Talk:John Steinbeck/Archive 2

Interests?
The article includes the text:

''His body of work reflects his wide range of interests. They were marine biology, jazz, politics, philosophy, history, and myth.''

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't recall that Steinbeck's interest in jazz ever manifested itself in his writing. Also, the philosophical questions addressed in Steinbeck's writing (notably in East of Eden and To a God Unknown) were limited to religious themes.

--Philopedia 14:49, 4 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Benny Goodman is mentioned in Pippin IV; does that count? —Tamfang 22:08, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Recent Edits
Hi, just a quick note explaining some recent edits. I have added a few images relating to Steinbecks life. I have also expanded a few sections, tidied and reorganised etc. I've aded some references and made other reference edits for style etc. I've also archived this talk page. Over the coming months I will try and use some of my biographies of Steinbeck to improve the page and expand the references. Any questions please let me know. Thanks. LordHarris 22:24, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

I've added a dozen more references and edited for style etc. I've also nominated for peer review. Please contribute if you can. LordHarris 12:49, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Have expanded the lead and childhood sections. LordHarris (talk) 12:38, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Fix
The link to his Nobel Prize acceptance speech is out of date. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.174.244.87 (talk • contribs) 19:21, 4 March 2008


 * Fixed it. --DRoll (talk) 22:11, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

read up
http://www.adherents.com/people/ps/John_Steinbeck.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.122.183.173 (talk) 20:40, 21 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I already read it - on more than one occasion. Perhaps you should quote (on this page) the specific wording that you're attempting to use as a source for your change Tedickey (talk) 20:43, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Home-schooled?
John steinbeck was home schooled by his mother who was formely a school teacher. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.27.192.6 (talk) 23:46, 23 October 2008 (UTC)


 * If you have a reliable source, that might be topical Tedickey (talk) 10:41, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Syntax and Section cleanup
ChyranandChloe (talk) 05:12, 8 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Utilizing WikiEd, I've automated a syntax cleanup allowing for easier readability of code by adding space between the heading titles and their syntax.
 * Changed the column count to column width therefore allowing the number of columns to be dependent on window size rather than on an arbitrary number.
 * Added refbegin and its correspondent refend to Further reading to allow for columns and to reduce text-size and thus the auxiliary Standard appendices.
 * Reduced text-size in External links for consistency.
 * The section "Partial bibliography" has been renamed to "List of works", because it may be confused with being a citation section, and moved it Below the "Major works" section.
 * "Film credits" have been moved above "Major works" to allow "List of works" to be closer to the standard appendices.
 * This article is about the person John Steinbeck, therefore the primary topic is about his life, which allows "Biography" to be omitted.
 * All third-level-headings are thus bumped from h3 to h2, and consiquently all h4 to h3.
 * "Early life and Work" has been splintered into "Early life" and "Work." Although a more fitting title may be possible for "Work."
 * All less relevant images which would otherwise clutter the article has been moved to the newly created "Gallery" section above "References".

red pony
what is the Characteristics of the genre —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.254.200.35 (talk) 17:58, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Please list Steinbeck's short stories
Please list Steinbeck's short stories in the article. Thanks! Softlavender (talk) 23:58, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Small Note
If the page were not locked, I would have removed the "decided to" from "...[Steinbeck] decided to base his character "Doc" in the novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday on Ricketts" under the Ricketts section. 79.97.2.222 (talk) 13:59, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Edit: Semi-protection ;Sources
Reference 9 is not properly formatted, neither is it an authentic source. Remove corresponding statement and source. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.229.73.59 (talk) 02:08, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

let's get rid of "major works"
It's duplicative. The inline chronological discussion of his literary career covers the books already (and in a better style). And blue links are present in those places. Will wait for discussion, before cutting them, but I really think they are clunky. Oh...and pretty debatable why just those 4 are major. Seem based off of a HS reading list or something because Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday are more notable than Travels with Charley. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.246.157.157 (talk) 03:48, 24 November 2009 (UTC)
 * They could/should be spun off in a WP:LIST article.. That should happen anytime a section gets too long and clunky for the main article, and threatens to take it over, per WP:SS. The summary section they leave behind can be very short, or even just go under the "See also" section (there's more than one way to do this-- See Ernest Hemingway bibliography in the "See also" section of HIS biography). Somebody asks: why not just have the book titles as mentioned in the main article serve this function? Well, because there are a lot of redlinks in those works, and even if there weren't, putting them all in the text of the main article would clutter it up a lot. Wikipedia does NOT demand that all info go in paragraph form (again, see WP:LIST). Some people would probably be interested in a "Comprehensive works of Steinbeck list article" which is shorter than combinding all the articles on the separate works, but is longer than what appears in the BIO. If we DO have a list within the BIO (as an embedded list, see WP:EMBED), it should contain nothing more than a chronological list of titles, to avoid becoming too long to include in the BIO. And of course, major works should still be mentioned in the BIO, since the writing of them influenced the author's life so much (Grapes of Wrath and Travels with Charley being prime examples). Really, these questions have no right answers-- there are many ways to organize info on WP. But mostly you can find a way to do it without deleting good content. S  B Harris 17:59, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 99.235.254.225, 15 April 2010
Please change "Steinbeck frequently took small trips with Ricketts along the California coast to collect biological specimens which Ricketts sold for a living and give Steinbeck time off from his writing." to "Steinbeck frequently took small trips with Ricketts along the California coast to collect biological specimens which Ricketts sold for a living and gave Steinbeck time off from his writing." because the former has an improper conjugation.

99.235.254.225 (talk) 18:20, 15 April 2010 (UTC)


 * . It seems that another editor already changed the line by the time i got here. Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 21:20, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Date of _Cup of Gold_
_Cup of Gold_ is listed inconsistently as 1927 and 1929. Is there a reason for this discrepancy? The page devoted to that novel says 1929. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.225.126.108 (talk) 03:15, 27 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Other than a typo, probably not (my copy says it was originally published in 1929) Tedickey (talk) 08:29, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

John Steinbeck

John Ernst Steinbeck, best known for his novel The Grapes of Wrath, explored the lives of common people and their ties to their environment. As they struggle against adversity or the dehumanizing aspects of modern society, his characters often must come to grips with the meaning of shared experience.

Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. He attended Stanford University intermittently between 1919 and 1925 but finally dropped out to go to New York City. There he held a job as a reporter for the New York American. Returning to California, he worked as an apprentice painter, chemist, surveyor, and fruit picker while writing his first novel, Cup of Gold (1929), a fictionalized life of the pirate Sir Henry Morgan.

Steinbeck's next book, Pastures of Heaven (1932), was an episodic account of the lives of farm workers in a California valley. The book explores their ties to the land, emphasizing their seclusion from the corrupting pressures of society. To a God Unknown (1933), an allegorical tale about four brothers attempting to farm a parched valley, concludes with a strong statement about the individual's relationship to the land, as one brother sacrifices himself to bring rain.

Tortilla Flat (1935) established Steinbeck's reputation. It concerns Mexican-American paisanos in Monterey, California and compares their simple camaraderie to that of the knights of the Round Table of Arthurian legend. In Dubious Battle (1936) earned praise for its realistic depiction of a failed strike by fruit pickers and the efforts of radical leaders to organize migrant farm workers.

Of Mice and Men (1937) is a short novel, written in the manner of a play, which dramatizes the lives and friendship of two field laborers who dream of buying a farm of their own. Lennie, a giant of a man, has the mental capacities of a child. He loves to handle soft creatures, but he lacks control of his immense strength and kills them. His own death dashes the hopes of his friend and protector, George. The book sold well, and the story was also produced as a play (it won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for 1938) and as a movie released in 1939.

A collection of stories, The Long Valley (1938), included a popular four-story cycle called The Red Pony (1937), about a boy's maturing experiences on his father's ranch. Steinbeck was one of the most interesting people in the world.

Steinbeck's career reached its zenith with The Grapes of Wrath (1939), a book that captured the economic despair of the 1930s and spawned popular outrage against conditions faced by migrant farm workers. The Joad family has moved from Oklahoma to California to escape the droughts that ruined farmers in the Midwest. They encounter strike violence and police harassment even as they face starvation and death. Unlike Steinbeck's earlier novels, in which characters often fail to fully understand their own circumstances, the Joads come to realize how their plight mirrors those of people around them and so begin to transcend their suffering for the good of others. The book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and was made into an unforgettable film starring Henry Fonda the following year.

Steinbeck traveled to Mexico in 1940 to work with the marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts, with whom he published a book about marine life, Sea of Cortez (1941). Ricketts apparently became the model for the character Doc in two subsequent Steinbeck novels, Cannery Row (1945) and its sequel, Sweet Thursday (1954). Cannery Row returns to Monterey, where Doc joins in the simple, happy lives Steinbeck first depicted in Tortilla Flat.

Critics agree that most of Steinbeck's subsequent novels lacked the scope and intensity of The Grapes of Wrath. With The Moon Is Down (1942), he turned his attention to World War II, writing about resistance to Nazi oppression in an occupied country. The Wayward Bus (1947) depicts travelers stranded overnight at a roadside station in California. In The Pearl (1947), a Mexican fisherman's greatest find brings him tragedy, and he throws it back into the sea. Burning Bright (1950), another short novel written in the manner of a play, addresses a woman's determination to seek out a man other than her sterile husband to father a child.

With East of Eden (1952), Steinbeck again set out to frame a novel of broad scope, mingling the story of a family living in Salinas Valley, California, with the biblical tale of Cain and Abel. Adam Trask is abandoned by his wife, Cathy, and is left to raise their two sons, Cal and Aaron. Jealous of Adam's affection for Aaron, Cal tells his brother their mother has become a prostitute; this knowledge drives Aaron to his death.

The Short Reign of Pippin IV (1957) satirizes French politics and culture in the era of the premier Charles De Gaulle, post-World War II. The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) frames a meditation by the central character on betrayal, his own and others'.

Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Two years later, he received both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the U.S. Medal of Freedom.

Steinbeck's nonfiction includes Their Blood Is Strong (1938), a collection of newspaper articles he wrote while traveling with migrant farm workers; A Russian Journal (with Robert Capa) (1948); Once There Was a War (1958), derived from his work as a war correspondent; and Travels with Charley in Search of America (1962), about a cross-country trip with his dog. He also wrote or cowrote screenplays for The Forgotten Village (1941), Lifeboat (1944), A Medal for Benny (1945), The Pearl (1946), The Red Pony (1949), and Viva Zapata! (1952).

Steinbeck died in New York City on December 20, 1968.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Benson, Jackson J., The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Novelist, 1984; Kiernan, Thomas, The Intricate Music: A Biography of John Steinbeck, 1979; McCarthy, Paul, John Steinbeck, 1980. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.194.107.184 (talk) 01:58, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from Flabiur, 17 September 2010
Please add in Steinbeck's bibliography his 1936 book The Harvest Gypsies. The Harvest Gypsies is a compilation of seven of his articles that were originally published in the San Francisco News, between October 5 and October 12, 1936. It is a crative nonfiction, literay journalism, book. It presents itself as preamble of his novel The Grapes of Wrath.

Flabiur (talk) 19:51, 17 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please be more specific about what needs to be changed. Quoting from the 'helpme' template..
 * "This template may only be used when followed by a specific description of the request, that is, specific text that should be removed and a verbatim copy of the text that should replace it. "Please change X" is not acceptable and will be rejected; the request must be of the form "please change X to Y"." Shearonink (talk) 03:54, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Recipient of King Haakon VII's Cross of Liberty?
The Norwegian version of Wikipedia states that Steinbeck won the Liberty Cross, not the Liberty Medal. I have ammended the en: version to read cross, but it would be nice if we had a reliable ext ref. --Mais oui! (talk) 05:56, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from Brdy, 3 December 2010
Change:

According to Thomas Steinbeck, the author's eldest son, J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI could find no basis for prosecuting Steinbeck and therefore used his power to encourage the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to audit Steinbeck's taxes every single year of his life, just to annoy him.

to:

According to Thomas Steinbeck, the author's eldest son, J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, could find no basis for prosecuting Steinbeck and therefore used his power to encourage the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to audit Steinbeck's taxes every single year of his life, just to annoy him.

because without the extra comma after the appositive, the sentence is ambiguous. (The appositives get very confusing and this helps clarify who J. Edgar Hoover is.)

Brdy (talk) 03:46, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Done I actually went farther and changed "According to A, (identity), B, (identity)" to "A, (identity), said that B, {identity), ...." I think that splitting the two people apart by the verb makes it easier to follow.  Qwyrxian (talk) 05:06, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Steinbeck did not divorce Gwyn, Gwyn left Steinbeck!
Steinbeck did not divorce Gwyn, Gwyn left Steinbeck! Please change. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.4.19.4 (talk) 01:37, 7 December 2010 (UTC)
 * True enough about Gwyn leaving Steinbeck, but these days the statement "A divorced B" carries little information; not what it once did. Nevertheless the sentence should probably be fixed so it is does not have the wrong connotation, or cannot be misunderstood. I'll see what I can do. S  B Harris 03:08, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Ernst/Ernest/Earnest
Just pick a Wikipedia language at random, and see if you can find another variant of the middle name! So, is there some issue here? It's officially Ernst, but that was too German, so Ernest came to be used instead?? Is there some explanation along those lines? If it's Ernst, it's definitely not Johann(es) to match? Varlaam (talk) 23:01, 7 December 2010 (UTC)
 * His father was John Ernst Steinbeck also, and the son is exactly John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. So both names, as we have them, are correct. I can't account for the Ernest, but occasionally in the 1950s when both men were habitually wearing beards, Steinbeck would be mistaken for Ernest Hemingway and asked for his autograph (he would graciously sign "Ernest Hemingway"). It's the importance of being Ernest. S  B Harris 01:09, 8 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Très drôle. I had been wondering whether Papa was a factor in all of this.
 * Ok, I shall correct the other languages.
 * Me-e-e-rry Chri-i-istmas. Ho-ho-ho, Varlaam (talk) 04:19, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

The Harvest Gypsies
The article on The Grapes of Wrath mentions a 1988 republication under this title. Should this be included in the book list? Other Wikipedias have done so. Varlaam (talk) 09:45, 8 December 2010 (UTC)


 * An alternate title of Their Blood is Strong. Sure. Here's more info: here

Edit request from Xpaperboy, 12 December 2010
I am a veteran journalist; please ad this link to the links at the bottom; I have spent 9 months researching Steinbeck's 1960 "Travels With Charley" trip in libraries and on a recent 11,276-mile trip that retraced his trip as carefully as possible. Here's a link to my website


 * Travels Without Charley2010 A journalist retraces Steinbeck's trip 50 years later

I just inserted it at the bottom of in the "Travels With Charley" page -- which is horribly written and riddled with errors and bad writing. I'm a rookie wiki-editor, so I'm not sure what to do if anything. I'm not a Steinbeck expert, but I am an expert on the "Travels With Charley" trip -- which was more fiction than fact; i have a lot of photos I could put into the "Charley" page, but it needs major repairs.

bill steigerwald

724 941 3857

Xpaperboy (talk) 18:15, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Not done:
 * Please see WP:EL, which are Wikipedia's guidelines on external links. Since the link you're requesting is a self-published blog, it doesn't meet those guidelines, and so can't be added.  I'll remove it from the other page as well.  However, you are absolutely welcome to suggest additions, as long as they are supported by reliable sources (scholarly journals and books, newspaper articles, etc.).  Qwyrxian (talk) 23:32, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Sinclair Lewis Museum vs Nat'l Steinbeck Center
In Sauk Centre Minnesota is a museum dedicated entirely to Sinclair Lewis, the first American fictional author to receive the Nobel.

The Steinbeck Wiki states "The National Steinbeck Center, two blocks away at One Main Street is the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to a single author"

I suspect that this statement is not true. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alkire (talk • contribs) 03:04, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

See also the Lew Wallace Museum and Study, (Wallace was author of 'BEN HUR' Crawfordsville Indiana. http://www.ben-hur.com/index.php  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alkire (talk • contribs) 11:17, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from 197.177.19.160, 18 July 2011
197.176.196.135 (talk) 16:53, 18 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please be more specific about what needs to be changed. Reaper Eternal (talk) 19:17, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from, 7 October 2011
Please add the following link to Penguin Books' John Steinbeck minisite:

http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/articles/steinbeck/intro.html

PenguinDigital (talk) 11:01, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
 * ❌ We do not encourage spam, esp from single purpose accounts; I will also revert your other additions. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 > haneʼ 15:15, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

In Dubious Battle...
In the small section dealing with this book it states it is about a strike 'aided and hindered' by what is assumed to be the Communist Party. Can anyone actually justify the idea the CP hinders the strike? From reading the book there is no evidence for this in my opinion — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.41.40.220 (talk) 23:54, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

Confirmation please
Hi,

Please could I have a bit of confirmation please: "and reject nearly all the standard mores of American society" Is the word "mores" corect, if it is fine, if not it will need to be changed. Thanks Joe1000000 (talk) 17:41, 17 June 2012 (UTC)


 * It's correct, if a bit old-fashioned. A definition may be found at wikt:mores. Favonian (talk) 17:45, 17 June 2012 (UTC)