Steinbeck's Biography and Literature Contributions

             John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, which is where many of his stories take place in. He attended college at Stanford University but never graduated. After failing his attempt to become a free-lance writer in New York, he moved back home to California to work on ranches to help him for what he considered to be "real life.” His experiences among the working classes in California lent authenticity to his depiction of the lives of the workers, who remain the central characters of his most important novels (GradeSaver). In 1929, he published his first novel, Cup of Gold, but he wasn’t successful until the publishing of his series of humorous stories about Monterey paisanos in 1935 called Tortilla Flat. Steinbeck received even greater acclaim for the novella Of Mice and Men (1937), a tragic story about the strange, complex bond between two migrant laborers (GradeSaver). 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 (NobelPrize). During World War II, Steinbeck wrote some effective pieces of government propaganda, among them The Moon Is Down (1942), a novel about Norwegians under the Nazis (GradeSaver). He wrote some more works with the end of the war as well. 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 (NobelPrize). Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962 and died four years later in New York City.

                Steinbeck's greatest contribution is image of the lower and middle class in his work.  At a time when America's struggles needed to be voiced, Steinbeck was able to give view to what it meant to struggle in an America that was struggling economically, socially, and politically.  In this light, Steinbeck was honest about where America was and how America should be seen. Steinbeck's reputation is dependent primarily on the naturalistic, proletarian-themed novels that he wrote during the Depression (GradeSaver). It is in these works that Steinbeck is most effective at building rich, symbolic structures and conveying the archetypal qualities of his characters (GradeSaver). Steinbeck is still a great literary force to this day, having his works in most high school and college courses.

               

Works Cited

GradeSaver. *Biography of John Steinbeck | List of Works, Study Guides & Essays*. GradeSaver, 9 April 2012 Web. 9 April 2012. <http://www.gradesaver.com/author/john-steinbeck/>

"John Steinbeck – Biography". Nobelprize.org. 9 Apr 2012 <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-bio.html>