I've been reading the new biography of writer John Steinbeck: Mad at the World by William Souder. Aside from a deep dive into his quirky personality, the book is a wonderful look at parts of central California from Monterey and Salinas up to Tahoe as they
existed in the days before the Great Depression.
Steinbeck was a Stanford dropout who lived a free-spirited life in his younger years. He also had grave misgivings about his ability to tell a story and achieve commercial success as a professional writer. It's fascinating to read some of the early reviews of his novels and short stories, knowing that he'd go on to receive a Nobel Prize in literature.
In the end, it was his ability to write the definitive history of his times and do it through the voices of the people who lived those lives and spoke in those dialects. I was also fascinated by the fact that his first publishers were in New York. Some had difficulty understanding the cultural identities and values of both Native and Mexican-American people who continued to live on the land that was once all part of Mexico. That made Tortilla Flat all the more difficult to see wide distribution because the publishing gatekeepers were all on the East coast.
In the end, it worked out fairly well for Steinbeck. As one of the truly great American writers and storytellers, he still retains his critics. I must have taught at least half a dozen Steinbeck titles in my classroom. Add to that some of his best short stories, I've got his body of work covered well. Still, some readers complain that his work is "depressing" or "uninteresting." I'm not sure what they are reading because he is certainly regarded as one of the greats. Part of that validation includes the fact that Steinbeck, along with Falkner, Hemingway, O"Connor, Morrison, and even Bob Dylan now that he is a Nobel Laureate, all helped to define that fairly recent phenomenon that has come to be known as American Literature.
After reading a Steinbeck title or two, especially The Grapes of Wrath, I used to have my students write a piece that emulated his style. That would include an emphasis on natural images, dialogue as people spoke it, and the use of simile and metaphor. These pieces were often written with an emphasis on social commentary, especially toward current social issues in the news. Granted that there are many current affairs that one could call depressing, they are hardly uninteresting. The antidote to that is the challenge for the writer to pick topics and events that are crucial. Situations that matter. I would always tell students if they get depressed, then that's "where the juice is...where the significance is strong."
Often, these pieces were among the finest pieces of writing they produced all semester.
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