writer

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Steinbeck's first novel, published in 1929, was the unsuccessful mythological '. 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.

Related Topics:
1929 - 1930 - 1934 - 1935 - Tortilla Flat - Great Depression - 1942 - Spencer Tracy - Hedy Lamarr - John Garfield

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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.http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/steinbeck1.html

Related Topics:
Marxist - San Francisco - Soviet Union - 1937 - Communist - United States Communist Party

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Marriages and children

Steinback 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 Steinbeck divorced in 1948.

Related Topics:
1941 - New York - 1942 - 1943 - Thomas "Thom" Steinbeck - August 2 - 1944 - John Steinbeck IV - June 12 - 1946 - 1948

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• John Steinbeck IV was a journalist who received an Emmy Award for his reporting during the Vietnam War, was also heavily involved in drug trafficking and the consumption of narcotics, and was once arrested and charged with "maintaining a public nuisance" after having been found with 20 pounds (9 kg) of cannabis in his apartment. He died February 7, 1991 after complications resulting from back surgery.
• Thom Steinbeck is a fiction writer who lives in Big Sur and who has published a collection of stories, Down to a Soundless Sea (2003, ISBN 0345455770).

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.

Related Topics:
Ava Gardner - Elaine Anderson Scott - 1950 - Zachary Scott

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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, and was rapidly adapted into a 1939 Hollywood film, starring Lon Chaney Jr. as "Lennie" and Burgess Meredith 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.

Related Topics:
Dust Bowl - Great Depression - Of Mice and Men - 1939 - Hollywood - Lon Chaney Jr. - Burgess Meredith - The Grapes of Wrath - Pulitzer Prize for the Novel - 1940 - Henry Fonda - John Ford

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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 migrationshttp://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/jun02/steinbeck.htm 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."http://www.steinbeck.org/MainFrame.html

Related Topics:
The Grapes of Wrath - Capitalism - Dust Bowl - Okie

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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 as considering philosophical questions related to ecosystems and biology.http://www.ecotopia.org/about/cortez.html

Related Topics:
1940 - Gulf of California - Cortez - Ecosystems - Biology

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During the Second World War, Steinbeck served as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune.

Related Topics:
Second World War - New York Herald Tribune

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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.

Related Topics:
Alfred Hitchcock - ''Lifeboat'' - A Medal for Benny

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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.

Related Topics:
The Moon is Down - Socrates - Nazi - Norway - Haakon VII

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After the war, he wrote The Pearl (1947), already knowing it would be filmed.http://www.steinbeck.sjsu.edu/films/films.jsp, 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.

Related Topics:
Emiliano Zapata - Elia Kazan - Marlon Brando - Anthony Quinn

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In 1948 Steinbeck again toured the Soviet Union, together with reknown photographer Robert Capa. In the same year he was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Related Topics:
1948 - Soviet Union - Robert Capa - American Academy of Arts and Letters

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Following the success of Viva Zapata!, Steinbeck collaborated with Kazan on East of Eden, James Dean's film debut.

Related Topics:
Viva Zapata! - East of Eden - James Dean

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Steinbeck was a friend to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Related Topics:
John F. Kennedy - Lyndon B. Johnson

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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,

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1962 - Nobel Prize for Literature

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"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."http://www.steinbeck.sjsu.edu/works/NobleSpeech2.jsp

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In 1964, Steinbeck was awarded the United States Medal of Freedom by President Johnson.

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1964 - United States Medal of Freedom

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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".

Related Topics:
Salinas Valley - Monterey - San Joaquin Valley

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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 literature is secure. And it lives on in the works of innumerable writers who learned from him how to present the forgotten man unforgettably."

Related Topics:
New York City - New York Times - Mark Twain - Cotton Mather - Nobel Prize

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