Steinbeek (Continued from page 49) widespread and vigorous, but hardly unanimous. The book was loudly de- nounced in many parts of the country, in- cluding Oklahoma and California. The Kansas City Board of Education voted to ban it from libraries. "It portrays life in such a bestial way," said one offended lady. The vulgar words bothered the li- brarian of Buffalo, New York. "A book is no place to put these words," he an- nounced. A Navy Chaplain aboard the U.S.S. Tennessee was reported to have removed The Graves of Wrath from cir- culation although fifty men were on the waiting list. Many California libraries refused to buy the book. Some refused gift copies. Kern County, where much of the action took place, reacted angrily. Steinbeck was indignantly charged with the sin of falsehood and the crime of exaggeration. When John Ford filmed The Grape$ of Wrath, starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell as Tom and Ma Joad, a counter- movie was proposed entitled "Plums of Plenty." In Oklahoma, opposition was no calmer. A proud state had been insulted. Congressman Lyle Boren told his col- leagues The Grapes of Wrath was an "in- fernal creation of twisted, distorted mind," manifestly unfit for "the hands of your young daughter." An Oklahoma at- torney said people like the Joads "should be kept in their place." Angy opposition and attempts to sup- press the book served as censorship usual- ly does, to whet the appetite and stimulate sales. The Grapes of Wrath became the most widely read book of the year. A bookstore employee in Oklahoma City said, "People who looked as though they had never read a book in their lives came in to buy it." It continued to selllong after most of the jalopies stopped rolling west on U.S. 66 toward their new Canaan. When Bantam paperbacks started in 1946 with 20 books, The Grapes of Wrath was 6he of the titles. It was still on the active list a quarter of a century later. Whatever its stylistic drawbacks, The Graves of Wrath if not the Great American Novel was certainly a Great American Novel. Today its historic im- portance parallels literary significance. The book helped change America's at- titude toward dispossessed victims of depression and drouth. The book con- tinues to serve as an eloquent plea for social justice. When Steinbeck wrote his book only a tragic ending seemed valid. The Joads 54 AIR CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE APRIL 1980 sought the pot at the rainbow's end and found a sign on it: "Okies Not Welcome." But rather than tragedy, Steinbeck con- cluded with prophetic optimism. The Joads might be defeated. They wouldn't quit. "You got to have patience," Ma Joad tells her son. 'Why, Tom - us people will go on living' when all them people is gon. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. Thay ain't gonna wipe us out. Why we're the people - we go on." When Tom says they forever take a beating, Ma replies, "I know. Maybe that makes us tough." Steinbeck's own character won't let him end the book with despair in the fore- front. Ma Joad, a reservoir of the earth's oldest wisdom, insists for the author that life continues and the people survive. Symbolizing the final union of mankind, in the last paragraph Rose of Sharon gives her milk-filled breast to a starving man. Earlier Tom Joad, in danger of being kill- ed, said goodbye with the promise that alive or dead, '1'11 be all aroun' in the dark. Ill be ever' where - wherever you look. Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there." This is Steinbeck sentimentally, mystic- ally arguing that the people and their leaders ultimately are indomitable. He us- ed this theme again in his 1952 screenplay for the Elia Kazan-Marlon Brando film about the Mexican peasant leader, Emiliano Zapata. In Viva Zapatal, peasants reject the rumor their leader is dead. "Do they think they can fool me? They can't kill him ... You couldn't find him now. But if we ever need him again - he'll be back." Steinbeck was a staunch individualist. He never submerged himself in a group, yet he recognized the collective survival powers of the people or group-men. The Grapes of Wrath salutes both the in- dividual and the group. The book was such a towering accomplishment, in- evitably whatever he wrote later would seem anticlimactic. Today ironically, a single copy of the first edition in mint con- dition costs enough to keep the Joad fami- ly going a year during the 1930s. Recently at a book store I saw a copy in a display case. The price: $250. Noting the current cost and remembering the poverty of the migrants with whom he lived, Steinbeck would probably shrug and recommend a used paperback edition. To escape the furore of success, Steinbeck in 1941 with marine biologist Ed Ricketts chartered a sardine boat, the Western Flyer, for an exploratory voyage in the Gulf of California. Steinbeck was intensely interested in biological science and almost professionally knowledgeable in marine biology. Two books came from this restorative voyage. Writing them, Steinbeck called "the last stand of sanity." Sea of Cortez, a collaboration with Ed Ricketts, was published in 1941. The Log from the Sea of Cortez, with a moving profile of Ed Ricketts after his death, ap- peared in 1951. During World War II, Steinbeck served as a war correspondent and author. He wrote Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team for the U.S. Army Air Corps. In 1942 his controversial novel and play The Moon is Down warned total- itarians that free people could not be con- quered. "The flys have conquered the flypaper," he insisted when stubborn men outlasted the invaders. He represented the New York Herald Tribune as a correspon- dent in Europe. His wartime columns were published as a book in 1958, Once There Was a PVar, with Steinbeck's judg- ment that "all war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal." In 1943 Steinbeck married Gwyndolen Conger. His two sons, Thorn and John, were born during this marriage, which ended with divorce in 1948. As war raged worldwide, Steinbeck wrote one of his warmest and funniest California novels, Cannery Row (1945), because soldiers told him they were sick of fighting and wanted to laugh. Malcolm Cowley warily called this ribald volume a "poisoned cream-puff." Steinbeck cheer- fully agreed the amount of poison "should not be underestimated." Sweet Thursday, a 1954 sequel again set in Monterey, con- tained less poison and less cream. But Doc, Mac, and other unforgettables were pleasant to meet once more, The war years were a time of change for Steinbeck. He became a reverse-migrant, west to east, moving to New York when the success and notoriety of his books made him feel unwanted in California. It was the old story that a genius can be a national asset but an uncomfortable neighbor. Steinbeck wrote Covici that friends in Monterey had turned against him. 'This isn't my country anymore," he wrote, "And it won't be until I am dead." Apparently ordinary people prefer genius- es, like airports or nuclear plants, somewhere else. In 1948 Steinbeck was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He acknowledged the honor: "Having been blackballed from everything from the Boy Scouts to the United States Army, this election is not only a great experience but for me a unique one. My most pro- found thanks." That same year Steinbeck returned to California on a research expedition for East Of Eden (1952), which initially had the working title "The Salinas Valley." "I am choosing to write this book to my C• - , OCR Text: Steinbeek (Continued from page 49) widespread and vigorous, but hardly unanimous. The book was loudly de- nounced in many parts of the country, in- cluding Oklahoma and California. The Kansas City Board of Education voted to ban it from libraries. "It portrays life in such a bestial way," said one offended lady. The vulgar words bothered the li- brarian of Buffalo, New York. "A book is no place to put these words," he an- nounced. A Navy Chaplain aboard the U.S.S. Tennessee was reported to have removed The Graves of Wrath from cir- culation although fifty men were on the waiting list. Many California libraries refused to buy the book. Some refused gift copies. Kern County, where much of the action took place, reacted angrily. Steinbeck was indignantly charged with the sin of falsehood and the crime of exaggeration. When John Ford filmed The Grape$ of Wrath, starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell as Tom and Ma Joad, a counter- movie was proposed entitled "Plums of Plenty." In Oklahoma, opposition was no calmer. A proud state had been insulted. Congressman Lyle Boren told his col- leagues The Grapes of Wrath was an "in- fernal creation of twisted, distorted mind," manifestly unfit for "the hands of your young daughter." An Oklahoma at- torney said people like the Joads "should be kept in their place." Angy opposition and attempts to sup- press the book served as censorship usual- ly does, to whet the appetite and stimulate sales. The Grapes of Wrath became the most widely read book of the year. A bookstore employee in Oklahoma City said, "People who looked as though they had never read a book in their lives came in to buy it." It continued to selllong after most of the jalopies stopped rolling west on U.S. 66 toward their new Canaan. When Bantam paperbacks started in 1946 with 20 books, The Grapes of Wrath was 6he of the titles. It was still on the active list a quarter of a century later. Whatever its stylistic drawbacks, The Graves of Wrath if not the Great American Novel was certainly a Great American Novel. Today its historic im- portance parallels literary significance. The book helped change America's at- titude toward dispossessed victims of depression and drouth. The book con- tinues to serve as an eloquent plea for social justice. When Steinbeck wrote his book only a tragic ending seemed valid. The Joads 54 AIR CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE APRIL 1980 sought the pot at the rainbow's end and found a sign on it: "Okies Not Welcome." But rather than tragedy, Steinbeck con- cluded with prophetic optimism. The Joads might be defeated. They wouldn't quit. "You got to have patience," Ma Joad tells her son. 'Why, Tom - us people will go on living' when all them people is gon. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. Thay ain't gonna wipe us out. Why we're the people - we go on." When Tom says they forever take a beating, Ma replies, "I know. Maybe that makes us tough." Steinbeck's own character won't let him end the book with despair in the fore- front. Ma Joad, a reservoir of the earth's oldest wisdom, insists for the author that life continues and the people survive. Symbolizing the final union of mankind, in the last paragraph Rose of Sharon gives her milk-filled breast to a starving man. Earlier Tom Joad, in danger of being kill- ed, said goodbye with the promise that alive or dead, '1'11 be all aroun' in the dark. Ill be ever' where - wherever you look. Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there." This is Steinbeck sentimentally, mystic- ally arguing that the people and their leaders ultimately are indomitable. He us- ed this theme again in his 1952 screenplay for the Elia Kazan-Marlon Brando film about the Mexican peasant leader, Emiliano Zapata. In Viva Zapatal, peasants reject the rumor their leader is dead. "Do they think they can fool me? They can't kill him ... You couldn't find him now. But if we ever need him again - he'll be back." Steinbeck was a staunch individualist. He never submerged himself in a group, yet he recognized the collective survival powers of the people or group-men. The Grapes of Wrath salutes both the in- dividual and the group. The book was such a towering accomplishment, in- evitably whatever he wrote later would seem anticlimactic. Today ironically, a single copy of the first edition in mint con- dition costs enough to keep the Joad fami- ly going a year during the 1930s. Recently at a book store I saw a copy in a display case. The price: $250. Noting the current cost and remembering the poverty of the migrants with whom he lived, Steinbeck would probably shrug and recommend a used paperback edition. To escape the furore of success, Steinbeck in 1941 with marine biologist Ed Ricketts chartered a sardine boat, the Western Flyer, for an exploratory voyage in the Gulf of California. Steinbeck was intensely interested in biological science and almost professionally knowledgeable in marine biology. Two books came from this restorative voyage. Writing them, Steinbeck called "the last stand of sanity." Sea of Cortez, a collaboration with Ed Ricketts, was published in 1941. The Log from the Sea of Cortez, with a moving profile of Ed Ricketts after his death, ap- peared in 1951. During World War II, Steinbeck served as a war correspondent and author. He wrote Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team for the U.S. Army Air Corps. In 1942 his controversial novel and play The Moon is Down warned total- itarians that free people could not be con- quered. "The flys have conquered the flypaper," he insisted when stubborn men outlasted the invaders. He represented the New York Herald Tribune as a correspon- dent in Europe. His wartime columns were published as a book in 1958, Once There Was a PVar, with Steinbeck's judg- ment that "all war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal." In 1943 Steinbeck married Gwyndolen Conger. His two sons, Thorn and John, were born during this marriage, which ended with divorce in 1948. As war raged worldwide, Steinbeck wrote one of his warmest and funniest California novels, Cannery Row (1945), because soldiers told him they were sick of fighting and wanted to laugh. Malcolm Cowley warily called this ribald volume a "poisoned cream-puff." Steinbeck cheer- fully agreed the amount of poison "should not be underestimated." Sweet Thursday, a 1954 sequel again set in Monterey, con- tained less poison and less cream. But Doc, Mac, and other unforgettables were pleasant to meet once more, The war years were a time of change for Steinbeck. He became a reverse-migrant, west to east, moving to New York when the success and notoriety of his books made him feel unwanted in California. It was the old story that a genius can be a national asset but an uncomfortable neighbor. Steinbeck wrote Covici that friends in Monterey had turned against him. 'This isn't my country anymore," he wrote, "And it won't be until I am dead." Apparently ordinary people prefer genius- es, like airports or nuclear plants, somewhere else. In 1948 Steinbeck was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He acknowledged the honor: "Having been blackballed from everything from the Boy Scouts to the United States Army, this election is not only a great experience but for me a unique one. My most pro- found thanks." That same year Steinbeck returned to California on a research expedition for East Of Eden (1952), which initially had the working title "The Salinas Valley." "I am choosing to write this book to my C• - , Heritage Society of Pacific Grove,Historical Collections,Names of People about town,S through T File names,Steinbeck,STEINBECK_020.pdf,STEINBECK_020.pdf 1 Page 1, Tags: STEINBECK_020.PDF, STEINBECK_020.pdf 1 Page 1