Bøker av John Steinbeck

I 1939 (på norsk i 1940) kom denne romanen som slo fast at Steinbeck var en av mestrene i moderne amerikansk prosadiktning. Romanen står i dag som et minnesmerke over depresjonens elendighet. Handlingen er hentet fra 1930-årenes USA. Hovedpersonene er familien Joad, en av mange farmerfamilier som må flykte fra Oklahoma, etter at banker og storspekulanter har tatt jorda fra dem. Lokket av løfter fra farmere i California begir de seg vestover mot det forjettede land, der ny elendighet venter dem.

Boka handler om fruktplukkerne i California under depresjonen. Den følger skjebnen til Jim Nolan hvis familie er blitt ødelagt av "systemet". I fortvilelse slutter Jim seg til kommunistene, og blir trukket inn i en streik med leiearbeidere som snart kommer ut av kontroll. Denne romanen er en observasjon av sosialt og politisk opprør, samtidig som den er en historie om en ung manns kamp for en egen identitet.

En fortelling om en fattig meksikansk dykker som finner en perle, noe som ikke gjør ham lykkeligere. Kino og Juana er fattige og får ytterligere bekymringer da sønnen blir bitt av en skorpion. De tror at deres bønner vil bli hørt, og at de vil bli i stand til å kjøpe medisinsk hjelp da Kino finner en østers med en perle i.

Historia om vennskapet mellom to omflakkende gårdsarbeidere i California, og deres drøm om et bedre liv. George tar seg av den mentalt tilbakestående Lennie som er snill, men uten kontroll over kjempekreftene sine. En dag går det virkelig galt og George må komme han til unnsetning.

Danny og hans livsglade, lettbevegelige svirebrødre lever sitt glade og bekymringsløse liv i den lille byen Monterey, California. De er late, ikke så helt ærlige, og tar det ikke så nøye med sannheten; de er slu, men på samme tid naive og trofaste, de er kvinnekjære - og lykkelige. Gods og gull har de ikke, men en av dem arver en gammel falleferdig rønne og inviterer resten av gjengen til å bo der. Og de er utrolig oppfinnsomme når det gjelder å skaffe seg det daglige brød.

Den vakre dalen ligger så innbydende mellom de høye åsene, og mange skaffer seg land der nede fordi de er overbevist om at de kan finne lykken der. De får snart erfare at livet arter seg nokså likt, uansett hvor de slår seg ned.

Raised on a ranch in northern California, Jody is well-schooled in the hard work and demands of a rancher's life. He is used to the way of horses, too; but nothing has prepared him for the special connection he will forge with Gabilan, the hot-tempered pony his father gives him. With Billy Buck, the hired hand, Jody tends and trains his horse, restlessly anticipating the moment he will sit high upon Gabilan's saddle. But when Gabilan falls ill, Jody discovers there are still lessons he must learn about the ways of nature and, particularly, the ways of man.

A new volume which includes the original screenplay, with its copious director's notes, and the narrative - this has followed on from a previously undiscovered manuscript by Steinbeck being found in the UCLA Research Library - the narrative treatment of the story on which he based his screenplay.

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World''Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.' Meet the gamblers, whores, drunks, bums and artists of Cannery Row in Monterey, California, during the Great Depression. They want to throw a party for their friend Doc, so Mack and the boys set about, in their own inimitable way, recruiting everyone in the neighbourhood to the cause. But along the way they can't help but get involved in a little mischief and misadventure. It wouldn't be Cannery Row if it was otherwise, now would it?Packed with a ramshackle joi de vivre, Cannery Row is Steinback's high-spirited tribute to his native California.'Uninhibited, bawdy, compassionate, inquisitive, deeply intelligent' Daily Telegraph

Steinbeck's first posthumously published work, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights is a reinterpretation of tales from Malory's Morte d'Arthur. In this highly successful attempt to render Malory into Modern English, Steinbeck recreated the rhythm and tone of the original Middle English.

Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck was a prolific correspondent. Opening with letters written during Steinbeck's early years in California, and closing with an unfinished, 1968 note written in Sag Harbor, New York, this collection of around 850 letters to friends, family, his editor and a diverse circle of well-known and influential public figures gives an insight into the raw creative processes of one of the most naturally-gifted and hard-working writing minds of this century.

'A man can't scrap his bloodline, can't snip the thread of immortality.' Such is the strength of Joe Saul's desperate longing for a child, that he feels as if a dark curse is upon him after three unfruitful years of marriage. Yet unbeknown to him, he is sterile. His beautiful, young, devoted wife loves him so much that she secretly conceives the child of another man. But when Joe discovers her deception, his anguish is greater than ever before... A powerful, tragic and deeply moving tale.

Set in England, Africa and Italy this collection of Steinbeck's World War II news correspondence was written for the New Yolk Herald Tribune in the latter part of 1943.

Steinbeck's only work of political satire turns the French Revolution on its head, as amateur astronomer Pippin Heristal is drafted in to rule the unruly French. Enchanting comedy ensues as Steinbeck creates the most hilarious royal court ever around the brief, bold reign of the corduroy-clad Pippin, his social-climbing wife Maria, his star-struck daughter Clotilde and her Californian beau, Todd. Featuring a motley crew of courtiers and con men, guards and gardeners, Steinbeck's late comic novel is an entrancing read about politics, power and the daily struggle not to lose one's head!

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. Fantastic, swashbuckling stuff!

Each of these delightful interconnected tales is devoted to a family living in a fertile valley on the outskirts of Monterey, California, and the effects that one particular family has on them all. Steinbeck tackles two important literary traditions here; American naturalism, with its focus on the conflict between natural instincts and the demand to conform to society's norms, and the short story cycle. Set in the heart of 'Steinbeck land', the lush Californian valleys.

In Monterey, on the California Coast, Sweet Thursday is what they call the day after Lousy Wednesday, which is one of those days that's just naturally bad. Returning to the scene of CANNERY ROW, the weedy lots, junk heaps and flop houses of Monterey, Steinbeck once again brings to life the denizens of a netherworld of laughter and tears. The book is in many ways a statement about Steinbeck's greatest theme: the common bonds of humanity and love which make goodness and happiness possible.

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 andthe farm flourishes - until one brother, scared by Joseph's pagan belief, kills the tree and brings disease and famine on the farm. Set in familiar Steinbeck country, TO A GOD UNKOWN is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control theforces of nature and to understand the ways of God.

O Mice an Men wis first published in 1937. It tells the tale o George Milton an Lennie Small, twa gangrel ranch wirkers, fa meeve frae airt tae airt in California sikkin oot new wirk chaunces durin the Muckle Depression in Americay. Scriever John Steinbeck foondit the novella on his ain experiences wirkin alangside traivellin fairm wirkers as a halflin in the 1910s (afore the camin o the Okies he wid brawly describe in The Grapes o Wrath). Steinbeck tuik the title frae Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse":But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,In proving foresight may be vain:The best laid schemes o' Mice an' MenGang aft agley.An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,For promis'd joy!Sheena Blackhall is a poet fa's scrieved mair than 130 poetry volumes, an fower novellas. She's haen twa plays televeesed an puckles o e-buiks, includin The Chimera Institute an The Honey that came frae the Sea. Recently wi Sheila Templeton she owersett Charlotte Brontë's Jean Eyre. Her maist recent owersett is L. Frank Baum's The Winnerfu Warlock o Oz. Baith o the latter buiks can be gotten frae Evertype.

Steinbeck’s tough yet charming portrait of people on the margins of society, dependant on one another for both physical and emotional survivalA Penguin Classic Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, including longtime friend Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Dora, Mack and his boys, Lee Chong, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In her introduction, Susan Shillinglaw shows how the novel expresses, both in style and theme, much that is essentially Steinbeck: “Scientific detachment, empathy toward the lonely and depressed . . . and, at the darkest level . . . the terror of isolation and nothingness.”For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

A superb story of power and beauty, critically acclaimed across the world and now available in an accessible, super-readable format with dyslexia-friendly features, for all readers.

The Pearl is an adapted Intermediate level reader written by John Steinbeck. The Pearl is a sad and beautiful story about a Mexican-Indian driver called Kino who finds the greatest Pearl in the world. Kino believes his prayers have been answered and he will become wealthy. But the pearl brings only greed and violence and Kino loses his happiness.

Of Mice and Men is an adapted Upper level reader written by John Steinbeck. This is the tragic story of George and Lennie who travelled to different farms looking for work. George is a clever man but Lennie's size is always getting them into trouble. Things are going well when they find a job but that soon changes and leads to a tragic end.