Steinbeck Biography
Born February 27, 1902;
Died December 20, 1968;
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was a renowned American author in the mid-20th century. His novels portrayed the plight of homeless and hopelessQuote“The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.”
(The Grapes of Wrath, 512) people in a rapidly changing America.Quote“The Western land, nervous under the beginning of change…”
(The Grapes of Wrath, 175) Steinbeck’s childhood was largely unremarkable. He attended primary school in Salinas, California and was remembered as an avid reader and writer while in middle and high school. At age 17, Steinbeck received his high school diploma and began attending Stanford University intermittently for six years, focusing on classes in literature and philosophy.Quote“For man, unlike any other thing, organic or inorganic, in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments… This you may say of man – when theories change and crash, when philosophies …grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes.”
(The Grapes of Wrath, 175) At that time, he knew he wanted to become a writer, so he only selected classes he believed would assist him with honing his craft. Following graduation, Steinbeck traveled across the United States in search of work. Even after he began working as a writer, he struggled for steady work. His travels took him to Oklahoma for a period of time during the great depression, where he witnessed the extreme prejudice by the nation against the poor, starving OkieQuote“Well, Okie use’ ta mean you was form Oklahoma. Now it means you’re a dirty son-of-a bitch. Okie means you’re scum. Don’t mean nothing itself, it’s the way they say it.”
(The Grapes of Wrath, 242) farmers. Cup of Gold, Steinbeck's first novel, was published in 1929.
The difficulties Steinbeck faced growing up in California were the inspiration for his his most popular book, The Grapes of Wrath.Quote“In the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”
(The Grapes of Wrath, 411) Steinbeck lived through the Great Depression, making him aware of the painfully similar effects of the Dust Bowl.Quote“I knowed a fellow from California… He says they’s too many folks lookin’ for work right there now. An’ he says the folks that pick the fruit live in diry ol’ camps an’ don’t hardly get enough to eat. He says wages is low and hard to get any.”
(The Grapes of Wrath, 105) The Grapes of Wrath relates the story of the Joads, impoverished farmers who migrate to California after losing their Oklahoma farm during the Dust Bowl, a period of great drought. Published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath earned the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Steinbeck's other renowned books include: Of Mice and Men (1937), Cannery Row (1945) and East of Eden. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.