検索キーワード： 著者 "John Steinbeck" すべてのカテゴリー

I gjennombruddsromanen sin, Dagdrivergjengen, beskriver Steinbeck med overdådig humor og stor innlevelse de såkalte paisanoenes omflakkende og ubekymrede landstrykerliv. Disse californiske vagabondene er etterkommerne av den gamle befolkningen – spanjoler, indianere og mexicanere. De er ikke styrt av materielle goder, men lever fra dag til dag som ekte livsnytere, konstant opptatt av å skaffe den neste gallonen vin eller gjøre erobringer blant damene som krysser deres vei.

Juan og Alice Chicoy ejer en restaurant med tilhørende autoværksted i et øde vejkryds nær den mexicanske grænse. Mens den koleriske Alice passer restauranten sammen med en romantisk drømmende servitrice, passer den rolige, mandige Juan værksted og buskørsel sammen med lærlingen 'Bumse', hvis tanker kredser om damer. I et forfærdeligt uvejr kører bussen en dag fast på en øde, mudderfyldt vej i Californien.

Øst for paradis (1952) er Steinbecks store dramatiske slægtsroman over tre generationer, hvor det gode kæmper mod det onde, som det er skildret i myten om Kain og Abel. I Steinbecks fortælling gentages kampen i to generationers brødrepar. I første generation er Charles i misundelse og ondskab tæt på at slå sin bror Adam ihjel. I anden generation følger vi brødrene Aaron og Caleb, der er sønner af Adam og den forførende, men dæmonisk ondsindede Cathy.

Vredens druvor är en modern vandringssägen från 1930-talet om Oklahomas skuldsatta bönder, som drivs bort från sin jord och som lockas av reklamen till Kalifornien, där de utnyttjas skamlöst och slutar som arbetslösa och hemlösa på landsvägen. Romanens storhet kommer från Steinbecks äkta indignation och inlevelse i de fattiga böndernas öden samt hans tro på människans värdighet och vilja till överlevnad genom gemensam hjälp till och med under de svåraste förhållandena.

På rejse med Charley er en rejsebeskrivelse af en rundrejse i USA i 1960, som Steinbeck foretog i en autocamper sammen med sin puddelhund Charley. Steinbeck skrev, at han var drevet af et ønske om at genopdage sit hjemland, eftersom han tjente til livets ophold ved at skrive om det. Han følte sig ude af berøring med det moderne USA efter i tyve år at have boet i New York og rejst rundt i Europa, og han ønskede bl.a. at finde ud af, hvordan den moderne amerikaner var.

Onsdagar, ofta refererad till som veckans värsta dag, har trots allt en bra egenskap. Den följs av den underbara torsdagen. En man, Doktorn, återvänder till Monterey i Kalifornien efter andra världskrigets slut, men finner att den förut så glada platsen med de tidigare så uppsluppna människorna nu är grå, och krigstrött. Dessutom har doktorns biologiska anstalt förfallit under hans frånvaro, och han börjar känna att hans liv saknar syfte och mening.

Scenen er Cannery Row i Monterey, Californien. Doc er gået i stå: indehaveren af Vestkystens Biologiske Laboratorium er vendt rastløs og desillusioneret hjem fra 2. verdenskrig. Hans videnskab ligger stille, han gider knap nok se til sine blæksprutter og klapperslanger. Men så beslutter Docs venner at tage affære. Dagdriverne fra Ungkarlehjemmet "Palace" og pigerne fra byens ikke helt almindelige bordel "The Bear Flag" slår sig sammen og skaffer Doc det mikroskop, der bringer hans forskning videre og tilmed skaffer ham en ung og herlig kone.

Nel 1936, nel pieno della Grande depressione, il San Francisco News commissiona a John Steinbeck una serie di articoli sulla condizione dei braccianti agricoli immigrati in California. Sono americani del Midwest, colpiti dalla crisi e costretti a fuggire dalle tempeste di sabbia della Dust Bowl. Reduce dal grande successo di "Pian della Tortilla", Steinbeck sale su un furgone da panettiere e inizia il suo viaggio fra le vallate della California.

NBC University Theater initially started in Chicago with a remit to bring adaptations of classic novels, usually Anglo-American, to a radio audience. In its later years, it also included short stories and plays and went on to win the distinguished Peabody award. University Theater relied on excellent distillations of the novels and first-class acting alongside high production values.

Set in familiar Steinbeck territory, To a God Unknown is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control the forces of nature and, ultimately, to understand the ways of God.

On the heels of the enormous success of his masterwork The Grapes of Wrath, and at the height of the American war effort, John Steinbeck, one of the most prolific and influential literary figures of his generation, wrote Bombs Away, a nonfiction account of his experiences with US Army Air Force bomber crews during World War II. Now, for the first time since its original publication in 1942, Penguin Classics presents this exclusive edition of Steinbeck's introduction to the then-nascent US Army Air Force and its bomber crew.

In his only work of political satire, The Short Reign of Pippin IV, John Steinbeck turns the French Revolution upside down as amateur astronomer Pippin Héristal is drafted to rule the unruly French. Steinbeck creates around the infamous Pippin the most hilarious royal court ever: Pippin's wife, Queen Marie, who "might have taken her place at the bar of a very good restaurant"; his uncle, a man of dubious virtue; and his glamour-struck daughter and her beau, the son of the so-called "egg king" of Petaluma, California.

The novelist who wrote The Grapes of Wrath and the director who produced Crisis and Lights Out in Europe combined their superb talents to tell the story of the coming of modern medicine to the natives of Mexico. There have been several notable examples of this pen-camera method of narration, but The Forgotten Village is unique among them in that the text was written before a single picture was shot.

The last of John Steinbeck's play-novelettes,

Burning Bright was the author's final attempt after 1937's

Of Mice and Men and 1942's

The Moon is Down to create what he saw as a new, experimental literary form. Four scenes, four people: the husband who yearns for a son, ignorant of his own sterility; the wife who commits adultery to fulfill her husband's wish; the father of the child; and the outsider whose actions will affect them all.

In 1943 John Steinbeck was on assignment for The New York Herald Tribune, writing from Italy and North Africa, and from England in the midst of the London blitz. In his dispatches he focuses on the human-scale effect of the war, portraying everyone from the guys in a bomber crew to Bob Hope on his USO tour and even fighting alongside soldiers behind enemy lines. Taken together, these writings create an indelible portrait of life in wartime.

This lush, lyrical fantasy is Steinbeck's sole work of historical fiction. Henry Morgan ruled the Spanish Main in the 1670s, ravaging the coasts of Cuba and America and striking terror wherever he went. His lust and greed knew no bounds, and he was utterly consumed by two passions; to possess the mysterious woman known as La Santa Roja, the Red Saint, and to conquer Panama and wrest 'the cup of gold' from Spanish hands.

While fulfilling his dead father's dream of creating a prosperous farm in California, Joseph Wayne comes to believe that a magnificent tree on the farm embodies his father's spirit. His brothers and their families share in Joseph's prosperity and the farm flourishes - until one brother, scared by Joseph's pagan belief, kills the tree and brings disease and famine on the farm.

In Monterey, on the California Coast, Sweet Thursday is what they call the day after Lousy Wednesday - one of those days that's just bad from the start. But Sweet Thursday is sunny and clear, a day when anything can happen. Returning to the scene of Cannery Row, Steinbeck brilliantly creates its bawdy, high-spirited world of bums, drunks and hookers, telling the story of what happened to everyone after the war.

The Wayward Bus travels through the backroads of the lush California countryside, transporting the lost and the lonely to new destinations. Juan Chicoy is at the wheel, a man of the land, hot-blooded and uninhibited. His passengers include Ernest, a travelling salesman out for fun, seventeen-year-old Kit, also known as Pimples, and Camille the stripper, who dances at stag nights and takes the star-struck young Norma under her wing.

En 1960, Steinbeck, acompañado por su perro Charley, recorrió más de 16.000 kilómetros a lo largo de treinta y cuatro estados a bordo de su autocaravana Rocinante. Durante el viaje conversó con camioneros y campesinos, sintiendo los miedos y las esperanzas de sus compatriotas. Este delicioso libro, que llegó a ser número uno en ventas en su país, fue publicado poco antes de recibir el Nobel en 1962.