Read complete books and articles on: The Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck, John - 1902–68, American writer, b. Salinas, Calif., studied at Stanford. He is probably best remembered for his strong sociological novel The Grapes of Wrath, considered one of the great American novels of the 20th cent. Steinbeck's early novels—Cup of Gold (1929), The Pastures of Heaven (1932), and To a God Unknown (1933)—attracted little critical attention, but Tortilla Flat (1935), an affectionate yet realistic novel about the lovable, exotic, Spanish-speaking poor of Monterey, was enthusiastically received. A compassionate understanding of the world's disinherited was to be Steinbeck's hallmark. The novel In Dubious Battle (1936) defends striking migrant agricultural workers in the California fields. In the novella Of Mice and Men (1937; later made into a play), Steinbeck again presents migrant workers, but this time in terms of human worth and integrity—a theme he also used in The Moon Is Down (1942; later made into a play), about Norwegian resistance to the Nazis. The Grapes of Wrath (1939; Pulitzer Prize), while treating the plight of dispossessed Dust Bowl farmers during the 1930s, presents a universal picture of victims of disaster. Steinbeck's depiction of the westward migration of the Joad family, and their subsequent struggles in the exploitative agricultural industry of California, is realistic and moving, and he endows his humble characters with nobility. Steinbeck's other works are diverse, ranging from the literal account of a voyage, The Sea of Cortez (1941; written with the marine biologist E. F. Ricketts); to a parable, The Pearl (1948); to a playful French folk piece, The Short Reign of Pippin IV (1957). Love of his native land shines through the exquisitely nostalgic story "The Red Pony" in The Long Valley (1938). The somewhat sentimental attitude of Tortilla Flat appears again in Cannery Row (1945), The Wayward Bus (1947), and Sweet Thursday (1954). More ambitious are the novels East of Eden (1952), a family chronicle with the Cain and Abel theme, and Winter of Our Discontent (1961), about a suburbanite's moral conflict. Steinbeck also wrote notable nonfiction, particularly The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951) and A Russian Journal (1948), and the screenplays for the motion pictures The Forgotten Village (1941) and Viva Zapata! (1952). Travels with Charley in Search of America appeared in 1962 and America and Americans in 1966. Steinbeck was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature.

See his letters, ed. by E. Steinbeck and R. Wallsten (1975); biographies by J. Benson (1984) and J. Parini (1995); study by J. H. Timmerman (1986).

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13 of the Best Books and Articles on: The Grapes of Wrath

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Understanding The Grapes of Wrath: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents » Read Now
by Claudia Durst Johnson. 276 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, it had an explosive effect on the public, calling attention to the problems of migrant farm workers during the Great Depression. This casebook provides a rich source of primary materials on the period and the plight of the migrant farm worker that...
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When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, it had an explosive effect on the public, calling attention to the problems of migrant farm workers during the Great Depression. This casebook provides a rich source of primary materials on the period and the plight of the migrant farm worker that brings to life the problems Steinbeck immortalized in the novel. Included are interviews with eyewitnesses to the Dust Bowl, firsthand accounts and investigative reports of the causes and effects of the Great Depression, letters, diaries and autobiographies of migrant farm workers in the 1930s, newspaper articles and editorials of the period, affidavits by union activists, and other unique materials, many of which have never before appeared in print. All these materials can be used in literature, American history, and interdisciplinary classes to enrich the study of this novel and its times.
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2.

Barron's Simplified Approach to The Grapes of Wrath » Read Now
by Robert L. Gale. 92 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...The Grapes of Wrath BARRONS SIMPLIFIED APPROACH TO The Grapes of Wrath JOHN STEINBECK By Robert L. Gale...Simplified Approach to John Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath...
3.

The Critical Response to John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath » Read Now
by Barbara A. Heavilin. 366 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

When it was initially published in 1939, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath instantly became a bestseller. Like many phenomenally popular works, it has elicited a wide range of critical responses. Some critics have attacked Steinbeck for his alleged sentimentalism, while others have praised him...
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When it was initially published in 1939, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath instantly became a bestseller. Like many phenomenally popular works, it has elicited a wide range of critical responses. Some critics have attacked Steinbeck for his alleged sentimentalism, while others have praised him for writing a great American epic. While modern critics have generally responded positively toward his novel, they have done so at a time when its place in the American literary canon is increasingly uncertain. Through reviews, previously published essays, and original material, this volume records the critical reception of The Grapes of Wrath up to the recent editions of the 1990s. The volume additionally includes a chronology, bibliography, and extensive introductory essay.
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4.

Heroic Fiction: The Epic Tradition and American Novels of the Twentieth Century (Chap. 3 "The Grapes of Wrath") » Read Now
by Leonard Lutwack, Harry T. Moore. 176 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...Octopus 23 3 The Grapes of Wrath 47 4 For Whom...Bell Tolls and Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath . Now we find them viewed from...most unfashionable novel, to The Grapes of...
5.

American Literature and the Dream (Chap. 18 "John Steinbeck: The Philosophical Joads") » Read Now
by Frederic I. Carpenter. 222 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...dreamers before they are men of action, and in The Grapes of Wrath , the dreams of Casey, the preacher, motivate the...the old idealism. Less realistic, perhaps, than The...
6.

John Steinbeck: The Years of Greatness, 1936-1939 (Chap. 9 "The Grapes of Wrath: Steinbeck and the Eternal Immigrant" and Chap. 10 "California Answers The Grapes of Wrath") » Read Now
by Tetsumaro Hayashi. 218 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...3 2. After The Grapes of Wrath A Speculative Essay on John Steinbecks...Morsberger 111 9. The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck and the Eternal Immigrant...10. California Answers...
7.

Twentieth-Century American Literary Naturalism: An Interpretation ("The Grapes of Wrath" begins on p. 65) » Read Now
by Donald Pizer. 171 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

An important paradox characterizes the history of American literary naturalism. Although the movement has been attacked by literary journalists and academic critics since its origin in the 1890s, it has been one of the most persistent and vital strains in American fiction. Naturalism 'refuses to...
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An important paradox characterizes the history of American literary naturalism. Although the movement has been attacked by literary journalists and academic critics since its origin in the 1890s, it has been one of the most persistent and vital strains in American fiction. Naturalism 'refuses to die' in America despite the deep antagonism it usually inspires. Few of our major twentieth-century novelists have escaped its 'taint, ' and it is perhaps the only modern literary form in America which has been both popular and significant.
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8.

Opposing Censorship in the Public Schools: Religion, Morality, and Literature (Chap. 10 "Religion and Morality in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck") » Read Now
by June Edwards. 154 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Education, Entire Library
9.

Audience and Closure in 'The Grapes of Wrath,' Studies in American Fiction » Read Now
by Nicholas Visser. 18 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...Audience and closure in The Grapes of Wrath. by Nicholas Visser Although The Grapes of Wrath continues to be regarded as Steinbecks...Steinbeck of In Dubious Battle or The...
10.

Turning Wine into Water: Water as Privileged Signifier in 'The Grapes of Wrath,' Papers on Language and Literature » Read Now
by David Cassuto. 29 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...as privileged signifier in The Grapes of Wrath. by David Cassuto...ditch. I will argue that The Grapes of Wrath represents an indictment of the...stratification depicted in...
11.

Steinbeck's Typewriter: Essays on His Art ("'This Book Is My Life': Creating The Grapes of Wrath" begins on p. 146) » Read Now
by Robert DeMott. 360 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

"With this book DeMott (Ohio Univ.), the preeminent scholar among the second generation of Steinbeck critics, completes a trilogy he announced years ago would be his final words on his subject. . . . . With a bibliography of relevant volumes alongside, this is a conspicuously necessary addition to...
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"With this book DeMott (Ohio Univ.), the preeminent scholar among the second generation of Steinbeck critics, completes a trilogy he announced years ago would be his final words on his subject. . . . . With a bibliography of relevant volumes alongside, this is a conspicuously necessary addition to any serious collection. The annotation alone is worth a night's reading."—Choice
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12.

Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, in Explicator » Read Now
by Rebecca Hinton. 3 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...Steinbecks THE GRAPES OF WRATH John Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath ( 1939 ) is a novel of transition...CITED Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath . 1939 . New York:...
13.

Working the Garden: American Writers and the Industrialization of Agriculture (Chap. Three "Disciplining the Farmer Class and Agriculture in The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and Of Human Kindness (1940)") » Read Now
by William Conlogue, Jack Temple Kirby. 230 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

In 1860 farmers accounted for 60 percent of the American workforce; in 1910, 30.5 percent; by 1994, there were too few to warrant a separate census category. The changes wrought by the decline of family farming and the rise of industrial agribusiness typically have been viewed through historical...
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In 1860 farmers accounted for 60 percent of the American workforce; in 1910, 30.5 percent; by 1994, there were too few to warrant a separate census category. The changes wrought by the decline of family farming and the rise of industrial agribusiness typically have been viewed through historical, economic, and political lenses. But as William Conlogue demonstrates, some of the most vital and incisive debates on the subject have occurred in a site that is perhaps less obvious--literature.
Conlogue refutes the critical tendency to treat farm-centered texts as pastorals, arguing that such an approach overlooks the diverse ways these works explore human relationships to the land. His readings of works by Willa Cather, Ruth Comfort Mitchell, John Steinbeck, Luis Valdez, Ernest Gaines, Jane Smiley, Wendell Berry, and others reveal that, through agricultural narratives, authors have addressed such wide-ranging subjects as the impact of technology on people and land, changing gender roles, environmental destruction, and the exploitation of migrant workers. In short, Conlogue offers fresh perspectives on how writers confront issues whose site is the farm but whose impact reaches every corner of American society.
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