John Steinbeck :: essays research papers fc

In the nineteen-thirties John Steinbeck rose to a literary prominence. This was a period of time when economical and political crisis had tended to obscure the direction and the value of his work. Steinbeck from the very beginning of his career regarded all causes and all solutions, with both detachment and skepticism. Steinbeck's reviewers were troubled with this detachment, because most other intellectuals had shifted from political alienation to political commitment (Unger 50). Steinbeck was fascinated with the human drama, people that were on the lowest part of the economical chain seemed to interest him. However Steinbeck refused to take part in anything, he did want anything to do with Politics, Steinbeck avoided publicity and his refusal to play a literary role. He made him self as unpopular writer so he never got any serious attention (Unger 52). By this time his work was becoming enormously popular, but as a result of him not taking part in anything his work was often misunderstood. Most literary commentators sharply criticized Steinbeck for dialectical inconsistencies. The readers really failed to understand that he had no fixed dialect. His views were based upon mythic and biological archetypes. Steinbeck always looked for material that might serve as a metaphor for universal rather than particular truth. Steinbeck set his self apart from the Naturalist from the turn of the century and Marxist-orientated writers of the 1930's, because he said that moral choice is a man's proper environment. A moral universe is want set him apart from the rest of nature (Gale 3372). The major books of John Steinbeck are easy reading, but to really understand them you have to have the willingness and ability to work through the most obvious level. Steinbeck uses statements of human truth which goes far beyond the actions themselves, this method is symbolic. This method means that the story can be extremely limited but it triggers chain reactions pointing to universal truth (Gale 3381). Steinbeck uses a wide variety of symbolic and linguistic instruments so he could get the full reality that he wants to communicate with.