tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post1020542377946346692..comments2024-03-22T14:13:55.418-07:00Comments on wmtc: what i'm reading: john steinbeck and melaura khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-3174267264448775792021-10-25T11:45:38.696-07:002021-10-25T11:45:38.696-07:00"I'm not a writer. I've been fooling ...<i>"I'm not a writer. I've been fooling myself and other people. I wish I were."</i><br /><br />He had both huge self-doubt and an overinflated ego. <br /><br />The bio author draws a parallel to Herman Melville, another author who wrote a great masterpiece and then struggled with its shadow and how to go on with the rest of his life. Writing The Grapes of Wrath destroyed Steinbeck's first marriage and upended his entire life.<br /><br /><i>What angered them, in other words, was not the obscene language or religious blasphemy or anti-American political thought, but the unvarnished truth of their actions</i><br /><br />What angered Steinbeck the most: the growers actively fought relief efforts. They hired thugs to intimidate and beat up relief workers, and actively lobbied state and local governments (who they owned) to kill any attempts at charity or relief.laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-32692470905580883282021-10-25T11:01:48.394-07:002021-10-25T11:01:48.394-07:00"I'm not a writer. I've been fooling ..."I'm not a writer. I've been fooling myself and other people. I wish I were."<br />(August 16, 1938)allanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673233312198832937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-80200105187015548662021-10-25T10:50:03.555-07:002021-10-25T10:50:03.555-07:00Just as Laura was finishing this biography and we ...Just as Laura was finishing this biography and we had been talking about that 1988 trip, I saw that Steinbeck's manuscript of The Grapes of Wrath was being published. SP Books, an independent press, released the manuscript version of the novel on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/04/handwritten-manuscript-of-the-grapes-of-wrath-to-be-published-for-the-first-time-john-steinbeck" rel="nofollow">earlier this month</a>. According to his journal entries (which graphically illustrate his punishing schedule, obsessive drive, and chronic self-doubt), published many years ago as "Working Days", he wrote the novel in <i>fewer than five months</i>, 148 days (June 1 to October 26, 1938).<br />It was highly praised after its publication in April 1939, but it was also denounced as communist propaganda, and copies were publicly burned in California. Through the years, it has been banned from libraries in California, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Alabama, and New York.<br />One scholar <a href="https://thecensorshipfiles.wordpress.com/the-grapes-of-wrath/" rel="nofollow">explained</a> that what irritated the owners of the corporate farms and the local government authorities of Kern County, California (where the Joads' journey ends), "was the way that Steinbeck painted the big growers of California as being willing—eager, really—to exploit their workers to fatten their own profits".<br />What angered them, in other words, was not the obscene language or religious blasphemy or anti-American political thought, but the unvarnished truth of their actions, laid bare and exposed in, as Laura wrote, Steinbeck's elegant, profound, and accessible words.allanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673233312198832937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-85812074177091228362021-10-13T19:50:56.611-07:002021-10-13T19:50:56.611-07:00W24, that is so cool. Happy to add great books to ...W24, that is so cool. Happy to add great books to your list! :)<br /><br />1984 is one of the greatest books in the English language. I re-read it every 10 years, and each time, I get more out of it.laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-54282568938994473032021-10-13T13:46:23.594-07:002021-10-13T13:46:23.594-07:00I didn't get to read The Grapes Of Wrath until...I didn't get to read The Grapes Of Wrath until about 3 years ago.<br />About half way through , I stopped and thought ' This one of the best things I've ever read '. Anyone who isn't moved by it is probably dead. <br />I will get round to reading more JS along with many , many others.<br />Thanks for making my to read list even longer.<br /><br />Regards <br /><br />Warren<br /><br />Also ,<br />I've read 1984 about six times. Push comes to shove , my all time favourite.wallythe24https://www.blogger.com/profile/05911225116283696671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-57795493864251742712021-10-12T14:44:18.142-07:002021-10-12T14:44:18.142-07:00Your post made me remember how much I enjoyed read...Your post made me remember how much I enjoyed reading Steinbeck's books back in junior high and then high school. We first read The Pearl in junior high for school and then The Red Pony. I remember being deeply moved by both books. The language was so evocative, and the imagery so clear. I then read The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. I absolutely loved East of Eden, and Grapes of Wrath also moved me deeply. I can't say I was changed by it the way you were, probably because I was always more into books for the stories and characters and at that age not thinking about the deeper meanings. I never read Travels with Charley---I really should. In fact your post makes me want to go back and re-read the ones I did read to see how I feel about them now over fifty years later. Thanks!Amyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15720293202890878993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-72427743426855967682021-10-12T07:33:27.307-07:002021-10-12T07:33:27.307-07:00John, that will be on my list to re-read. I know i...John, that will be on my list to re-read. I know it's about union organizing, but I honestly don't remember anything about it. laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-91092308072639585962021-10-12T07:09:44.398-07:002021-10-12T07:09:44.398-07:00Not sure how it happened but the first Steinbeck I...Not sure how it happened but the first Steinbeck I read was in 8th Grade: 'In Dubious Battle.' Then I read it a second time within six months. And teachers wondered why I gave them such black looks....johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-19395698612539854942021-10-11T17:39:27.992-07:002021-10-11T17:39:27.992-07:00Lorne, thank you so much for your comment. I agree...Lorne, thank you so much for your comment. I agree that those assessments are snobbery, and also cynical. <br /><br />I also love East of Eden. I also love the movie, and it turns out Steinbeck did, too.<br /><br />Thanks again, it's wonderful to connect through books.laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-34107250434106381112021-10-11T17:23:36.994-07:002021-10-11T17:23:36.994-07:00I can't tell you how much I enjoyed your post....I can't tell you how much I enjoyed your post. I recently finished reading the same biography and did wonder, like you, whether it would be of interest to those who hadn't read Steinbeck.<br /><br />I was rivetted by it, having taught The Grapes of Wrath more times than I can count. It was one of those rare pieces of literature that I never tired of teaching. It's message, in my view, is timeless.<br /><br />Many critics have dismissed it over the years for, as you said, its lack of complexity and the fact that many regarded it as a 'sentimental novel.' To me, this was always a dismissal that reeked of intellectual snobbery. Are novels not meant to reach a large audience to impart their themes?<br /><br />In any event, thanks again for your post. <br /><br />P.S. I also think that East of Eden is a magnificent novel.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.com