The unabated sales, the frenzied public clamor, and the vicious personal attacks over The Grapes of Wrath confirmed his worst fears about the fruits of success and pushed the tensions between the Steinbecks to the breaking point, a situation exacerbated by his willful romance with Gwyn Conger (they were wed from 1943 to 1948; the marriage produced two children) and his repeated absences in Hollywood and Mexico. Steinbeck did not quit writing, as he had threatened, but by the early 1940s he was no longer content to be the man he had once been. His letter of November 13, 1939, to former Stanford roommate Carlton Sheffield pulls no punches: “I’m finishing off a complete revolution…. The point of all this is that I must make a new start. I’ve worked the novel—I know it as far as I can take it. I never did think much of it—a clumsy vehicle at best. And I don’t know the form of the new but I know there is a new which will be adequate and shaped by the new thinking.” Steinbeck’s change from social realist to meta-fictionist was not caused by a bankruptcy of talent, a change of venue, or a failure of nerve or honesty. Rather, it was the backlash from an unprecedented and unanticipated success, a repugnant “posterity.” “I have always wondered why no author has survived a best-seller,” he told John Rice in a June 1939 interview. “Now I know. The publicity and fan-fare are just as bad as they would be for a boxer. One gets self-conscious and that’s the end of one’s writing.” His new writing lacked the aggressive bite of his late 1930s fiction, but it had the virtue of being different and varied. After 1940much of his important work centered on explorations of a newly discovered topic: the implications of individual choice and imaginative consciousness. A prophetic post-modernist, Steinbeck’s deep subject in Sea of Cortez (1941), Cannery Row (1945), East of Eden (1954), Sweet Thursday (1954), The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), and Journal of a Novel (1969) was the creative process itself, the epistemological dance of the law of thought and the law of things.
The Grapes of Wrath is arguably the most significant indictment ever made of the myth of California as a Promised Land. And ironically, as John Steinbeck composed this novel that extolled a social group’s capacity for survival in a hostile world, he was himself so unraveled in the process that the angle of vision, the vital signature, the moral indignation that made his art exemplary in the first place, could never be repeated with the same integrated force. Once his name became inseparably linked with the title of his most famous novel, Steinbeck could never escape the influence of his earlier life, but thankfully neither can we. Wherever human beings dream of a dignified and free society in which they can harvest the fruits of their own labor, The Grapes of Wrath’s radical voice of protest can still be heard. As a tale of dashed illusions, thwarted desires, inhuman suffering, and betrayed promises—all strung on a shimmering thread of hope—The Grapes of Wrath not only summed up the Depression era’s socially conscious art but, beyond that—for emotional urgency, evocative power, and sustained drama—has few peers in American fiction.
Suggestions for Further Reading
Primary works by John Steinbeck
Note: Steinbeck’s holograph manuscript of The Grapes of Wrath is in the Clifton Waller Barrett Library, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Virginia. The typescript is in The Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to The Grapes of Wrath. Introduction by Charles Wollenberg. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 1988.
Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath, 1938–1941. Robert DeMott, ed. New York: The Viking Press, 1989.
Correspondence, interviews, and adaptations
Conversations with John Steinbeck. Thomas Fensch, ed. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1988.
Letters to Elizabeth: A Selection of Letters from John Steinbeck to Elizabeth Otis. Florian J. Shasky and Susan F. Riggs, eds. Foreword by Carlton Sheffield. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1978.
Steinbeck: A Life in Letters. Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallsten, eds. New York: The Viking Press, 1975.
The Grapes of Wrath. Playscript by Frank Galati. New York: Penguin, 1991.
Biographies, memoirs, and creative sources
Astro, Richard. John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts: The Shaping of a Novelist. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1974.
Benson, Jackson J. The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer. New York: The Viking Press, 1984.
—. Looking for Steinbeck’s Ghost. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988.
DeMott, Robert. Steinbeck’s Reading: A Catalogue of Books Owned and Borrowed. New York: Garland Publishing, 1984.
Fensch, Thomas. Steinbeck and Covici: The Story of a Friendship. Middlebury, VT: Paul S. Eriksson, 1979.
Lorentz, Pare. FDR’s Moviemaker: Memoirs and Scripts. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1992.
Sheffield, Carlton. Steinbeck: The Good Companion. Portola Valley, CA: American Lives Endowment, 1983.
Bibliographies
DeMott, Robert. John Steinbeck: A Checklist of Books By and About. Bradenton, FL: Opuscula Press, 1987.
Goldstone, Adrian H., and John R. Payne. John Steinbeck: A Bibliographical Catalogue of the Adrian H. Goldstone Collection. Austin, TX: Humanities Research Center, 1974.
Harmon, Robert B., with the assistance of John F. Early. The Grapes of Wrath: A Fifty Year Bibliographic Survey. San Jose, CA: San Jose State University Steinbeck Research Center, 1990.
Hayashi, Tetsumaro. A New Steinbeck Bibliography, 1927–1971. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1973.
—. A New Steinbeck Bibliography. Supplement I: 1971–1981. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1983.
Riggs, Susan F. A Catalogue of the John Steinbeck Collection at Stanford University. Stanford: Stanford University Libraries, 1980.
White, Ray Lewis. “The Grapes of Wrath and the Critics of 1939.”
Resources for American Literary Study 13(Autumn 1983), 134–64.
Books and Book-Length Collections on The Grapes of Wrath
Note: Selected contemporary reviews and a bountiful sampling of standard and original critical assessments of Steinbeck’s novel are available in the following books.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Interpretations of The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.
Davis, Robert Con, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Grapes of Wrath. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1982.
Ditsky, John, ed. Critical Essays on Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1989.
Donohue, Agnes McNeill, ed. A Casebook on The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1968.
French, Warren, ed. A Companion to The Grapes of Wrath. New York: The Viking Press, 1963.
—. Film Guide to The Grapes of Wrath. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1973.
Hayashi, Tetsumaro, ed. Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath: Essays in Criticism. Steinbeck Essay Series, No. 3. Muncie, IN: Ball State University Steinbeck Research Institute, 1990.
Lisca, Peter, ed. Viking Critical Library The Grapes of Wrath: Text and Criticism. New York: The Viking Press, 1972.
Owens, Louis. The Grapes of Wrath: Trouble in the Promised Land. Boston: Twayne, 1989.
Shillinglaw, Susan, ed. “The Grapes of Wrath: A Special Issue.” San Jose Studies xvi (Winter 1990).
Wyatt, David, ed. New Essays on The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Additional References on Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath
Note: Two journals are devoted to Steinbeck studies: Steinbeck Quarterly (1969–), edited by Tetsumaro Hayashi at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana; and The Steinbeck Newsletter (1987–), edited by Susan Shillinglaw at the Steinbeck Research Center, San Jose State University, San Jose, California. The following entries are not reproduced in any of the books listed above.
Benson, Jackson J. “Through a Political Glass, Darkly: The Example of John Steinbeck.” Studies in American Fiction 12(Spring 1984), 45–59.
Bluef
arb, Sam. The Escape Motif in the American Novel. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1972, 94–112.
Bristol, Horace. “John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath.” Steinbeck Newsletter 2(Fall 1988), 6–8.
Collins, Thomas A. “From Bringing in the Sheaves, by ‘Windsor Drake.”’ Journal of Modern Literature 5(April 1976), 211–232.
DeMott, Robert. “‘Working Days and Hours’: Steinbeck’s Writing of The Grapes of Wrath.” Studies in American Fiction 18(Spring 1990), 3–15.
Dircks, Phyllis T. “Steinbeck’s Statement on the Inner Chapters of The Grapes of Wrath.” Steinbeck Quarterly 24(Summer–Fall 1991), 86–94 [Steinbeck’s 1953 letter to Herbert Sturz].
Ditsky, John. “The Grapes of Wrath: A Reconsideration.” Southern Humanities Review 13 (Summer 1979), 215–220.
Fontenrose, Joseph. John Steinbeck: An Introduction and Interpretation. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1963, 67–83.
Harmon, Robert B. “Thomas Hart Benton and John Steinbeck.” Steinbeck Newsletter 1 (Spring 1988), 1–2.
Hayashi, Tetsumaro. “Women and the Principle of Continuity in The Grapes of Wrath.” Kyushu American Literature 10 (1967), 75–80.
Heavilin, Barbara A. “The Invisible Woman: Ma Joad as an Epic Heroine in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.” Kyushu American Literature 32(1991), 51–61.
Kennedy, William. “‘My Work Is No Good.”’ The New York Times Book Review April 9, 1989, 1; 44–45. [Review of Working Days and Fiftieth Anniversary edition of The Grapes of Wrath.]
Krim, Arthur. “Elmer Hader and The Grapes of Wrath Book Jacket.” Steinbeck Newsletter 4(Winter 1991), 1–3.
—. “John Steinbeck and Highway 66.” Steinbeck Newsletter 4 (Summer 1991), 8–9.
Lewis, Cliff. “The Grapes of Wrath: The Psychological Transition from Clan to Community.” The American Examiner 6 (Fall–Winter 1978–1979), 40–68.
Loftis, Anne. “The Media and the Migrants: Steinbeck’s Contemporary Impact.” Steinbeck Newsletter 2 (Fall 1989), 5; 9.
McCarthy, Paul. “House and Shelter as Symbol in The Grapes of Wrath.” South Dakota Review 5 (Winter 1967), 48–67.
Motley, Warren. “From Patriarchy to Matriarchy: Ma Joad’s Role in The Grapes of Wrath.” American Literature 54 (October 1982), 397–412.
Owens, Louis. John Steinbeck’s Re-Vision of America. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1985, 128–40.
—. and Hector Torres. “Dialogic Structure and Levels of Discourse in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.” Arizona Quarterly 45 (Winter 1989), 75–94.
Roberts, David. “Travels with Steinbeck.” American Photographer 22(March 1989), 44–51.
Schmidt, Gary D. “Steinbeck’s ‘Breakfast’: A Reconsideration.” Western American Literature 26 (Winter 1992), 303–311.
Shillinglaw, Susan. “Carol’s Library and Papers.” The Steinbeck Newsletter 2 (Fall 1988), 1–2.
—. “Local Newspapers Report on ‘The Oklahomans.”’ Steinbeck Newsletter 2 (Fall 1989), 4–5.
Shloss, Carol. In Visible Light: Photography and the American Writer, 1840–1940. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987, 201–29.
Simmonds, Roy S. Steinbeck’s Literary Achievement. Steinbeck Monograph Series No. 6. Muncie, IN: Ball State University/Steinbeck Society, 1976.
Tedlock, E. W., and C. V. Wicker, eds. Steinbeck and His Critics: A Record of Twenty-Five Years. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1957.
Terkel, Studs. “Introduction: We Still See Their Faces.” Fiftieth Anniversary Edition of The Grapes of Wrath. New York: The Viking Press, 1989, v–xx.
Thomsen, Alice Barnard. “Erik H. Thomsen and John Steinbeck.” Steinbeck Newsletter 3 (Summer 1990), 1–3.
Timmerman, John. John Steinbeck’s Fiction: The Aesthetics of the Road Taken. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986, 102–32.
—. “The Squatter’s Circle in The Grapes of Wrath.” Studies in American Fiction 17(Autumn 1989), 203–211.
Background on the 1930s
Baldwin, Sidney. Poverty and Politics: The Rise and Decline of the Farm Security Administration. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968.
Bogardus, Ralph F., and Fred Hobson, eds. Literature at the Barricades: The American Writer in the 1930s. University: University of Alabama Press, 1982.
Gregory, James N. American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and the Okie Culture in California. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Homberger, Eric. American Writers and Radical Politics, 1900–1939: Equivocal Commitments. New York: St. Martin’s, 1987.
Lange, Dorothea, and Paul S. Taylor. An American Exodus: A Record of Human Erosion. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1939.
McWilliams, Carey. Factories in the Field: The Story of Migratory Farm Labor in California. Boston: Little, Brown, 1939.
Meister, Dick, and Anne Loftis. A Long Time Coming: The Struggle to Unionize America’s Farm Workers. New York: Macmillan, 1977.
Peeler, David P. Hope Among Us Yet: Social Criticism and Social Solace in Depression America. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987.
Pells, Richard H. Radical Visions and American Dreams: Culture and Social Thought in the Depression Years. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1973.
Stein, Walter J. California and the Dust Bowl Migration. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1973.
A Note on the Text
The text of this edition of The Grapes of Wrath is based on the special fiftieth-anniversary edition of the novel, which reproduced the original text published in 1939 by The Viking Press.
The Grapes of Wrath
Chapter 1
To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows crossed and recrossed the rivulet marks. The last rains lifted the corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the roads so that the gray country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover. In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went away, and in a while they did not try any more. The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves, and they did not spread any more. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country.
In the water-cut gullies the earth dusted down in dry little streams. Gophers and ant lions started small avalanches. And as the sharp sun struck day after day, the leaves of the young corn became less stiff and erect; they bent in a curve at first, and then, as the central ribs of strength grew weak, each leaf tilted downward. Then it was June, and the sun shone more fiercely. The brown lines on the corn leaves widened and moved in on the central ribs. The weeds frayed and edged back toward their roots. The air was thin and the sky more pale; and every day the earth paled.
In the roads where the teams moved, where the wheels milled the ground and the hooves of the horses beat the ground, the dirt crust broke and the dust formed. Every moving thing lifted the dust into the air: a walking man lifted a thin layer as high as his waist, and a wagon lifted the dust as high as the fence tops, and an automobile boiled a cloud behind it. The dust was long in settling back again.
When June was half gone, the big clouds moved up out of Texas and the Gulf, high heavy clouds, rain-heads. The men in the fields looked up at the clouds and sniffed at them and held wet fingers up to sense the wind. And the horses were nervous while the clouds were up. The rain-heads dropped a little spattering and hurried on to some other country. Behind them the sky was pale again and the sun flared. In the dust there were drop craters where the rain had fallen, and there were clean splashes on the corn, and that was all.
A gentle wind followed the rain clouds, driving them on northward, a wind that softly clashed the drying corn. A day went
by and the wind increased, steady, unbroken by gusts. The dust from the roads fluffed up and spread out and fell on the weeds beside the fields, and fell into the fields a little way. Now the wind grew strong and hard and it worked at the rain crust in the corn fields. Little by little the sky was darkened by the mixing dust, and the wind felt over the earth, loosened the dust, and carried it away. The wind grew stronger. The rain crust broke and the dust lifted up out of the fields and drove gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke. The corn threshed the wind and made a dry, rushing sound. The finest dust did not settle back to earth now, but disappeared into the darkening sky.
The wind grew stronger, whisked under stones, carried up straws and old leaves, and even little clods, marking its course as it sailed across the fields. The air and the sky darkened and through them the sun shone redly, and there was a raw sting in the air. During a night the wind raced faster over the land, dug cunningly among the rootlets of the corn, and the corn fought the wind with its weakened leaves until the roots were freed by the prying wind and then each stalk settled wearily sideways toward the earth and pointed the direction of the wind.
The dawn came, but no day. In the gray sky a red sun appeared, a dim red circle that gave a little light, like dusk; and as that day advanced, the dusk slipped back toward darkness, and the wind cried and whimpered over the fallen corn.
Men and women huddled in their houses, and they tied handkerchiefs over their noses when they went out, and wore goggles to protect their eyes.
When the night came again it was black night, for the stars could not pierce the dust to get down, and the window lights could not even spread beyond their own yards. Now the dust was evenly mixed with the air, an emulsion of dust and air. Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air, and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes. The people brushed it from their shoulders. Little lines of dust lay at the door sills.
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