All posts tagged: Steinbeck

A Literary Analysis of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

A Literary Analysis of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is two books printed alternately. One follows the Joad family from a foreclosed Oklahoma farm to the California valleys. The other has no characters in it at all and describes what is happening to several hundred thousand people at once. Steinbeck interleaves them, chapter by chapter, for thirty chapters. Readers who skip the second book, and many do, are reading something considerably smaller than what he wrote. Spoilers throughout, including the final page. The Two Books Inside The Grapes of Wrath The alternation in The Grapes of Wrath is almost mechanical, though not quite. Sixteen of the thirty chapters have no named characters in them at all; the remaining fourteen follow the Joads. The pattern runs odd and even for most of the book and doubles up twice, at chapters 11 and 12 and again at 14 and 15, both times to cover the move onto the highway. A chapter follows the Joads; the next pulls back to a used-car lot where nobody is named, or a diner on the …

A Literary Analysis of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

A Literary Analysis of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Published by Jenni Sidey

Of Mice and Men (1937) is short enough to read in a sitting and tight enough to be mistaken for simple. It is neither. Steinbeck wrote it as what he called a play-novelette, a book constructed so that a company could stage it directly from the published text without an adaptation, and within months Broadway did exactly that. Everything readers find moving about it is a consequence of that constraint. Spoilers follow, including the last page. The Form of Of Mice and Men Explains Almost Everything Of Mice and Men runs to six chapters, with no breaks inside them, each a single continuous scene in a single location. The riverbank, the bunkhouse, the bunkhouse again, Crooks’s room, the barn, the riverbank. Nobody has an interior monologue. There is no access to anyone’s thoughts at any point, which for a 1930s American novel is a severe restriction. Everything you learn, you learn from what people say and do in front of other people. When Steinbeck wants you to know that George is exhausted by responsibility, he …

Creator Zoe Kazan on Adapting Steinbeck Book

Creator Zoe Kazan on Adapting Steinbeck Book

Published by Daniella Wilson

Some stories refuse to stay on the page. The Hollywood Reporter’s Beyond the Book column explores what happens when books make the leap to screen and beyond — unpacking what stayed, changed, how it was done and why it matters with the creatives who made it. *** When Zoe Kazan was working on adapting John Steinbeck’s acclaimed novel East of Eden, she recalls being asked the same question: Why not begin with Cathy? Cathy Ames, the novel’s most intriguing and menacing figure, would seem like the obvious hook for the Netflix series. But Kazan, who created and wrote the seven-episode adaptation, says the answer didn’t come to her until the edit. “She interrupts this love story,” Kazan tells The Hollywood Reporter, “and if we don’t establish that love story to start between these two brothers, we don’t understand the stakes of her interrupting it.” That realization became one of many while crafting a series on a book that spans 50 years and stretches across the country but that Kazan insists is built on the characters, …

Everything you need to know about EAST OF EDEN

Everything you need to know about EAST OF EDEN

Published by Jenni Sidey

It’s a tale almost as old as time, and it’s landing on Netflix this Thursday. John Steinbeck’s East of Eden is an epic, magisterial novel about fathers and sons, family legacies, and the question of free will. Based on the story of Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis, the substantial tome cemented Steinbeck’s legacy and contributed to his Nobel win a decade later. The 1955 adaptation directed by Elia Kazan made James Dean a movie star, but it left a lot—like, two-thirds of the book—on the cutting room floor. The series adaptation arriving this week, directed by Kazan’s granddaughter Zoe, appears to be aimed at filling in some of those gaps. Look for more emphasis on the monstrous madam, Cathy Ames, played by Florence Pugh, and a long overdue moment for Lee, the Trask family’s servant and resident philosopher, played by Hoon Lee. Mike Faist, Ciaránd Hinds, Christopher Abbott, Joseph Zada, Martha Plimpton, and Tracy Letts are among the big names rounding out the blockbuster cast. 🎧 Get a deep dive into East …