Editing John Steinbeck (section)

==Major works==

===''Tortilla Flat''===
{{Main|Tortilla Flat|l1=''Tortilla Flat''}}

Steinbeck's first commercial success, published in 1935, is an [[episode|episodic]] fiction recounting adventures of a loosely attached group of delinquent locals in a shabby coastal district of California. Like other books of Steinbeck's, ''Tortilla Flat'' was adapted into [[Tortilla Flat (film)|a feature film]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Levant |first=Howard |date=1970 |title=Tortilla Flat: the Shape of John Steinbeck's Career |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0030812900081232/type/journal_article |journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America |language=en |volume=85 |issue=5 |pages=1087–1095 |doi=10.2307/1261550 |jstor=1261550 |issn=0030-8129}}</ref>

===''In Dubious Battle''===
{{Main|In Dubious Battle|l1=''In Dubious Battle''}}
[[File:Migrant Family in Salinas, CA.jpg|alt=Salinas migrant workers|thumb|Salinas migrant workers, photo by Dorothea Lange]]
In 1936, Steinbeck published the first of what came to be known as his [[Dust Bowl]] trilogy, which included ''Of Mice and Men'' and ''The Grapes of Wrath''. This first novel tells the story of a fruit pickers' strike in California which is both aided and damaged by the help of "the Party", generally taken to be the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]], although this is never spelled out in the book.

===''Of Mice and Men''===
{{Main|Of Mice and Men|l1=''Of Mice and Men''}}

''Of Mice and Men'' is a 1937 tragic novel that Steinbeck rewrote as a play that same year. The story is about two traveling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to earn enough money to buy their own farm/ranch. As it is set in 1930s America, it provides an insight into The Great Depression, encompassing themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence. Along with ''The Grapes of Wrath'', ''East of Eden'', and ''The Pearl'', ''Of Mice and Men'' is one of Steinbeck's best known works. It was made into movies three times: [[Of Mice and Men (1939 film)|in 1939]], starring [[Burgess Meredith]], [[Lon Chaney Jr.]], and [[Betty Field]]; in 1981, starring [[Randy Quaid]], [[Robert Blake (actor)|Robert Blake]] and [[Ted Neeley]]; and [[Of Mice and Men (1992 film)|in 1992]], starring [[Gary Sinise]] and [[John Malkovich]].

===''The Grapes of Wrath''===
{{Main|The Grapes of Wrath|l1=''The Grapes of Wrath''}}

''The Grapes of Wrath'' was published during the [[Great Depression]] and had a contemporary setting, describing a family of [[sharecropper]]s, the Joads, who were driven from their land by the dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The title is a reference to the [[Battle Hymn of the Republic]]. Some critics found it too sympathetic to the workers' plight and too critical of capitalism,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-grapes-of-wrath-literary-criticism-critical-analysis.html|title=The Grapes of Wrath: Literary Criticism & Critical Analysis|website=Study.com|access-date=January 13, 2019|archive-date=January 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113062716/https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-grapes-of-wrath-literary-criticism-critical-analysis.html|url-status=live}}</ref> but it found a large audience of its own. It won both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction (novels) and was adapted as a [[The Grapes of Wrath (film)|film]] starring [[Henry Fonda]] and [[Jane Darwell]] and directed by [[John Ford]].

===''Cannery Row''===
{{Main|Cannery Row (novel)|l1=''Cannery Row''}}

The 1945 novel tells of a marine biologist in a seedy district dotted with sardine canneries in [[Monterey, California]], who is feted by colorful neighbors in gratitude for his kindness to them. ''Cannery Row'' and its sequel, ''[[Sweet Thursday]]'', were adapted into a [[Cannery Row (film)|movie]] in 1982.

===''East of Eden''===
{{Main|East of Eden (novel)|l1=''East of Eden'' (novel)}}

Steinbeck deals with the nature of good and evil in this 1952 Salinas Valley saga. The story follows two families: the Hamiltons&nbsp;– based on Steinbeck's own maternal ancestry<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/IN-STEINBECK-COUNTRY-As-America-celebrates-the-2869887.php|title=In Steinbeck Country|last=Nolte|first=Carl|newspaper=Sfgate |date=February 24, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922051900/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/IN-STEINBECK-COUNTRY-As-America-celebrates-the-2869887.php|archive-date=September 22, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>&nbsp;– and the Trasks, reprising stories about the biblical Adam and his progeny. His paternal ancestry is also reflected in the story.<ref>DeMott, Robert (1996). Steinbecks's Typewriter: Essays on His Art. Troy, New York: The Whitston Publishing Company. p. 215. ISBN 0-87875-446-6. "the paternal Steinbeck line, whose gruesome experiences, including rape and murder, in Jaffa in the 1850s throw some startling new light on ''East of Eden''".</ref> The book was published in 1952. Portions of the novel were made into a 1955 movie directed by [[Elia Kazan]] and starring [[James Dean]].

===''Travels with Charley''===
{{Main|Travels with Charley: In Search of America|l1=''Travels with Charley: In Search of America''}}

In 1960, Steinbeck bought a pickup truck and had it modified with a custom-built [[campervan|camper top]]{{snd}}which was rare at the time{{snd}}and drove across the United States with his faithful "blue" [[standard poodle]], Charley. Steinbeck nicknamed his truck ''[[Rocinante]]'' after [[Don Quixote]]'s "noble steed". In this sometimes comical, sometimes melancholic book, Steinbeck describes what he sees as he travels from [[Maine]] to [[Montana]] to California, and from there to [[Texas]] and [[Louisiana]] and back to his home on [[Long Island]]. However, in 2011, after his death, a reporter who had followed ''Travels with Charley''{{'}}s trail using the author's own diaries controverted the book's accuracy, casting Steinbeck's claimed reportage as largely fictionalized, allegations supported by scholars and Steinbeck's son John.

The restored camper truck is on exhibit in the [[National Steinbeck Center]] in Salinas.