DELIGHTFUL SATURDAYS WITH MY FAVORITE AUTHORS AND POETS (46)

JOHN STEINBECK

( Image and information : Wikipedia)

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. is a prominent figure in the American Literature. He was born on February 27, 1902 at Salinas, California, U.S  to John Ernst Steinbeck (1862–1935),  a Monterey County treasurer, and Olive Hamilton, , a former school teacher. Steinbeck Jr. got his passion for reading and writing from his mother.  Steinbeck belonged to German, English, and Irish descent.

His paternal grandfather, Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck (1828–1913), founded Mount Hope, a messianic farming colony in Palestine, that disintegrated after the attackers killed his brother and raped his brother’s wife and mother-in-law.

Steinbeck Jr. did his schooling from from Salinas High School in 1919 and went on to study English literature at Stanford University near Palo Alto but left without a degree in 1925. He took several odd jobs while trying to make a career in writing after coming to New York City. He failed to make it big and returned to California to take up a job as a tour guide and caretaker in 1928 at Lake Tahoe. He met Carol Henning and married her in January 1930 in Los Angeles. He tried his hand in manufacturing plastic mannequins with his friends.

This business failed, forcing Steinbeck and his wife to move back to his father’s cottage on the Monterey Peninsula a few blocks outside the Monterey city limits.The elder Steinbecks supported him by giving free housing paper for his manuscripts, and from 1928, loans that allowed him to write without looking for work. In spite of the parental support, Steinbeck met with failure to get a decent work and also tried fishing and producing vegetables on his farm. They lived on welfare for sometime and even steal bacon from the local produce market. His wife, Carol, became the inspiration for the character of Mary Talbot in his novel Cannery Row. However, their marriage failed and they divorced in 1941. Steinbeck married Gwyndolyn “Gwyn” Conger in 1942 and had two sons from her, Thomas (“Thom”) Myles Steinbeck (1944–2016) and John Steinbeck IV (1946–1991). He divorced Gwyn around 1948 and married stage-manager Elaine Scott in December 1950.

He achieved spectacular success with the publication of his novel,  The Grapes of Wrath (1939) for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. He also won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. He wrote 33 books, with one book co-authored alongside Edward Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories, during his writing career.

John Steinbeck passed away on December 20, 1968 (aged 66) at New York City, U.S due to the 1968 flu pandemic of heart disease and congestive heart failure. He will always be remembered for his significant contribution to the world of literature.

His notable work :

Movie adaptation:

1939: Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field

1940: The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine

1941: The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler

1942: Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield

1943: The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke

1944: Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak

1944: A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova

1947: La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués

1949: The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern

1952: Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters

1955: East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey

1957: The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins

1961: Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez

1962: Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)

1972: Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)

1982: Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger

1992: Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise

2016: In Dubious Battle—directed by James Franco and featuring Franco, Nat Wolff and Selena Gomez.

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