Almanac of Story Tellers: John Steinbeck

  Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of December 20th.

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    It is the 354th day of the year, leaving 11 days in 2021.

    On this date in 1968, the Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer-prize winning author John Steinbeck died.

    Steinbeck is among the United States' greatest story tellers and writers, known for his "realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception," as his Nobel prize citation said.

    Steinbeck wrote novels, novellas, short stories, and non fiction. Many of his works of fiction are set in California, when the state was seen as holding the golden promise of America. His characters were the state's immigrants -- agricultural workers who came to work in its fields of plenty: poor refugees from Dust Bowl Oklahoma, Mexicans and other emigrates from Latin America; and common laborers down on their luck.

    His magnum opus, The Grapes of Wrath, is set during the Great Depression. It follows a tenant farming family from Oklahoma to California. They are driven out of Oklahoma by drought and economic hardships, and along with many others in similar circumstances, are seeking a new and better life in California. But their new life is much like the old one, with additional hardships and exploitations.

    

    The novel has become part of the literary canon, and continues to be taught in high schools and colleges around the country. Many of his other novels and novellas are treated the same way -- Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, The Red Pony, and Cannery Row are among his best known works. Many have been adapted into award-winning movies or stage plays, extending Steinbeck's reputation. 

    One of his last writings published in his lifetime, in 1962, was Travels With Charley. Steinbeck wrote about a road trip he and his poodle took in 1960 as they traveled some 10,000 miles around and through the United States in a modified camper/pickup truck.

    Steinbeck said he wanted to see America. His son, Thom Steinbeck, said his father knew he was dying.