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John Steinbeck: A Biography

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On February 27, 1902 John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. Now we stand at the centenary crossing, marking the one hundredth birthday of a Nobel Prize-winning novelist who, in the manner of few great creative artists, embodied the fundamental spirit of America's determination to overcome adversity. An ironic note from the career of Steinbeck, someone who wrote with such feeling about common folk overcoming adversity, particularly during the Great Depression,was that some of the most characteristic lines summing up the credo expressed in his writing came not from him but from Twentieth Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, who started his film career as a screenwriter. At the close of the great John Ford film based on Steinbeck's greatest novel, "The Grapes of Wrath," Zanuck, wanting the movie to end on an upbeat note, wrote the final scene in which Jane Darwell in her Oscar-winning performance summed up her feelings. Darwell delivered a testimonial about the survivalist nature of the common folk, with their ability to bounce back in the face of hardship.

Steinbeck is examined by Parini as an author always in touch with his roots. He was a classic example of the adage that a person should write about what one knows best. Doing so often got Steinbeck in trouble, as when residents of Monterey reportedly walked across the street rather than speak to him after he wrote "Cannery Row." Steinbeck later set off a tempest in his hometown of Salinas with the publication of "East of Eden." Citizens who had lived in Salinas for years recognized themselves as characters in the book. Steinbeck remembered the uproar years later when, not long before his death in 1968, he learned that the Salinas library would be named after him. "I wouldn't have been surprised if they had named the local house of ill repute after me," the author quipped, "but I never expected to have the library named after me."

The young Steinbeck tended to be shy and withdrawn. A neighbor became a close friend and helped draw him out, Max Wagner, who later became a film actor and remained friends with Steinbeck during the rest of their lives. Max's brother Jack became a writer and collaborated with Steinbeck later on film projects. The two writers shared a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination for their work in the 1945 film "A Medal for Benny." Steinbeck and Max Wagner each left Salinas to attend Stanford University in nearby Palo Alto. They both left after one year, restless creative spirits who hated confinement.

Parini reveals the painful experience of writing for Steinbeck, who endured numerous ailments from the early days of his career. The biographer reveals the "earthy" propensity of Steinbeck's subject matter, including such an early work as "Tortilla Flat," which revealed the lives of impoverished Mexicans living in shacks in Monterey. Later his close friendship with local Monterey marine biologist, Dr. Edward F. Ricketts, was revealed. The man known as "Doc" to localies was played by Nick Nolte in the screen adaptation of the Steinbeck novel "Cannery Row." In the case of Steinbeck's master work, "The Grapes of Wrath," the author carefully researched California migrant camps, a major element of the story as Oklahomans fleeing the great dust bowl resided in them on the way to establishing their own roots moving westward. Steinbeck had an excellent guide, Tom Collins, who managed the Kern County Migrant Camp and became a friend of the author's. Steinbeck's great novel was dedicated partially to Collins as he wrote: "To Tom -- who lived it." It was a simple dedication which meant so much, so typically earthy, and so typically Steinbeck.

One important friendship Steinbeck formed was with fellow humanitarian and author, Carl Sandburg, poet and Lincoln biographer. Actor Burgess Meredith also became a close friend after starring in the brilliant 1939 film adaptation of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."

Long before Cesar Chavez was available to courageously carry the banner of the exploited Mexican braceros, Steinbeck fought tirelessly for their cause along with crusading journalist Carey McWilliams. Steinbeck was a stalwart advocate of the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and became a friend and devoted admirer of two time Democratic presidential nominee Adlai E. Stevenson, for whom Steinbeck wrote speeches during his losing 1956 campaign to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Parini provides a solid account of Steinbeck as a man, including defeats as well as triumphs. In the former category there were Steinbeck's problematical marriages and difficulties with fatherhood. The biographer notes the success of Steinbeck's last marriage to Elaine Scott Steinbeck, the former wife of actor Zachary Scott. The two became initially fond of each other after the actress Ann Sothern, who had her own romantic designs on the famous author, brought her friend Elaine along for a Northern California visit. The women stayed at a Carmel hotel and Steinbeck, then living in Monterey, showed them the sights. It soon became obvious that the author's designs were on Elaine rather than the actress. "I don't think Ann ever forgave me," Elaine Scott Steinbeck later revealed.

Parini does a superb job of capturing a man of many parts, an author in touch with America's roots. Steinbeck's works are an evocation of the adventurousness and tenacity of the American spirit.

There's no doubt Parini is an excellent writer. He's proven that on numerous occasions. But the Steinbeck autobiography proves he is also an excellent researcher and distiller of information. Steinbeck has been one of my favorite writers for years, and, as stated within his preface, he is one of Parini's favorites as well. Parini's admiration for Steinbeck comes across, as he details the many periods of Steinbeck's life, such as the Depression years, the war correspondence days, and the latter novels, such as The Winter of Our Discontent and Travels with Charley. Of particular interest within this biography is Parini's exploration of Steinbeck's psychological background and why he includes so many strong female characters within his novels.

In my opinion, the greatest American writer is John Steinbeck, and the great American novel is The Grapes of Wrath. So it was a delight to read this fluid, exhaustively researched and insightful biography of Steinbeck by Jay Parini.

From Steinbeck's birth in northern California in 1902, to his death in 1968, the book details the influences and defining moments in Steinbeck's life. There is very little conjecture here. The book is objective, but the details are compelling and the writing is smooth. The complete cooperation of Steinbeck's third wife, Elaine, was, I think, a key the book's veracity as well as its insight.

You'll be inspired by the young Steinbeck's complete faith in his writing ability. He sensed his destiny at a young age, and stubbornly pursued it.

You'll be surprised at how a man with such a deep inner sense of his own gift for writing was, at the same time, so easily devastated by critics.

You'll be amazed at Steinbeck's popularity and influence around the world. The world recognized Steinbeck's genius, while the literary pecking order in the United States threw stones. Why? - probably for two reasons. First, we love to throw stones at those who achieve popular and financial success. It's an American tradition. Second, woe be to the author whose writing can be understood by the masses. Steinbeck was an eloquent writer whose beautiful prose could be savored by everyone, and he wrote a superb story on top of it. The literary elitists prefer writing and a story that can only be understood by literary elitists.

I have only one mild criticism of Mr. Parini's biography of Steinbeck. As I said, there is little conjecture, but he does seem to put a load of psychobabble guilt in the laps of Steinbeck's mother and father. The evidence seems to indicate otherwise. His mother's perfectionism wasn't all bad, and wouldn't any mother be concerned if her 30-year-old son was still living as a near-pauper? And his father may have been a passive man, but he supported his son financially through many, many lean years. The portrayal of John Ernst Steinbeck as a failure is too harsh a judgment.

But that's only a minor criticism. This is truly a marvelous biography about the most talented and compassionate of American writers.

I first "discovered" John Steinbeck back in the mid 50's when I was a student at the Army Language School (now called the Defense Language Institute, I think) in Monterey, California. At that time, all but one of the canneries had been shut down, as the sardines had disappeared from Monterey Bay, and the conversion of Cannery Row to a tourist Mecca wasn't even a gleam in some promoter's eye. I was able to spend my weekends ferreting out the sites dear to Steinbeck while I was reading about them. I particularly concentrated on Monterey, Pacific Grove and Salinas.

Through the years, I returned to Monterey Peninsula when I could and visited the Salinas Library, and later, as they opened, the various centers and museums dedicated to him. All in all, I thought that I was a real expert on Steinbeck. It took Parini's biography of Steinbeck to make me realize just how superficial my knowledge really was.

Reading Parini's biography of Steinbeck, I began to learn about Steinbeck as a flesh and blood human being. I knew of course, that he had a well developed social conscience and that he had never received the critical acclaim that he desired. Parini, however, brought to life a talented, tortured, stubborn, difficult Steinbeck that I hadn't known.

Nowhere are these aspects of Steinbeck's personality revealed better than in his struggles to write a new version of the Arthurian legend, or what he frequently referred to as "The Malory Project." Steinbeck had been fascinated with the Arthurian Legends since he had read, and understood, Malory's MORTE d'ARTHUR, at about the age of nine. It would seem that his life-long ambition was to write his own Arthurian saga.

Parini shows Steinbeck with writer's block, searching for the "right atmosphere," the right paper, the right kind of pens and ink, the right anything to give him the inspiration he needed to fulfill his life's ambition. He even left his English retreat to travel to Italy in search of possible Malory sources. Nothing worked and, in the end, he had to give up the Malory Project. With the abandonment of his dream, his health began the decline that only ended with his death. (His partially completed manuscript and many of his notes about the project were published after his death as THE ACTS OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS NOBLE KNIGHTS by John Steinbeck.

Parini's biography brings to life Steinbeck, the flawed man, and shows him with the courage to return to California's Central Valley after the publication of GRAPES OF WRATH made him persona non grata. It makes the reader feel the pain that Steinbeck felt when he suffered critical rejection. The reader lives through, with him, his marriages, his divorces, his weaknesses and his strenghths. I believe that this is the finest of the Steinbeck biographies.

I am a big John Steinbeck fan. I was hoping for a biography to help me understand the man a little more. What I got was a critique of his writings. The author took great enjoyment in showing how he interpreted the Steinbeck writings. Hey, we have read the books and can form our own opinions! The biography was so long-winded that I found myself skipping entire sections. So, I was disappointed that the book was not a true biography of the man. The biography is in there, you just have to muddle through the author's side tracks to see it. I don't know of another biography to recommend since this is the first I tried, spurred on by the glowing reviews. Maybe I missed something and it is a great biography, but not for me personally.

Greatness is thin coat of paint. My hero John Steinbeck was a great writer, a man with a noble heart. His writing shows sympathy and understanding of the poor, the rejects of society. But, as is made clear in John Steinbeck, a Biography, a writer is more than an artist. He has a life outside art, and here is where Steinbeck fell down. He was one dysfunctional man. He created a national awareness for the plight of poor, but couldn't recognize the difficult loneliness of two of his wives and his two sons. To them he was cold, arrogant, and self-centered. They didn't enjoy him, but rather endured him!

I always wonder about root causes in such situations. Jay Parini, the author of John Steinbeck, a Biography, sees a weak dad and domineering, puritanical mother as the seeds that created the social monster, but this mom and dad supported John Steinbeck until he was 27 even though he chose an unconventional road to walk. They wanted him to finish college, live sober and restrained. He chose to drop our, drink excessively, and brag about sexual conquests. Parini says Steinbeck could never please his parents. Perhaps, but perhaps that is because his root problem wasn't parents, but booze. No parent is going to "accept" behavior that destroys their child. They will accept the child, love the child, but that rot in corner they simply endure. I have a feeling that is what happened in the Steinbeck home.

Booze warped the man but not the artist. He had talent enough to rise above the destructive power of alcohol when in front of the typewriter, but not in the kitchen, the living room, and the backyard where he fell on his face.

Just as I reject Parini's parental based explanation of John Steinbeck's dysfunction as way too simple, I am sure others will see my undiagnosed alcoholism as equally naïve and one-dimensional. Steinbeck was a man of contradictions. He was convinced of his talent, but full of self doubt. He prided himself on toughness, and yet he let critics impact on him in powerful ways. He distained the establishment, and embraced it.

Steinbeck is still my favorite writer, but now I now see him in a more complete way. I ache for the life he lived, because it could have been much more satisfying on a personal level.

The work of few contemporary literary figures has endured as has the writing of John Steinbeck. "The Grapes Of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men" have been reinterpreted, reassessed and even now are being reintroduced to our country's consciousness via stage, movies and television. The Joad family and George and Lenny have become icons, fictional giants of biblical and mythological stature, there to jab sharp elbows into America's social conscience.

Aware of his talent and determined to write, whether as a journalist or penning travelogues, Steinbeck, nonetheless, remained achingly in need of reassurance. After attaining the ranks of bestsellerdom, he was courted by Hollywood and Broadway. He won Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes; some claimed he was undeserving of the latter.

At times beset by rigid principles which Parini suggests were the legacy of a strong mother and distant father, Steinbeck's vision may have been influenced by his friendships with mythologist Joseph Campbell and marine biologist Ed Ricketts.

A complex figure, Steinbeck is thoughtfully assessed by Parini through numerous interviews, published and unpublished letters, diaries and manuscripts. The author gives editorial credit to Carol Steinbeck, the writer's firt wife.

Steinbeck, the man, was larger than life, and so is this perceptive appraisal.

- Gail Cooke

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) was born into a middle class family in Salinas
California at the dawn of the twentieth century. He was coddled by his three sisters; dealt with the coldness of a distant father; was loved by a stern though loving mother. Steinbeck dropped out of Stanford; worked in a series of blue collar manual labor job and continued to write outstanding novels and short stories.
Along the way as we travel with John we meet Ed Ricketts the marine biologist who served as a father figure to Steinbeck. Steinbeck wrote in an easily understable style being dubbed the poor man's Hemingway. He wed three times. Carol the longsuffering wife who was there as his literary comet at last sparkled with the publication of "Tortilla Flat" and his greatest novel "The Grapes of Wrath." His second wife was Gwen Conger a singer by whom he had two sons Thom and John Jr. They spilt in the late 40's after a short and stormy marriage. Steinbeck at last found marital bliss with Eleanor Scott the tall Texan who was once married to actor Zachary Scott.
Steinbeck lived in Europe, Mexico, California and in the latter half of his life in New York City. He loved to travel, work in the garden, fish and drink to excess. He was moody, complex and suffered from an inferiority complex regarding his writing career. He was a liberal Democrat supporting LBJ during the Vietnam war; a friend of Adlai Stevenson and a defender of the downtrodden in society.
Steinbeck wrote for Broadway in plays which failed; wrote movie scripts and enjoyed and suffered the slings and arrows of American celebrity.
Steinbeck's work is very uneven. He never matched the greatnes of "The Grapes of Wrath" but several of his works such as "The Pearl"; "The Red Pony" "In Dubious Battle; "Travels With Charley"; "East of Eden" and "The Winter of Our Discontent" are worthy reading and rereading. He was never liked by the elitist critics such as Alfred Kazin but is still beloved today throughout the world.
Steinbeck was a good man with many faults. He was egotistical, thin-skinned to criticism; mistreated his wives; was often drunk and rude. Yet he was also one of our nation's greatest novelists in the generation which produced Faulkner; Fitzgerald and Hemingway.
Jay Parini is a noted poet, novelist and literary biographer of such literary luminaries as William Faulkner and Robert Frost. His book on Steinbeck is well written for a popular readership. If you read one general biograpy on the life of Steinbeck this is the one.

Having enjoyed Parini on Vidal and Faulkner this was always going to be next. For those of the younger generation who know these men are famous but don't really know why, or who studied them under duress at school, Parini recreates their lives and torments and explains the creative processes which brought acclaim. Huge inspiration to delve back into their works.

There was far too much analysis of Steinbeck's novels... and not enough about the man. The author seems to have appropriated a great deal of his material from "Steinbeck: A Life In Letters," which I just read. It was that particular book that left me wanting for more, hoping to fill in some of the blanks. This book did a little bit, but really I did not gain much insight into John Steinbeck. Disappointing.