John Steinbeck documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มี.ค. 2022
- John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (February 27, 1902 - December 20, 1968) was an American author and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception." He has been called "a giant of American letters."
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. In the first 75 years after it was published, it sold 14 million copies.
John Steinbeck documentary
2006
I read “East of Eden” for the first time when I was 14 and I was blown away by the story and by Steinbeck’s writing. Not long after that I had an accident and had a fairly long convalescence during which time I read every Steinbeck book that my dad could find and check out of our local library. We read the books together and discussed them. There were only a few that I hadn’t read by the time I got better. Everyone talks about how marvelous “The Grapes of Wrath” is, but I think that the cast of characters in “East of Eden”, “Cannery Row” and it’s sequel “Sweet Thursday” are some of the most interesting characters in all of literature-especially Sam Hamilton and Lee Chong in EoE and Doc (based on Ed Ricketts) in CR.
What a wonderful story of your relationship with Steinbeck's writing. And well said.
@Monica Call agree with you regarding the wealth of his other books beside the fame of Grapes of Wrath. The GoW achieved its fame i think because of its hard hitting portrayal of how the Depression affected the working poor, and how it threw many middle class people into poverty. What other book is there that so eloquently describes this harrowing time in American history? i can't really think of one. Can you?
''what other novel'', i mean!
Nice to read this. I have a similar relationship with The Grapes of Wrath vs. his other books such as Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, and one of my favorite books, Of Mice and Men which I fell also in love with at the age of 14.
Funnily enough, East of Eden is the only work of fiction from Steinbeck that I have not read !
@@ShankyLightfoot East of Eden is a modern retelling of the Adam and Eve story, but it is so much more than that. It looks at the existence of good and evil, the false notion that if a parent(s) is evil their children will also turn out evil too and the important idea that even if we have horrible parents (and ancestors), live in horrible places and have few opportunities in life, we still have the power to choose to be different and to rise above our circumstances to become emotionally/physically healthy and productive people. Lee Chong and Sam Hamilton’s conversations about evil and free will are much better and much more inspiring than many sermons and essays on the same subject. “Timshel” the Hebrew word for “thou mayest/you may” are the two most important words and idea in the entire book. Every time that I read this book I discover new insights with regard to those two all important words and am always richly rewarded for doing so.
E of E was a major inspiration for me to decide that I would NOT carry on a toxic and extremely damaging view/way of parenting and family relationships that began with my mother’s maternal grandfather. He was an unrepentant bigamist whose selfishness and brutality had profound physical and emotional consequences for his first wife and family. Out of 7 children only his oldest child, who’d suffered the most at his hands up until she was 22, chose to be and act the opposite of her sick and twisted father. On the other hand my grandmother, who was the second oldest child, let her experiences completely warp her. She was the most hateful person I’ve ever known. Being cruel seemed to bring her immense satisfaction. Her children were her biggest victims. (My grandfather worked several jobs to pay for her medical bills due to arthritis and was often gone from the home. When he was home he ran interference between his wife and his children. Couples and family counseling were unknown back then.) My mother and her older sibs raised us children as their mother had raised them. I don’t know why none of them ever stopped to consider that there might be a better and healthier way to parent and deal with family members. However, in my generation a few of us cousins decided to dig deep into our family history in order to see what had gone wrong. It was a painful and horrifying discovery. We convened a cousins’ get together and shared the backstory of our family’s dysfunction. After my sibs and cousins were able to pull their jaws off of the floor, we decided as a group that the disfunction stopped with us and that we would get counseling or do whatever else was necessary to end the evil. The way we have raised our children has been the opposite of the way we were raised. As a result the 5th generation was raised with love, respect and the absence of any kind of corporal punishment. The difference has been heartening to witness. The idea to name out loud and stop the family dysfunction came from E of E. Knowing that we could actually choose to be and act in a way that was so different than our parents/grandmother was so empowering. I bless John Steinbeck for writing this book.
It's not a popularity contest. His books speak for themselves. They are so interesting. He knows his subjects.
I consider Steinbeck as America's greatest literary giant of ethical and compassionate writing. His concern for animals and our oppression throughout history belies a man with profound heart and his morality. He persevered through ignorance and prejudice to write some of the most powerful messages. He was my guiding inspiration through my youth.
I am a writer. My first radio interview took place in December 1992 at an FM station in downtown Salinas. I wanted it there in honor of John Steinbeck. This is a damn good biographical sketch.
Thank you. Excellent overview of Steinbeck's life. I had the rare opportunity to produce a traveling 25-City Readers Theater Tour of California to celebrate John Steinbeck's Centenary year in 2002. His work is beloved!
I read east of eden back in 08 it was the best book I ever read I recently listened to it on audiobook and I still love it even more today
I read EoE the first time when I was 14 and was recuperating from a terrible head injury sustained at school. My dad had a copy of it in our family library, and the book all but screamed to me to read it for some reason. It hooked me immediately and because I was on bed rest for a while I had the book all but chained about my neck until I finished it. It blew me away!
The whole scope of the story revolves around the word and the concept of the Hebrew word “timshel” which is mistranslated in the King James Bible as “Thou shalt” when it really means “Thou mayest.” The concept of Timshel means that we humans can choose our actions and reactions to whatever life and people throw at us. We aren’t forced to only act in one specific or sanctioned way. Lee Chong and Sam Hamilton are my favorite characters because they are the deep thinkers and the philosophers of the story who watch their beloved friends and family members make poor decisions because they don’t realize that they actually have a choice to break with old, harmful ways of thinking and being rather than to carry on harmful personal and generational ways of dealing with life. It’s one of the very most profound books that I have ever read. Ever 3-4 years I reread the book and ALWAYS come across new ideas that I didn’t get from the previous readings. That is the mark of a truly profound work of literature.
For a documentary about a famous writer there was very little in the film that gave insight into his works. Steinbeck was not a political writer yet The Grapes of Wrath has been considered a political novel since its publication. And, he wrote speeches for President Johnson. Hmm...
possibly my favourite author definitely the author of my favourite book , Of Mice and Men . Thanks very much another enjoyable documentary .
I wasn’t a strong reader in school, honestly Of Mice and Men has been one of my very favorite books. It’s the first associated reading I read for cover to cover. It doesn’t matter how many times I read it and I know exactly how it ends, it never fails to make me cry EVERY time. 😢
John Steinbeck is my favorite writer!
Having grown up in Salinas, this man is one of my personal heroes.
Steinbeck..so sophisticated, sensitive and simple to read..short story favourite is Johnny Bear in the book called The Long Valley..breathtaking !!
th-cam.com/video/dgQ8YnaamLs/w-d-xo.html
I very much agree with you, the above link is an audio version of Johnny Bear, read by John Steinbeck.
Steinbeck wrote of what he knew in East of Eden and Of Mice and Men. Which made him persona non grata in his home town. To conservative Salinas this was disrespectful
I used to live just 3 blocks from Steinbeck's house in Salinas.
Fell in love with John Steinbeck reading America and Americans 🌷
He was my favourite writer .
Call of the wild
God bless his soul
From Iran
Sounds like Steinbeck was troubled, which I was unaware of. Travels With Charlie is my favorite book of Steinbeck's.
His troubles remind me of Hemingway's a little. That road trip book looks like a good read. I've added it to my extremely long reading list.
As a writer myself, and fairly troubled, I'll just say that most people are troubled in some way. No one's life is a straight line.
Qq
It is mine as well Donald Kelly 🐕🦺
How I totally fell in love with him 💜
@@marthawoodworth
Point taken.
I think Martha, it isn’t the quiet panic of yesteryear that troubles me……. It’s coming off life’s battlefield and noticing: this book isn’t close to being finished!!!
This debut jazz album is STILL in the midst of being flushed out!!!
And my masterpiece short animated film is at least 3 years out?
Steinway died December 20, 1968
He was 66 years old.
Wouldn’t bore you with what took me soooo long to get anything accomplished… (my straight line detoured up a ice capped
mountain ……for 40 years!!!!)…..lol
But…… news flash!!!
Finally, my time is my own, and even though
I’m 66!! ( granted a younger looking healthy version of it as compared to Mr. Steinway )……. nevertheless
Ms.Woolworth,….. my biological, chronological, and artistic clock is ticking……. and I’d prefer to leave SOMETHING for mankind to ponder; (aesthetically speaking) before the proverbial
cuckoo crows…….. or croaks
( as it were )……lol
Ok….. Soooo, I probably won’t become a NOBEL LAUREATE anytime soon dam it! …… lol
Anyway, don’t you ever stop writing……….
steady as she goes Martha,
….. steady as she goes 👀
Love how the narrator assumes all the field workers are from Mexico and not some other Latin nation. Crazy that's how Boomers talked in the early 2000s, not so much anymore
Which ones? Also who cares where they came from?
Latin nation !?
Anyone living here in Northern California should pay a visit to the Steinbeck Museum in Salinas. Lovely documentary about a man I hold in great reverence.
Never realized he was only 66 when he died.
And I didn't know he stopped writing novels for the last 6 years of his life. Usually they go til the end.
An interesting if uneven documentary. It could have benefited from excerpts of his work.
no mention of his delightful cannery row books and the characters in them what an oversight
Je relis présentement Les raisins de la colère pour la troisième fois, un chefs-d'oeuvre bien étayé...et bien sûr Des souris et des hommes, lequel fut porté en feuilleton sur la chaîne de RADIO-CANADA il y a quelques décennies ! ❤❤
Poor audio quality unfortunately. Narrator sounds like he's in a well.
why do so many of these documentaries talk about real estate
He gave they who lived on the fringe respectability.
@ Audrey Daleski
…. “he gave; they who live on the fringe respectively “…..
LOVE THAT LINE!!!!
……… is that from one of Steinbeck’s books??….. or is that you waxing poetically?
Well,
I’m about to begin :
“ The Grapes Of Wrath “ tonight.
….. saw the film years ago…..
……. based on the this period piece,
don’t think I’ll find that line in there….lol
Poor documentary, for many reasons. Not much about who Steinbeck really was. Very critical of his character when younger and too much emphasis on his negative interactions with people. Too much focus on the photos of family homes, videos of the towns, streets, as they are today, not back then, but not enough on Steinbeck himself, his ideas, philosophy and his writing. His travel book, " Travels with Charlie," was wonderful. Traveling all over the US, with his dog, and about his interactions with regular, everyday people. If you read that book, you would know more about him and who he was. Lots of photos in that book also. I loved it, and formed a positive opinion of him from reading that book. Thank God I read it before seeing this video.
And yet you haven't shown us this perfect you made.
That music tho..
Travels with Charlie is wonderful. I read it twice about 15 years apart. Once,before I went to USA for 2 years, and once after. I got different things from it each time.
My dream trip in '12 was a trip to Monterrey & all his haunts ❤
Several years ago I also had the wonderful opportunity to go to Monterey, Salinas and Steinbeck’s other haunts with a friend who was also a Steinbeck devotee. While much had changed in Monterey, it was great to see Cannery Row and the Monterey Aquarium and think about Doc and the flop house gang in “Cannery Row” and “Sweet Thursday”. Driving through the countryside on the outskirts of Salinas I could imagine Adam Trask, his twins Caleb and Aaron plus Sam Hamilton and Lee Chong living their lives there. Ditto for Chinatown in San Francisco where Lee Chong met with the elders of his clan and where they read together the Old Testament in Hebrew and discussed it.
Both my friend and I gained a greater appreciation for Steinbeck as a result of this trip, and it has definitely enhanced my reading of his works. His love of the land and for “regular” people permeates every book that he ever wrote. My AP English teacher would go on and on about how superior Hemingway was in comparison with Steinbeck. She was very surprised when she 1)found out that I’d read almost all of his books by the time that I was in HS and 2)stood up to her in class when she trashed Steinbeck’s books even though “Cannery Row” was required reading that year and frankly expressed how Hemingway’s writing and books left me cold while I had (by then) read and reread almost all of Steinbeck’s books twice or more and how they never failed to make me do a lot of serious thinking during and after reading them. “East of Eden” is still one of my top 10 favorite books of all time.
Some years ago I was working customer service at a call center, I noticed on the call ID some lady calling from Salinas. I had to bring him up because I'd brought East of Eden to work with me
She maybe ran a restaurant named after Steinbeck..anyways some relatives of her knew Steinbeck in high school. Said he was a really smelly kid XD
Deceptively simple. A man of the people. He was ahead of his time.
When the narrator said: the migrant workers understand that low wage work is better than no work at all, I couldnt believe it. The antithesis to everything Steinbeck wrote about. Poor documentary. Dispassionate and machine like.
Great! Thank you "Write Like" for sharing.
Either the music goes, or I go.
Unfortunately, at least on TH-cam, via my iMac, the sound is poor; and the speaker's voice is a bit too monotone and heavy for me.
Like George Costanza, he was a budding marine bioligist
The Log From The Sea Of Cortez ?
I’m pretty sure I watched this in my 5th grade classroom. I remember it being bad then too.
Cannery row, the frogs croak.
"Poor people beeing exploited but a chance to work is better than no work at all!!" : ) yup ...even if they work only to make their employee more rich. :(((
I think the quality of this documentary is poor due to the narrator not being any good at this particular task.
Hopefully this is not his full time job! I 😢
I was part of that throng that came to hate Steinbeck for his pro war stance. He could have stood up and made a difference, but he did not.
Which war?
Jack Kerouac supported the Vietnam War as well. All patriotic Americans did.
Wow. What a thin, dull doc.
This is like one of those bad documentaries they showed high school students in the 1970s. The first ten minutes could have been condensed down to three. “People who sail in boats are practical people. They have to be.” We really needed to know that? Just fast forward to where you see the Stanford campus. 12:55.
@Christina yes the intro is a little long by todays standards. But still, it left out a few things i would like to have known: much more about his parents, for instance and their cultural heritage. This often plays a big part in people's lives, and helps form their character. As for the comment on people who sail in boats, i think an observation like that is more relevant now than it ever was (since most people now are quite lost when it comes to practical knowledge!). We only have to watch the hilarious if wildly dangerous antics of people who take pleasure boats out for the day in Miami! (knowing nothing whatever about the sea). Then the ensuing rescue as the boat quickly sinks...
'It doesn't even say what GOW is about.
Thank you
He was 'not political' but he wrote speeches for LBJ. 😕
Yeah, I don't buy that one either.
@@AuthorDocumentaries Me neither. And we read “Grapes of Wrath” in a public high school along with Greek and Roman literature. Sounds like there isn’t much educating going on and I’m not referring to the pandemic.
If he wrote speeches for that slug, LBJ, I'll bet they weren't used! I was there myself, twice, in fact.
Having known more than one speech writer in Washington DC yeah they don't care who they work for and they don't even believe their own b******* that they write
Oh in a s***** comment about exploiting workers of any class Creed or kind is crap
that documentary was the worst.... about as in-depth as a 9th grade paper.
It merely rattles of titles of his books without any discussion.
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Are you joking. This more than a poor excuse for a autobiographical video
If I were to be truthful about trying to find out about Steinbeck; most bios are too flowery and are presented as almost Chamber of Congress travel brouchures about weather and climate. There is a brutality to the fog that can rip apart a body from the joints into the bones. I wanna know about how he died. Day Of The Locust.
Hey, can anybody lead me to a vid that talks about john death? It's kinda like a Led Zepllin song, "Whole Lotta Crap" duh-duh duh-duh