Facts And Information About John Steinbeck

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John Steinbeck is one of the renowned American Novelist. He won the Nobel Prize in the year 1962 and was popularly known for his great concern for the victims of the Great Depression.

Fact 1 His Early Life

John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was born on the 27th of February, 1902 in Salinas, California. He belonged to a middle class family. His father John Ernest Steinbeck (1863 – 1935) worked hard in various jobs to maintain his family. Steinbeck’s mother, Olive Hamilton Steinbeck was a former school teacher. He had three sisters with whom he spent a happy childhood. He took admission to Stanford University in 1919, but he left his studies without completing his graduation. He worked as a laborer to support himself. He was keen on writing poems and stories from his childhood days and often stayed indoors to pen down his thoughts from the age of 14 years. His love for California’s Salinas Valley is portrayed in his work. The time he spent with the laborers gave him insight into the poor plight of the working class and how they were deprived of all things. He realized their excessive depression which made him create such touching novels.

Fact 2 His Career

John Steinbeck began his career as a freelance writer. He moved to New York City where he started work at a construction site and also as a newspaper reporter. However he returned to California and worked as a caretaker in Lake Tahoe. In 1929 he married Carol Henning. His first novel was Cup of Gold and thereafter he wrote The Pastures of Heaven, To a God Unknown which did not appeal to his readers. However, the work he published in 1935, Tortilla Flat earned the desired recognition that he deserved. He became popular too and won the California Commonwealth Club’s Gold Medal. This humorous story was filmed in 1942. The novel “In Dubious Battle” deals with the strike of agricultural laborers. His other work, Novella of Mice and Men was adapted for play versions and film.

Fact 3 The Novel Which Won The Nobel Prize

It was in 1930 that John Steinbeck’s work was acclaimed by all. His novel, The Grapes of Wrath, became the bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. It was filmed and was released at the theaters in 1940. The story portrays Steinbeck’s great concern and his sympathy for the migratory workers of his time. A tenant farming family is forced to set up a new living in California being thrown out of Oklahoma. The merciless system of agriculture where there is no pace for the workers and their poor economic conditions is clearly brought out in this novel. The treatment of facts have been so vividly dealt with by the writer, that it appealed to all his readers and won for him the coveted Nobel Prize.

During the Second World War, he worked for the New York Herald Tribune as a war correspondent. After the war, Steinbeck published his works like Cannery Row in 1945, and two books in 1947 -The Pearl and The Wayward Bus. The Grapes of Wrath is perhaps his best novel. But the other well-known books are Burning Bright (1950), East of Eden (1952), The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), and Travels with Charley (1962). Some of his works that were filmed are East of Eden, The Pearl and Red Pony and many others.

Fact 4 His Last Years

After winning the Nobel Prize in 1962, he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom two years later. It was awarded by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Later, in 1968, on the 20th of December he passed away in New York.

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