| Steinbeck Bibliography Grapes of Wrath Criticism |
| August, Eugene. “Our Stories/Our Selves: The American Dream Remembered in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.” University of Dayton Review 23.3 (1996): 5-17. Focuses on the Great Depression as an event that challenged the American Dream, and on the stories that define the Depression. Asserts that the American Dream, although it has many modified versions, is based on the single story of Exodus and that Steinbeck refashions this Exodus story in The Grapes of Wrath. Summarizes the novel and points out its many biblical allusions. Bain, Robert. “Two Versions of the West: The Grapes of Wrath and The Big Rock Candy Mountain.” Steinbeck Newsletter 10.1 (1997): 14-17. States that even though The Grapes of Wrath and Big Rock Candy Mountain have many similarities, they present very different fictional Wests. Explores the differences in use of dialect, religion, place and past, and narrator. Bednarek, Janet R. Daly. “An Historian’s View of The Grapes of Wrath.” University of Dayton Review 23.3 (1996): 83-88. Argues that The Grapes of Wrath can be used to demonstrate the history of the idea of the American Dream. Addresses the ambiguity with which Americans treat immigrants and migrants. Explains how the federal government has come to have a role in helping Americans realize the American Dream. Uses the novel to point out that, in the past, the poor and oppressed clung to the hope of enjoying the American Dream, but states that this is no longer so. Burns, Wayne. “Triumph of the Monster: A Study of Carolyn Chute’s Merry Men in Relation to Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.” Recovering Literature: A Journal of Contextualist Criticism 23 (1996): 5-32. Begins with lengthy excerpts from The Grapes of Wrath to show that Steinbeck defines the corporate system as a monster. Claims, however, that he loses sight of the monster and makes Tom Joad unaware of the true cause of his poverty, which results in a novel of melodramatic conflict between good and evil. Goes on to compare the 1994 novel, Merry Men, to Grapes, stating that Merry Men is a far superior book because it “carries through to its ultimate tragic end the conflict that Steinbeck sentimentalizes.” Asserts that the main difference between the two novels is that the Joads believed they had a chance at attaining the American Dream, whereas Chute’s characters realize that the American Dream is not for them. DeMott, Robert. “A Truly American Book: Pressing The Grapes of Wrath.” Biographies of Books: The Compositional Histories of Notable American Writings. Ed. James Barbour and Tom Quirk. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 1996. 187-225. Builds upon three earlier versions of DeMott’s account of the making of The Grapes of Wrath. Begins by noting the success of the novel. Then follows the steps by which it was made, describing Steinbeck’s series of articles, “The Harvest Gypsies,” for San Francisco News, his first two attempts at writing the novel, and finally the exhausting creation of the novel itself. Gives credit to those who helped in the production of the book, notably Carol Steinbeck and Tom Collins. Discusses the initial reception of the novel and its continuing importance to the American consciousness. Denning, Michael. “Grapes of Wrath: ‘The Art and Science of Migratin’.’” The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century. London: Verso, 1996. 259-282. States that The Grapes of Wrath (novel and film) is not a good representation of the cultural politics and aesthetic ideologies of the Popular Front. Defines the Popular Front as “the insurgent social movement forged from the labor militancy of the fledgling CIO, the anti-fascist solidarity with Spain, Ethiopia, China, and the refugees from Hitler, and the political struggles on the left wing of the New Deal.” Suggests that Steinbeck’s biological metaphors reduced the political struggle element in his story. Examines why other books that are good representatives of the Popular Front were not as popular as Steinbeck’s novel. Dooley, Patrick K. “ ‘Creating Community’: John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and Josiah Royce’s Philosophy of Loyalty.” Steinbeck Newsletter 11 (1998): 4-7. Examines the writing of philosopher Josiah Royce (1855-1916) and Steinbeck who were both intrigued with the phenomenon of community building. Demonstrates that Steinbeck was better able to express Royce’s philosophy of community than Royce was. Hinton, Rebecca. “Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.” Explicator 56.2 (1998): 101-103. Examines The Grapes of Wrath as a novel of transition. Focuses on changes in the concept of family, from membership to governmental structure. Krim, Arthur. “Right Near Sallisaw.” Steinbeck Newsletter 12.1 (1999): 1-4. Considers Steinbeck’s choice of Sallisaw, Oklahoma as the Joad’s hometown. Offers four possible reasons: he learned of Sallisaw from an Oklahoman that he interviewed, it was “Pretty Boy” Floyd’s birthplace, he was intrigued by Dorothea Lange’s photographs of the town, and Sallisaw has the same etymology as Salinas, Steinbeck’s hometown. Lackey, Kris. Roadframes: The American Highway Narrative. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1997. Examines the American road novel and nonfiction written between 1903 and 1994. The chapter “Transcendental Motoring” situates The Grapes of Wrath among other books that explore “what it means to hurtle in relative privacy across a recently settled country.” Compares Grapes to Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways, and Kerouac’s On the Road and finds it to present conflicting visions of the American road. Surprisingly, does not mention Travels with Charley. |