Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Add background items for East of Eden or John Steinbeck in this thread.

John Steinbeck




John Steinbeck (1902-1968), born in Salinas, California, came from a family of moderate means. He worked his way through college at Stanford University but never graduated. In 1925 he went to New York, where he tried for a few years to establish himself as a free-lance writer, but he failed and returned to California. After publishing some novels and short stories, Steinbeck first became widely known with Tortilla Flat (1935), a series of humorous stories about Monterey paisanos.

Steinbeck's novels can all be classified as social novels dealing with the economic problems of rural labour, but there is also a streak of worship of the soil in his books, which does not always agree with his matter-of-fact sociological approach. After the rough and earthy humour of Tortilla Flat, he moved on to more serious fiction, often aggressive in its social criticism, to In Dubious Battle (1936), which deals with the strikes of the migratory fruit pickers on California plantations. This was followed by Of Mice and Men (1937), the story of the imbecile giant Lennie, and a series of admirable short stories collected in the volume The Long Valley (1938). In 1939 he published what is considered his best work, The Grapes of Wrath, the story of Oklahoma tenant farmers who, unable to earn a living from the land, moved to California where they became migratory workers.

Among his later works should be mentioned East of Eden (1952), The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), and Travels with Charley (1962), a travelogue in which Steinbeck wrote about his impressions during a three-month tour in a truck that led him through forty American states. He died in New York City in 1968.

From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969

This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.

John Steinbeck died on December 20, 1968.
(Source: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prize...)

Center for Steinbeck Studies

A more in-depth biography and more.

http://as.sjsu.edu/steinbeck/index.jsp

East of Eden ~ Overview

John Steinbeck considered East of Eden to be his ultimate masterpiece. He wrote the novel for his sons so they would better understand their family history and Steinbeck’s childhood experiences growing up in California’s fertile Salinas Valley. He also sought to create a mythic dramatization of the perpetual struggle between good and evil, which he considered the quintessential struggle that has characterized human existence since the beginning of time.

Steinbeck had been developing the idea for East of Eden for a few years before writing the novel. He began his research for the novel in 1948, traveling back to California and even studying newspaper archives from the Salinas Index-Journal. Steinbeck finally began composing the novel in January of 1951, determined to finally write the epic that had been brewing in his mind. Writing a few pages a day, Steinbeck finished his draft of East of Eden in November of 1951.

Steinbeck chronicled the writing process of East of Eden in a double entry journal, with notes and letters to friend and publisher Pascal Covici on the left and the actual draft of East of Eden on the right side. He used this method of writing a letter to Pascal each day as a warm up before tackling a day’s work on the novel. The letters were later edited and published in 1969 (a year after Steinbeck’s death in 1968) as Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters.

East of Eden was first published in September of 1952 by Viking Press. A film version on the novel, directed by Elia Kazan, debuted in 1955. A musical version of the novel appeared in 1966. East of Eden was released as an ABC miniseries in 1981.
(Source: http://as.sjsu.edu/steinbeck/teaching...)

East of Eden ~ Cultural References

IWW: IWW stands for the Industrial Workers of the World, an international union which achieved the height of its membership and power in the early 1920s. Colloquially, they were known as the Wobblies and were primarily focused on promoting the interests of the world’s growing class of industrial workers.

Woodmen of the World: fraternal organization founded in 1890 which also functions as a private insurance company for its members.

Bindle-stiffs: colloquial for migrant workers; hoboes.

Paregoric: 18th and 19th century home remedy with varied uses (diarrhea, cough suppressant). Main ingredient is opium. Was available as an over the counter drug in the United States until 1973, when it was classified as a narcotic and is now only available by prescription.

Iron Wine Tonic: a tonic used to regain strength. Contained wine and iron citrate.

Lydia Pinkham: an herb and alcohol based tonic name after its inventor. Used to alleviate menstrual pains.

Carbolic Acid: also known as phenol. In small doses, is used in the production of many common cosmetic products. In large doses, it is a poison.

Epsom Salts: magnesium and sulfur compound. Can be used as a laxative, but is also used for bath salts.

Castor Oil: odorless and tasteless oil from the Castor plant. Was a popular home remedy for constipation.

Model T: first mass produced American automobile by Henry Ford’s Ford Motor Company. Fifteen million Model Ts were produced between 1908-1927.

Magneto: an electrical generator. For the Model T, a flywheel magneto produced alternating currents of electricity to a coal and could be considered the equivalent of a modern day alternator.

Quartermaster Corps: a logistical branch of the U.S. Army providing service support, such as material (including ammunition) and food distribution, and field services such as repairs for showers/laundry/clothing.

Faro: a card game.

Fan-tan: popular Chinese casino game similar to roulette.

Hayburner: slang name for a horse.

Books for Further Reading

John Steinbeck's Re Vision Of America by Louis Owens

by Jackson J. Benson

by John Steinbeck

The Revisit the Shelf book for August 2022 is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. This early posting of the No Spoiler thread is to discuss any non-plot issues pertaining to the book.

Appropriate Posts can contain:
1. Information about the author.
2. Compare editions/translations.
3. Any historical or background information
4. Are you familiar with this author’s work? Do you have any expectations going into the book?
5. What made you decide to read this book?
6. Any fan fiction that you have read or would like to read? Just link the books.
7. If you loved the book and want others to share in that experience, use this thread to motivate others, again save plot specifics for the Spoiler thread
8. If you hated the book, it would be best to keep that for the spoiler page

The most important thing to remember is no plot discussion. Any post that contains plot information or spoilers will be deleted.

Katy always does a wonderful job setting up threads, so I thought this thread would make a nice N0-Spoiler thread.

Personally, I do not think I will be reading this book. I have loved Steinbeck since I read some of his works in High School. It has been 40 years since I read this book, but remember calling it one of my favorites at the time. Four of the books I have read this year have been rereads, and there are new things I want to move off my TBR list. I hope everyone enjoys it, and I will pop into the thread. Many in the group read it recently, so feel free to read along with the thread and comment.

This is my favourite novel, a work of art. I hope everyone enjoys it! A masterpiece.

I hadn’t expected this to win but am so very much looking forward to reading this after so many high recommendations. I just got the movie recorded for later from Turner classics.

Lynn wrote: "Katy always does a wonderful job setting up threads, so I thought this thread would make a nice N0-Spoiler thread..."

Well, thank you. It has been a while since we last read this one.

Wish I had the time to re-read this one. A great, great book.

Lori, just an fyi, the movie is just a tidbit of the book.

I read this a couple years ago so won't re-read but I will gladly follow the discussion.

Like a couple others, I will not be rereading this one.

First Mayor’s House, Salinas, CA.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/im...

Terry, are you reading this?

Lori, it was my favorite book of 2019, so no, not re-reading now. I loved it. I think it compares to Sometimes a Great Notion as I recall. It had a special meaning to me, being from Northern California. I could so perfectly visualize the setting. I will be lurking in the background of this thread.

Here is more imagery:

https://www.google.com/search?q=image...

I read this book almost 30 years ago, while taking a cross country tour of the US, including the California coast and Monterey. Looking forward to rereading one of my all time favorite novels.

Terry wrote: "...I think it compares to Sometimes a Great Notion as I recall...."

I agree. I've often wondered how much of that was intentional on Kesey's part.

I love Steinbeck, but weirdly have not read this masterpiece! My mother grew up in California, came of age in the '40s and loved loved loved Steinbeck. East of Eden has been sitting on my bedside stack and I am really looking forward to reading it in August.

I like Steinbeck's work. I first read his novella Of Mice and Men in college. It was in the curriculum, and I had to write an analysis of this short story. At that time, I did not really like such assignments, so the https://essays.edubirdie.com/buy-essay platform helped me a lot with writing quality content. I recently re-read this novella and enjoyed it. I really like the author's style, so now I read his works with pleasure. I heard that Of Mice and Men was excluded from the program, which is quite strange for me.

The Revisit the Shelf book for September 2023 is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. This early posting of the No Spoiler thread is to discuss any non-plot issues pertaining to the book.

Appropriate Posts can contain:
1. Information about the author.
2. Compare editions/translations.
3. Any historical or background information
4. Are you familiar with this author’s work? Do you have any expectations going into the book?
5. What made you decide to read this book?
6. Any fan fiction that you have read or would like to read? Just link the books.
7. If you loved the book and want others to share in that experience, use this thread to motivate others, again save plot specifics for the Spoiler thread
8. If you hated the book, it would be best to keep that for the spoiler page

The most important thing to remember is no plot discussion. Any post that contains plot information or spoilers will be deleted.

This is a question for people who've read this book before. Without discussing any specifics, I'm wondering how far into this book I need to get before deciding whether it's for me. I find with most books, I can tell within about 50 pages whether it's a book I might enjoy. Is that true for this book too, or does it change substantially in character later on in the book?

Let me know if this question is better left for when the spoiler thread opens. Thanks!

This would be definitely an opinion only, Wobbley, but I got into it very quickly. My own rule is usually 100 pages, and this is a long book, so it might take that many for some to engage fully with the characters. As I said, it did not take that long for me.

Wobbley, from what I remember of reading East of Eden, it did start slowly, for about the first 40-75 pages maybe, then wham it took off and I was hooked in a big way. It was a quick read for me after that.

Thanks so much everyone, this is really helpful!

Something I learned long ago when at university: Some novels may be too complex to read just one time. I was taught to do a quick read of complex books. The need to know if I like or don't like is lessened because I am so busy laying down information and making connections. Once I have done that work, I often find the second read less a worry about whether I will understand, make sense of and more about enjoying character development and plot development and social commentary and whatever else goes into novel writing. The novel shines brighter this way. Novels I have not much much cared for as I raced through have become novels that I have enjoyed, wanted to reread, learned to recognize the good/great art, have learned to delight in--any but never all of that.

So here in East of Eden, I will race through with the aid of both the book I will find on an e-ervice/library and the audiobook I found on YouTube at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4...

William wrote: "Wobbley, from what I remember of reading East of Eden, it did start slowly, for about the first 40-75 pages maybe, then wham it took off and I was hooked in a big way. It was a quick read for me af..."

I would agree with this completely. I think if I went back and re-read the book now the beginning would be more interesting to me because I have a perspective of who these people all are and why they matter. But the first time through it was a little slow in the beginning - not bad, but just a little slow.

Thank you. This is reassuring.

I read this book in High School as a teenager. I know there are layers and layers of meaning I could not absorb at the time. Still, I do not think I will join in this reading this month. There are other books calling.

I read this with the group last time it won and Loved it! It’s not one to read through quickly but savor the story. I know I missed so much on the first read but don’t believe I’ll reread it now. Someday though. This is a book that you won’t forget your first experience with.