In the 1951 essay “About Ed Ricketts,” published as part of The Log from the Sea of Cortez, John Steinbeck records his recollection of the composition of his short story “The Snake” and identifies the occurrence as an actual event… Read More ›
John Steinbeck
Analysis of John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven
“An often ignored collection of stories that appeared, unceremoniously, in 1932,” The Pastures of Heaven can be considered the cornerstone of much of John Steinbeck’s later, great fiction (Nagel xxix). Upon publication, although it was ignored for the most part… Read More ›
Analysis of John Steinbeck’s Stories
The qualities that most characterize the work of John Steinbeck (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) are a supple narrative style, a versatility of subject matter, and an almost mystical sympathy for the common human being. His fiction is… Read More ›
Lionel Trilling and The Liberal Imagination
In the feverish political climate of the 1930s and 1940s outlined in the introductory section, American critics with left-wing sympathies tubarned James’s disavowal of any direct purpose for the novel against him. They approved of writers such as Theodore Dreiser… Read More ›