February 27, 2007

Gratuitous Literary Posting

Today is the anniversary of the birth of John Steinbeck, born this day in 1902 in Salinas, California.

Steinbeck shares the honor of being one of two authors (the other being Henry David Thoreau) to provoke open literary rebellion in a young Robbo the LB. I cannot remember now whether it was my sophomore or junior year of high school, but in any event we kiddies were subjected to what I can only call a deluge of Steinbeck. First it was The Red Pony, then The Pearl. Meh. Then it was Of Mice and Men, which I still think his best work. (And wasn't the Bugs Bunny/Abominable Snowman bit the cruelest of spoofs?) Next came The Grapes of Wrath, which I consider the literary equivalent of repeatedly getting whacked in the head with a dust-covered hammer. (Okay, John, okay! We get it, fer chrissakes!) Finally, with nary a break, it was announced that we would be reading Travels With Charley.

That's when I snapped. After class, I went up to the teacher's desk and quietly announced that a) I didn't like Steinbeck, b) I had already read enough of Steinbeck's "gritty" mooing about da plight of da proletariat to last a lifetime and c) I was not going to read any more Steinbeck. The teacher replied calmly that she was sorry I felt that way. She couldn't force me to read the book, but of course I'd still be responsible for taking the test that would follow on.

I failed the test. However, I preserved my sanity.

Fair trade, in the long run.

Posted by Robert at February 27, 2007 10:55 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Robbo, agreed. "Of Mice And Men" was a classic of American literature. Much of the rest of Steinbeck's work, however, is mired in mind-numbing socialist drivel.

Posted by: Gary at February 27, 2007 11:10 AM

Ok, I'll be the voice of dissent I guess. Of Mice and Men absolute drivel. The Grapes of Wrath? Classic. The only Steinbeck worth reading. (Perhaps it's because my grandfather left his sharecropper home at 10 and rode the trains from OK to Tulare, where he lived until he died that I love it so much. It's certainly easier to read when you know someone who essentially lived the plot.)

Of course, I'm also going to be a happy gal if I never read Twain again.

Posted by: beth at February 27, 2007 12:06 PM

Heh. I actually attend a local Mark Twain Society dinner every now and again.

Posted by: Robbo the LB at February 27, 2007 12:55 PM

Never read any Steinbeck. What I hated was being fed doses of Charles Dickens.

Posted by: rbj at February 27, 2007 01:26 PM

My personal theory is that generally only boys and men like Twain. Much like generally only girls and women like L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables). When reading Tom Sawyer I remember thinking to myself that this was why spanking wasn't always a bad thing.

Posted by: beth at February 27, 2007 01:59 PM

I think there's something to that.

Speaking of spanking, at the last Twain Dinner I attended, we were each supposed to bring an object representing our favorite Twain work. I brought along a mallet, symbolic of the absolute hammering Twain gave to James Fenimore Cooper in his essay critiquing Cooper's literary style, a hammering that was very richly deserved.

Posted by: Robbo the LB at February 27, 2007 02:21 PM

I read The Grapes of Wrath, the whole time shouting "Die, Joads, die!!!"

Steinbeck is the most overrated writer in English -- with the possible exception of Faulkner. What saves Faulkner is that his unreadability means he generally doesn't make the syllabus anymore.

Posted by: The Colossus at February 27, 2007 05:27 PM

We read As I Lay Dying in 10th grade. It was nearly a self-fulfilling prophecy. I will happily agree with any who say Faulkner is overrated, horrid, or both.

Posted by: beth at February 27, 2007 07:18 PM

Gotta go with Beth on this one. My great grandparents and their children (including my grandmother) fled a failed farm in Arkansas, move to Texas where they operated a dry-cleaning business (my great aunt lost the use of one of her hands when it was crushed in a press), then moved to California where they rebuilt a new life for themselves. So yeah, I've a bit of a soft spot for Grapes of Wrath regardless of any nitpicking on the part of East Coast snobs.

Posted by: Boy Named Sous at February 28, 2007 12:34 AM

You failed the test? Didn't you have Cliff Notes?

Posted by: rp at February 28, 2007 03:42 PM

My favorite (possibly apocryphal) story about the Grapes of Wrath is that Stalin arranged to have it shown in Soviet theatres to show how hard life in capitalist America was. Showings had to be stopped when the Soviet people reacted in amazement that even the poorest Americans had cars!

Posted by: tim maguire at March 1, 2007 06:14 PM