John Steinbeck

Danny is a paisano, descended from the original Spanish settlers who arrived in Monterey, California, centuries before. He values friendship above money and possessions, so when he suddenly inherits two houses, Danny is quick to offer shelter to his fellow gentlemen of the road. Together, their love of freedom and scorn for material things draws them into daring and often hilarious adventures. That is, until Danny, tiring of his new responsibilities, suddenly disappears...

“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.” They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful. A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.

Taken by surprise, a small coastal town is overrun by an invading army with little resistance. The town is important because it is a port that serves a large coal mine. Colonel Lanser, the head of the invading battalion, along with his staff establishes his HQ in the house of the democratically elected and popular Mayor Orden. As the reality of occupation sinks in and the weather turns bleak, with the snows beginning earlier than usual, the "simple, peaceful people" of the town are angry and confused. Colonel Lanser, a veteran of many wars, tries to operate under a veil of civility and law, but in his heart he knows that "there are no peaceful people" amongst those whose freedom has been taken away by force. The veil is soon torn apart when Alexander Morden, an erstwhile alderman and "a free man," is ordered to work in the mine. He strikes out at Captain Loft with a pick axe, but Captain Bentick steps into its path and dies of it. After a summary trial, Morden is executed by a firing squad. This incident catalyzes the people of the town and they settle into "a slow, silent, waiting revenge." Sections of the railroad linking the port with the mine get damaged regularly, the machinery breaks down often, and the dynamo of the electricity generators gets short circuited. Whenever a soldier relaxes his guard, drinks or goes out with a woman, he is killed. Mayor Orden stands by his people, and tries to explain to Col. Lanser that his goal – "to break man’s spirit permanently" – is impossible. The cold weather and the constant fear weighs heavy on the occupying force, many of whom wish the war to end so that they can return home. They realize the futility of the war and that "the flies have conquered the flypaper." Some members of the resistance escape to England and ask the English for explosives so that the townspeople can intensify their efforts. English planes parachute-drop small packages containing dynamite sticks and chocolates all around the town. In a state of panic, the army takes the Mayor and his friend Dr. Winter, the town doctor and historian, hostage and lets it be known that any action from resistance will lead to their execution. Mayor Orden knows that nothing can stop his people and that his death is imminent. He tells his wife that while he can be killed, the idea of Mayor (and freedom and democracy) is beyond the reach of any army. Before his execution, Mayor Orden reminds Dr. Winter of the dialogues of Socrates in the Apology, a part he played in the high school play, and tells him to make sure that the debt is repaid to the army, i.e., that the resistance is continued.

Young Jody Tiflin lives on his father's California ranch. He is thrilled when his father gives him a red pony, and later promises him the colt of a bay mare. Both these gifts bring joy to Jody's life--but tragedy soon follows. As Jody begins to learn the harsh lessons of life and death, he starts to understand what growing up and becoming an adult really means.

At once a relentlessly fast-paced, admirably observed novel of social unrest and the story of a young man’s struggle for identity, In Dubious Battle is set in the California apple country, where a strike by migrant workers against rapacious landowners spirals out of control. Caught in the upheaval is Jim Nolan, a once aimless man who finds himself in the course of the strike.

In Monterey, on the California coast, Sweet Thursday is what they call the day after Lousy Wednesday, which is one of those days that are just naturally bad. Returning to the scene of Cannery Row, the weedy lots and junk heaps and flophouses of Monterey, John Steinbeck once more brings to life the denizens of a netherworld of laughter and tears from Fauna, new headmistress of the local brothel, to Hazel, a bum whose mother must have wanted a daughter.

Cannery Row is a book without much of a plot. Rather, it is an attempt to capture the feeling and people of a place, the cannery district of Monterey, California, which is populated by a mix of those down on their luck and those who choose for other reasons not to live "up the hill" in the more respectable area of town. The flow of the main plot is frequently interrupted by short vignettes that introduce us to various denizens of the Row, most of whom are not directly connected with the central story. These vignettes are often characterized by direct or indirect reference to extreme violence: suicides, corpses, and the cruelty of the natural world. The "story" of Cannery Row follows the adventures of Mack and the boys, a group of unemployed yet resourceful men who inhabit a converted fish-meal shack on the edge of a vacant lot down on the Row. Sweet Thursday is the sequel to Cannery Row.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Kino is a poor diver, gathering pearls from the gulf beds that once brought great wealth to the kings of Spain and now provide Kino, Juana, and their infant son with meager subsistence. Then, on a day like any other, Kino emerges from the sea with a pearl as large as a sea gull’s egg, as “perfect as the moon.” With the pearl comes hope, the promise of comfort and of security… A story of classic simplicity, based on a Mexican folk tale, The Pearl explores the secrets of man’s nature, greed, the darkest depths of evil, and the luminous possibilities of love.

In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness. First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanized—and sometimes outraged—millions of readers. First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.

Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned. With Ethan no longer a member of Long Island’s aristocratic class, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous standards. Set in Steinbeck’s contemporary 1960 America, the novel explores the tenuous line between private and public honesty that today ranks it alongside his most acclaimed works of penetrating insight into the American condition. This edition features an introduction and notes by Steinbeck scholar Susan Shillinglaw.

A magnificent volume of short novels and an essential World War II report from one of America's great twentieth-century writersOn the heels of the enormous success of his masterwork The Grapes of Wrath-and at the height of the American war effort-John Steinbeck, one of the most prolific and influential literary figures of his generation, wrote Bombs Away, a nonfiction account of his experiences with U.S. Army Air Force bomber crews during World War II. Now, for the first time since its original publication in 1942, Penguin Classics presents this exclusive edition of Steinbeck's introduction to the then-nascent U.S. Army Air Force and its bomber crew-the essential core unit behind American air power that Steinbeck described as "the greatest team in the world."

Just after the iron curtain fell on Eastern Europe John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer, Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union to report for the New York Herald Tribune. This rare opportunity took the famous travellers not only to Moscow and Stalingrad - now Volgograd - but through the countryside of the Ukraine and the Caucasus. A RUSSIAN JOURNAL is the distillation of their journey and remains a remarkable memoir and unique historical document. Steinbeck and Capa recorded the grim realities of factory workers, government clerks, and peasants, as they emerged from the rubble of World War II. This is an intimate glimpse of two artists at the height of their powers, answering their need to document human struggle

Джон Стейнбек - лауреат Нобелевской премии, автор знаменитых романов "О мышах и людях", "Гроздья гнева", "Зима тревоги нашей"... Действие повести "Консервный ряд" (1944) происходит в городке Монтерей, там же, где происходило действие повести "Квартал Тортилья-Флэт" (1935). Герои этой смешной и грустной истории - душа веселой компании Мак, его друзья, бакалейщик Ли Чонг, содержательница "веселого заведения" Дора и ее девочки - все они, по мнению автора, - великомученики и ангелы, что не мешает им оставаться теми, кто они есть на самом деле: жуликами, своднями и шлюхами. Есть здесь и еще один персонаж - ученый-биолог Док, человек, готовый выслушать любую чепуху и превратить ее во всяческую премудрость...

Steinbeck's first posthumously published work, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights is a reinterpretation of tales from Malory's Morte d'Arthur. In this highly successful attempt to render Malory into Modern English, Steinbeck recreated the rhythm and tone of the original Middle English.

Elisa Allen is tending her chrysanthemums. Strong, with a handsome face she skilfully and proudly cultivates the best in the valley. Tonight, her husband is taking her to town. While she works, a squeak of heels and a plod of hoofs bring a curious vehicle, curiously drawn: a tradesman looking for directions and a job. He is met with curt replies and a hardened resistance. Then he notices her chrysanthemums. With his characteristic insight and evocative language, John Steinbeck creates a short story of a brief but striking encounter. Set in Salinas Valley, where he grew up, it dissects the myriad complexities of humanity, society and hidden longings.' to 'Elisa Allen is tending her chrysanthemums. Strong, with a handsome face she skilfully and proudly cultivates the best in the valley. Tonight, her husband is taking her to town. While she works, a squeak of heels and a plod of hoofs bring a curious vehicle, curiously a tradesman looking for directions and a job. He is met with curt replies and a hardened resistance. Then he notices her chrysanthemums. With his characteristic insight and evocative language, John Steinbeck creates a short story of a brief but striking encounter. Set in Salinas Valley, where he grew up, it dissects the myriad complexities of humanity, society and hidden longings.

Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Here Steinbeck created some of his most memorable characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity; the inexplicability of love; and the murderous consequences of love’s absence.

A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of Steinbeck's brilliant short novelsCollected 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.

Nobel laureate John Steinbeck's bracing from-the-frontlines account of World War II-now with a new cover and introduction** In 1943 John Steinbeck was on assignment for The New York Herald Tribune, writing from Italy and North Africa, and from England in the midst of the London blitz. In his dispatches he focuses on the human-scale effect of the war, portraying everyone from the guys in a bomber crew to Bob Hope on his USO tour and even fighting alongside soldiers behind enemy lines. Taken together, these writings create an indelible portrait of life in wartime.

From the mid-1650s through the 1660s, Henry Morgan, a pirate and outlaw of legendary viciousness, ruled the Spanish Main. He ravaged the coasts of Cuba and America, striking terror wherever he went. Morgan was obsessive. He had two driving ambitions: to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja and to conquer Panama, the “cup of gold.” Steinbeck’s first novel and sole work of historical fiction, Cup of Gold is a lush, lyrical swashbuckling pirate fantasy, and sure to add new dimensions to readers’ perceptions of this all-American writer. This edition features an introduction by Susan F. Beegel.

Pubblicato nel 1937 negli Stati Uniti, apparso un anno dopo in Italia nella celebre traduzione di Cesare Pavese, Uomini e topi è un piccolo intenso dramma che colloca l'amara vicenda dei suoi protagonisti su uno sfondo di denuncia sociale. Il romanzo affronta in chiave simbolica il problema dell'emigrazione contadina all'Ovest, terra di mancate promesse negli anni successivi alla Depressione: è la storia tragica e violenta di due braccianti che trovano lavoro in un ranch della California, il grande Lennie, gigante buono e irresponsabile, e il saggio George, guida e sostegno dell'amico nella vana resistenza alla difesa del mondo. Sfruttamento e lotte sociali, ingiustizia e sofferenza umana, tutti temi che verranno trattati con realismo aspro e risentito in Furore, sono qui espressi con una vena di lirica commozione e con quel vigore narrativo che fa di Steinbeck uno dei grandi autori americani.

Esta pequeña obra maestra de Steinbeck retrata la vida de Elisa Allen, una mujer fuerte y apasionada, que lleva una existencia sin brillo, dedicada a su hogar. Casada con un granjero de California, su única ilusión y orgullo es el cultivo de sus flores. La aparición de un buhonero le hará cuestionarse, en cierto modo, su condición de mujer. Aparecido por primera vez en 1937 en la revista Harper, el autor norteamericano nos habla de la cuestión del género de una manera sutil y delicada. Es un momento en el que el mundo de las mujeres está dominado por los hombres, que impiden su realización personal, social y sexual. El simbolismo que subyace a lo largo de toda la obra hace que sea uno de los relatos cortos más bellos e imprescindibles del ganador del Premio Nobel en 1962.

While fulfilling his dead father's dream of creating a prosperous farm in California, Joseph Wayne comes to believe that a magnificent tree on the farm embodies his father's spirit. His brothers and their families share in Joseph's prosperity and the farm flourishes - until one brother, scared by Joseph's pagan belief, kills the tree and brings disease and famine on the farm. Set in familiar Steinbeck country, To a God Unknown is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control the forces of nature and to understand the ways of God.

Steinbeck's only work of political satire turns the French Revolution on its head, as amateur astronomer Pippin Heristal is drafted in to rule the unruly French. Enchanting comedy ensues as Steinbeck creates the most hilarious royal court ever around the brief, bold reign of the corduroy-clad Pippin, his social-climbing wife Maria, his star-struck daughter Clotilde and her Californian beau, Todd.

Aparut pentru prima data in 1948, Jurnal rusesc este relatarea unei calatorii inedite facute de John Steinbeck in Uniunea Sovietica in anii de inceput ai Razboiului Rece. Insotit de fotograful Robert Capa, romancierul american viziteaza Moscova, dar calatoreste si in alte locuri din U.R.S.S.: ajunge in Stalingradul distrus de razboi, viziteaza Kievul si capitala georgiana Tbilisi si e oaspetele unor colhozuri sovietice. Intentia declarata a scriitorului, de a descrie cu obiectivitate o tara straina, necunoscuta si amenintatoare, etichetata in Statele Unite drept „dusman” ideologic, are ca rezultat o relatare superba, cu valoare istorica si literara. In Jurnal rusesc obiectivitatea jurnalistica se impleteste cu talentul narativ al prozatorului, iar comentariul aparent inocent, umorul subtil si ironia rafinata dau un plus de farmec unei descrieri empatice, plina de intelegere, a unei lumi altfel greu de inteles. „Steinbeck este un om cu convingeri conservatoare si, in plus, recent a deviat si mai mult spre dreapta. De aceea trebuie sa-l abordam cu multa precautie si sa evitam sa-i aratam ceva care ne-ar putea afecta.“ (fragment preluat dintr-un raport KGB) „Vamesul… a scos din buzunarul tunicii un pachetel invelit in hirtie de ziar si a extras din el o stampila de cauciuc. Asta era tot ce avea – fara nici o tusiera… Dintr-un alt buzunar al tunicii a scos un creion chimic, iar apoi, dupa ce a umezit stampila cu limba, a frecat creionul pe cauciuc si a aplicat stampila pe documentele noastre. Fara nici un efect. A incercat din nou. Iar fara nici un efect. Stampila de cauciuc n-a lasat nici macar o urma, oricit de vaga. Ca sa-l ajutam, ne-am scos stilourile incarcate, ne-am inmuiat degetele in cerneala si ni le-am sters de stampila. Pina la urma stampila s-a indurat sa lase urme, ba chiar unele frumoase. Vamesul a invelit-o din nou in hirtia de ziar si a virit-o la loc in buzunar, ne-a strins mina foarte calduros, apoi a coborit din avion.“ (John Steinbeck) „...americanii si rusii seamana foarte mult in doua privinte: ambele popoare se dau in vint dupa masinarii si ambele sint pasionate de structurile uriase. Poate ca rusii admira cel mai mult America pentru uzinele Ford si pentru Empire State Building.“ (John Steinbeck)

Soareci si oameni, unul dintre romanele clasice ale literaturii secolului trecut, este o poveste cu nuante parabolice despre prietenie si destin. Personajele centrale sint doi lucratori sezonieri, George Milton, un tinar inteligent si inimos, si Lennie Small, un urias naiv, cu o forta incontrolabila si o intirziere mentala ce il face sa semene cu un copil mare. Cei doi barbati, a caror induiosatoare relatie de prietenie ajunge sa semene a dependenta, se angajeaza ca lucratori la o ferma. Ei au un vis, un ideal, sa stringa bani din care sa-si cumpere un loc al lor, unde sa traiasca „din belsugu’ pamintului”. Insa o serie de intimplari tragice, provocate de naivitatea lui Lennie, de neputinta lui de a distinge raul de bine, le naruie sperantele. --back cover

„In Poneiul rosu se remarca finetea artei lui Steinbeck, iar valoarea cartii sale se datoreaza in mare masura si faptului evident ca autorul cunoaste in detaliu locul despre care scrie. E un bun cunoscator al cailor, stie toate amanuntele despre ei, stie ce se intimpla in mintea acestora – si e cu certitudine si un bun cunoscator al copiilor, e incintat de ei, altfel n-ar fi reusit sa-l descrie pe Jody asa cum a facut-o.” (The New York Sun)

ACE of ISBN 9782070360376. « Les deux hommes levèrent les yeux car le rectangle de soleil de la porte s'était masqué. Debout, une jeune femme regardait dans la chambre. Elle avait de grosses lèvres enduites de rouge, et des yeux très écartés fortement maquillés. Ses ongles étaient rouges. Ses cheveux pendaient en grappes bouclées, comme des petites saucisses. Elle portait une robe de maison en coton, et des mules rouges, ornées de petits bouquets de plumes d'autruche rouges .»

Baseado num conto popular mexicano, A Pérola constitui uma inesquecível parábola poética sobre as grandezas e as misérias do mundo tão contraditório em que vivemos. É, assim, a história comovente de uma pérola enorme, de como foi descoberta e de como se perdeu... levando com ela os sonhos bons e maus que representava, mas é também a história de uma família e da solidariedade especial entre uma mulher (Juana), um pobre pescador (Kino) e o filho de ambos (Coyotito). Com uma obra literária em que predomina a denúncia da vida difícil a que é sujeito o subproletariado agrícola, John Steinbeck recebeu da Academia Sueca o Prémio Nobel de Literatura em 1962 com a seguinte menção: «Nunca pretendeu escrever para tranquilizar os leitores, entretê-los sem os escandalizar. Pelo contrário, os tópicos que escolheu eram sérios e denunciadores... A sua capacidade literária foi sempre adquirindo um ímpeto crescente.»

A quest across America, from the northernmost tip of Maine to California’s Monterey Peninsula To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years. With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.

Each of these delightful interconnected tales is devoted to a family living in a fertile valley on the outskirts of Monterey, California, and the effects that one particular family has on them all. Steinbeck tackles two important literary traditions here; American naturalism, with its focus on the conflict between natural instincts and the demand to conform to society's norms, and the short story cycle. Set in the heart of 'Steinbeck land', the lush Californian valleys.

The ambitions, dreams, failings & innermost thoughts of a diverse group of passengers are revealed as they travel aboard a bus along the backroads of California.

First published in 1938, this volume of stories collected with the encouragement of his longtime editor Pascal Covici serves as a wonderful introduction to the work of Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck. Set in the beautiful Salinas Valley of California, where simple people farm the land and struggle to find a place for themselves in the world, these stories reflect Steinbeck’s characteristic interests: the tensions between town and country, laborers and owners, past and present. Included here are the O. Henry Prize-winning story “The Murder”; “The Chrysanthemums,” perhaps Steinbeck’s most challenging story, both personally and artistically; “Flight,” “The Snake,” “The White Quail,” and the classic tales of “The Red Pony.”

'Everything was dead, everything unreal; the dark mob was made up of stiff lay-figures' One of America's greatest writers explores mob violence, voyeurism and betrayal in these unforgettable tales of Californian life. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

Una dintre capodoperele secolului XX, La răsărit de Eden reconstruiește povestea biblică a lui Cain și Abel în decorul Văii Salinas din California. Romanul, a cărui acțiune se întinde din timpul Războiului Civil american pînă la sfârșitul Primului Război Mondial, urmărește conflictele dintre două generații de frați, incepînd cu Adam și Charles Trask. „Scriu această carte pentru băieții mei... Le voi istorisi una dintre cele mai mărețe povești, poate cea mai mare dintre toate − o poveste despre bine și rău, despre putere și nevolnicie, despre iubire și ură, despre frumusețe și hidoșenie... este singura carte pe care am scris-o vreodată.“ (John Steinbeck)

Pietra miliare della letteratura americana, Furore è un romanzo mitico, pubblicato negli Stati Uniti nel 1939 e coraggiosamente proposto in Italia da Valentino Bompiani l’anno seguente. Il libro fu perseguitato dalla censura fascista e solo ora, dopo più di 70 anni, vede la luce la prima edizione integrale, nella nuova traduzione di Sergio Claudio Perroni. Una versione basata sul testo inglese della Centennial Edition dell’opera di Steinbeck, che restituisce finalmente ai lettori la forza e la modernità della scrittura del Premio Nobel per la Letteratura 1962. Nell’odissea della famiglia Joad sfrattata dalla sua casa e dalla sua terra, in penosa marcia verso la California, lungo la Route 66 come migliaia e migliaia di americani, rivive la trasformazione di un’intera nazione. L’impatto amaro con la terra promessa dove la manodopera è sfruttata e mal pagata, dove ciascuno porta con sé la propria miseria “come un marchio d’infamia”. Al tempo stesso romanzo di viaggio e ritratto epico della lotta dell’uomo contro l’ingiustizia, Furore è forse il più americano dei classici americani, da leggere oggi per la prima volta in tutta la sua bellezza.

In un moderno Eden, la valle percorsa dal fiume Salinas, nella California settentrionale, si intrecciano le complesse vicende di varie generazioni, gli Hamilton e i Trask. È un mondo primitivo e pagano, popolato da personaggi - contadini e sognatori, uomini e donne simboli del bene o del male - dietro i quali agiscono conflitti primordiali, ataviche miserie che si tramandano di padre in figlio come una forza acuta e invincibile. Una saga familiare che tra odi e antagonismi scorre parallela ai grandi momenti della storia americana, dalla guerra civile al primo conflitto mondiale. Scritto nel 1952, soggetto dell'omonimo film di Elia Kazan (1955) interpretato da James Dean, "La valle dell'Eden" è una sorta di summa delle tematiche affrontate da Steinbeck nel corso della sua lunga attività letteraria. A tinte forti lo scrittore californiano dipinge un affresco in cui realismo e poesia, simbolismo e humour fanno da calibrato supporto alla denuncia degli effetti di quelle pulsioni violente e irrazionali che la coscienza contemporanea vorrebbe negare e alla visione critica di una società fattasi con il trascorrere dei decenni sempre più pessimistica.

In Awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “resumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American.” Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of the novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned. With the decline in their status, his wife is restless & his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous standards.

In momentul aparitiei romanului Fructele miniei, in 1939, America se lupta cu efectele Marii Crize Financiare. Personajele puse in scena de John Steinbeck, o familie scapatata din Oklahoma, nu au alta solutie decit sa-si lase in urma ferma si sa ia drumul pribegiei, alaturi de citeva animale strinse intr-o masina hirbuita. Un adevarat drum al fagaduintei, calea spre California este calea sperantei, pe care familia Joad o apuca impinsa de gindul la o viata mai buna. Ca in mai toate romanele lui Steinbeck, in spatele unei povesti aproape eroice sta placerea micilor detalii: limbajul plin de culoare, situatiile luate parca dintr-un film mut, hotarirea de neclintit a unui protagonist ce imprima ritmul unei povesti parca fara sfirsit. „Fructele miniei este cel mai dur, dar si cel mai tandru roman al lui Steinbeck, cu istoria cea mai aspra, dar si cea mai dulce, mai aproape de realism si, pina la urma, cea mai melodramatica, cea mai furioasa, dar si cea mai idilica.” (Time) „O carte care naste emotii puternice, indignare, furie, mila. Un document al protestului si al compasiunii, ca o poveste ce arde sa fie spusa, ca o carte ce tinjeste dupa cititorul ei.” (The Nation)

„Reportajele de război ale lui Steinbeck sînt memorabile nu atît datorită valorii lor istorice, cît puternicei note personale, profund umane, vitalității cu care e surprins efectul războiului asupra celor aflați fie pe un transportor de trupe, fie pe un aerodrom din Anglia, fie în spatele frontului. Decorul se schimbă, e cînd Anglia, cînd Africa de Nord, cînd Italia, dar din toate relatările răzbat același discernămînt, aceeași compasiune și înțelegere a omului de rînd ce caracterizează și ficțiunea lui Steinbeck. […] Aceste reportaje sînt niște povestiri la prima mînă despre tînăra Americă în război, istorisite de un povestitor inegalabil. Jurnalism de calitate, da, dar și literatură de calitate.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Es una novela ambientada en California y en la época de la Depresión. En este contexto, la historia de dos trabajadores temporeros que sueñan en vano con adquirir una pequeña granja adquiere un sentido trascendente. Y es que el dramático fracaso de las aspiraciones de George y Lennie, personajes unidos por estrechos lazos de amistad, no solo evidencia la fragilidad de sus sueños y el espejismo de la tierra de promisión americana, sino que pone al descubierto la amarga soledad en que una sociedad insolidaria abandona a los desheredados. La crudeza de la historia, con su estremecedor desenlace, queda no obstante atemperada por la ternura que destilan algunos personajes y por la profunda humanidad con que Steinbeck los trata.

رغم ما أحدثته ملحمة چون شتاينبك "عناقيد الغضب" من صدمة وما أثارته من جدل عندما نُشرت لأول مرة في عام 1939، فهي تظلُ رائعتَه التي لا خلافَ عليها. وبينما تقع أحداثها في أوكلاهوما التي أصابها الجدب والجفاف وتتناول حياة المهاجرين في كاليفورنيا، فتحكي عن أسرة چَدْ التي تُجبر مثل آلاف غيرها من الأسر على السفر غربًا سعيًا وراء الأرض الموعودة. وقصة هذه الأسرة واحدة من قصص الآمال الزائفة والرغبات المحبطة والأحلام المحطمة. ومع ذلك فقد خلق چون شتاينبك الحائز على جائزة نوبل في الأدب من معاناتها دراما على قدر مكثف من الإنسانية، بيد أنها مهيبة في حجمها ورؤيتها الأخلاقية. إنها إشادة بليغة بجَلَد الروح الإنسانية وكرامتها

Forzados por la sequía y el acoso de los bancos, los Joad, una familia de granjeros de la Oklahoma rural y empobrecida de los años treinta, emprenden un atribulado éxodo a lo largo de la carretera 66 con la intención de buscar trabajo y una vida digna en California. Si atrás dejan campos asolados por las tormentas de polvo, en el camino sólo encuentran penuria, hambre, hostilidad en los pueblos por los que pasan... Pero ni las advertencias de quienes regresan, pobres y desengañados, ni la muerte y la progresiva desintegración de la familia, bastan para que cejen en su empeño. Y, en su afán de supervivencia, conservan la entereza y la dignidad frente a la miseria moral de quienes se aprovechan de la miseria real. Posiblemente haya que huir del infierno para descubrir que no existe la tierra prometida.