A John Steinbeck Reader

Celebrating the all-too-brief life of a young scholar dedicated to Steinbeck studies, A John Steinbeck Reader: Essays in Honor of Stephen K. George gathers essays from various vantage points including aesthetic, feminist, ethical, and comparative perspectives. Under the direction of Barbara A. Heavilin, George's coeditor of The Steinbeck Review journal and the book, John Steinbeck and His Contemporaries, the authors of these articles have come together both to pay tribute to Stephen and to widen the range of Steinbeck scholarship. Included in this volume are works by two acclaimed poets, as well as insightful readings of a little known early short story and an unsuccessful novel by Steinbeck. In addition to George, who is represented here with an essay on societal ethics, and Heavilin, who writes about Travels with Charley, the contributors to this volume include: Mary Brown, Danica Cerce, Mimi Gladstein, Charlotte Hadella, Tetsumaro Hayashi, Luchen Li, Michael J. Meyer, Kyoshi Nakayama, Brian Railsback, Thom Satterlee, Stephen L. Tanner, and John H. Timmerman. Designed for both a general and a professional audience, this collection will delight the Steinbeck buff, enlighten the Steinbeck student, and provides an array of topics, views, and approaches for Steinbeck scholars and teachers. While acknowledging one of its most devoted scholars, A John Steinbeck Reader will also be a welcome addition to the wealth of Steinbeck studies.

Sanora Babb’s long-hidden novel Whose Names Are Unknown tells of the High Plains farmers who fled drought and dust storms during the Great Depression. Written with empathy for the farmers’ plight, this powerful narrative is based upon the author’s firsthand experience. Babb submitted the manuscript for this book to Random House for consideration in 1939. Editor Bennett Cerf planned to publish this “exceptionally fine” novel but when John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath swept the nation, Cerf explained that the market could not support two books on the subject.

A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of Steinbeck's brilliant short novels Collected here for the first time in a deluxe paperback volume are six of John Steinbeck's most widely read and beloved novels. From the tale of commitment, loneliness and hope in Of Mice and Men, to the tough yet charming portrait of people on the margins of society in Cannery Row, to The Pearl's examination of the fallacy of the American dream, Steinbeck stories of realism, that were imbued with energy and resilience. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

In this compelling biography of a book, Susan Shillinglaw delves into John Steinbeck's classic to explore the cultural, social, political, scientific, and creative impact of The Grapes of Wrath upon first publication, as well as its enduring legacy. First published in April 1939, Steinbeck's National Book Award-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads, driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. The story of their struggle remains eerily relevant in today's America and stands as a portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, "in the souls of the people."

This collection of letters forms a day-by-day account of Steinbeck's writing of East of Eden. The letters range in subject but include textual discussion, trial flights of workmanship and family matters and provide an illuminating perspective on Steinbeck.

This biography by the New York Times best-selling author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee traces the life of National Book Award-winning novelist John Williams, author of the cult classic novel Stoner.