John Steinbeck and His Contemporaries

Stephen K. George; Barbara A. Heavilin

doi:10.5771/9780810866768

Summary

In March of 2006, scholars from around the world gathered in Sun Valley, Idaho for a conference devoted to not only John Steinbeck but also to the authors whose work influenced, informs, or illuminates his writings. This volume represents the many unique papers delivered at that conference by scholars from around the world. This collection includes studies on authors who influenced Steinbeck's work, discussions of writers whose work is in dialogue with Steinbeck, and examinations of Steinbeck's contemporaries, whose individual works invite comparisons with those of the Nobel-prize winning author. Revealing Steinbeck's penchant for culling 'all old books,' the first section focuses on Steinbeck's European forebears, particularly Sir Thomas Malory's retelling of the legend of King Arthur, Le Morte d'Arthur, and Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones. This section also includes articles on his American forebears: Walt Whitman and Sarah Orne Jewett. The second part, 'Steinbeck, Hemingway, Faulkner, and Cather' includes a personal reminiscence by Ernest Hemingway's daughter-in-law, Valerie, as well as comparisons of Steinbeck with other great American authors of the 20th century. The third section includes an essay by National Book Award winner Charles Johnson (Middle Passage), as well as articles that compare Steinbeck's work with Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison. Further articles are concerned with Steinbeck's moral philosophy and strong sense of social justice, eliciting comparisons with Sinclair Lewis, Tom Kristensen, and Charles Johnson. The fourth section, 'Steinbeck, the Arts, and the World' includes articles on the film adaptation of The Moon Is Down, on Steinbeck and Mexican Modernism, on the American experience as portrayed in The Grapes of Wrath and Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, and on Steinbeck and ecocriticism. The book fittingly concludes with John Ditsky's keynote address, 'In Search of a Language: Steinbeck and Others,' which was delivered at the conference shortly before Ditsky's death. John Steinbeck and His Contemporaries not only provides a rich array of new insights and new voices, it also points Steinbeck studies in new and varied directions. Containing more than thirty essays, this volume is not only a valuable addition to Steinbeck studies but to literary criticism in general.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2007
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8108-6010-0
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8108-6676-8
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 322
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
2. Foreword No access
3. Preface No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
5. Introduction No access
6. Photograph: Sue and John Ditsky No access
7. Photograph: Stephen George, Barbara Heavilin, and Charles Heavilin No access
1. 1. The Influence of Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur on John Steinbeck Stephen K. George No access
2. 2. "Being in it myself": Echoes of Fielding in Steinbeck's East of Eden Barbara A. Heavilin No access
3. 3. Steinbeck's To a God Unknown and The Grapes of Wrath from the Perspective of Whitman's "Song of Myself" Yuji Kami No access
4. 4. Limited Lives in Steinbeck and Jewett Rosalie Murphy Baum No access
1. 5. Rivals and Revelry: Hemingway and His Contemporary Literary Scene Valerie Hemingway No access
2. 6. Steinbeck, Hemingway, and the Nobel Prize Stephen L. Tanner No access
3. 7. "Surrendering to the Feminine": Implied Author Compassion in "The Chrysanthemums" and "Hills like White Elephants" Stephen K. George No access
4. 8. John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway's Attitudes towards Otherness Reinaldo Silva No access
5. 9. The Unspoken Heritage: The Influence of Family in Steinbeck and Faulkner Eric d'Evegnee No access
6. 10. Faulkner and Steinbeck: Thematic and Stylistic Resonance in the Early Stories Mimi Reisel Gladstein No access
7. 11. Steinbeck and Cather: The Divergent Religious Visions John J. Han No access
8. 12. John Steinbeck and Willa Cather: Almost on Speaking Terms John Ditsky No access
1. 13. Reading the Character of Crooks in Of Mice and Men: A Black Writer's Perspective Charles Johnson No access
2. 14. The Possibilities of the Grotesque in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God Joelle Moen No access
3. 15. John Steinbeck and Zora Neale Hurston as Folklorists Thomas E. Barden No access
4. 16. Victimized Wives in Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" and Alice Walker's "Really, Doesn't Crime Pay?" Kiyoshi Nakayama No access
5. 17. Into the Heart of Darkness: Travels with Sinclair and John Sally E. Parry No access
6. 18. John Steinbeck's Parsing of the Ethical Imperative: "Respect Persons" Patrick K. Dooley No access
7. 19. The Quest for Authenticity: The Moral Philosophies of Steinbeck and Kristensen Nina Rosenstand No access
8. 20. Embedded Care, Embedded Harm: Challenges to Caring in Steinbeck and Morrison Patrick Shade No access
9. 21. "There is one story": Good and Evil in Steinbeck's East of Eden and Morrison's Sula Barbara A. Heavilin No access
10. 22. Moral Issues in the Fiction of John Steinbeck and Charles Johnson Richard E. Hart No access
1. 23. A Map of the Countryside: Elia Kazan and John Steinbeck Janine Gilbert No access
2. 24. Flies Conquer the Flypaper: Learning to Fight the Nazisin Hollywood's Adaptation of The Moon Is Down Robert L. McLaughlin No access
3. 25. Steinbeck, Rivera, and Mexican Modernism Charles L. Etheridge, Jr. No access
4. 26. Promise and Reality in The Grapes of Wrath and The Big Sleep Joseph Allegretti No access
5. 27. Conquering the Flypaper: Steinbeck, Shostakovich, and Yevtushenko on War Harriet Rafter No access
6. 28. Makers of Myths: John Steinbeck and Frank Hardy Danica Cerce No access
7. 29. John Steinbeck and Munshi Premchand: Some Striking Parallels and Contrasts Aruna Pandey No access
8. 30. Americo Paredes's "Interchapter": A "Mexicotexan" Counterpart to The Grapes of Wrath Daniel Griesbach No access
9. 31. John Steinbeck, Ecocriticism, and the Way Ahead Brian Railsback No access
10. 32. In Search of a Language: Steinbeck, Faulkner, and Others John Ditsky No access
Works Cited No access Pages 289 - 304
Index No access Pages 305 - 312
About the Contributors and Editors No access Pages 313 - 322