專八人文知識需知的美國名人--約翰.斯坦貝克

　　John Steinbeck

　　約翰斯坦貝克，20世紀(jì)美國最有影響力的作家之一。他熟悉社會底層的人們，許多作品都以他們?yōu)橹魅斯?，表現(xiàn)了底層人的善良、質(zhì)樸的品格，創(chuàng)造了“斯坦貝克式的英雄”形象。同時，他的小說藝術(shù)造詣很高，將寫實風(fēng)格與幻想風(fēng)格有機地結(jié)合起來，對后來美國文學(xué)，尤其是西部文學(xué)的發(fā)展起了重大的影響。其代表作品有小說《人鼠之間》、《憤怒的葡萄》、《月亮下去了》、《珍珠》、《伊甸之東》、《煩惱的冬天》等。

　　John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (February 27, 1902 December 20, 1968) was an American writer. Hewrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and the novella Of Mice andMen (1937). He wrote a total of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fictionbooks and five collections of short stories. In 1962, Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize forLiterature.

　　Life

　　John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. He was of Germanand Irish descent. Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck, Steinbeck's paternal grandfather, had shortenedthe family name to Steinbeck when he immigrated to the United States. The family farm inHeiligenhaus, Germany.

　　Literary career

　　Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold, published in 1929, is based on the life and death of privateerHenry Morgan. It centers on Morgan's assault and sacking of the city of Panama, sometimesreferred to as the 'Cup of Gold', and on the woman, fairer than the sun, who was said to be foundthere.

　　After Cup of Gold, between 1931 and 1933 Steinbeck produced three shorter works. The Pasturesof Heaven, published in 1932, comprised twelve interconnected stories about a valley nearMonterey, that was discovered by a Spanish corporal while chasing runaway American Indianslaves. In 1933 Steinbeck published The Red Pony, a 100-page, four-chapter story weaving inmemories of Steinbeck's childhood.To a God Unknown follows the life of a homesteader and hisfamily in California, depicting a character with a primal and pagan worship of the land he works.

　　Steinbeck achieved his first critical success with the novel Tortilla Flat (1935), which won theCalifornia Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal. The book portrays the adventures of a group ofclassless and usually homeless young men in Monterey after World War I, just before U.S.prohibition. The characters, who are portrayed in ironic comparison to mythic knights on a quest,reject nearly all the standard mores of American society in enjoyment of a dissolute life centeredaround wine, lust, camaraderie and petty theft. The book was made into the 1942 film Tortilla Flat,starring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield, a friend of Steinbeck's.

　　Steinbeck began to write a series of "California novels" and Dust Bowl fiction, set among commonpeople during the Great Depression. These included In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men and TheGrapes of Wrath. Of Mice and Men, about the dreams of a pair of migrant laborers working theCalifornia soil, was critically acclaimed.

　　The stage adaptation of Of Mice and Men was a hit, starring Broderick Crawford as the mentallychild-like but physically powerful itinerant farmhand "Lennie," and Wallace Ford as Lennie'scompanion, "George." However, Steinbeck refused to travel from his home in California to attendany performance of the play during its New York run, telling Kaufman that the play as it existed inhis own mind was "perfect" and that anything presented on stage would only be adisappointment. Steinbeck would write two more stage plays (The Moon Is Down and BurningBright).

　　Of Mice and Men was rapidly adapted into a 1939 Hollywood film, in which Lon Chaney, Jr. (whohad portrayed the role in the Los Angeles production of the play) was cast as Lennie and BurgessMeredith as "George." Steinbeck followed this wave of success with The Grapes of Wrath (1939),based on newspaper articles he had written in San Francisco. The novel would be considered bymany to be his finest work. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940, even as it was made into a notable filmdirected by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, who was nominated for an AcademyAward for the part.

　　The success of The Grapes of Wrath was not free of controversy, as Steinbeck's liberal politicalviews, portrayal of the negative side of capitalism, and mythical reinterpretation of the historicalevents of the Dust Bowl migrations led to backlash against the author, especially close to home.Infact, claiming the book was both obscene and misrepresented conditions in the county, the KernCounty Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's public schools and libraries inAugust 1939. This ban lasted until January 1941.

　　Of the controversy, Steinbeck wrote, "The vilification of me out here from the large landownersand bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hate me and havethreatened to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing.It is completely out of hand; I mean a kind of hysteria about the book is growing that is nothealthy."

　　The film versions of The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men (by two different movie studios)were in production simultaneously, allowing Steinbeck to spend a full day on the set of The Grapesof Wrath and the next day on the set of Of Mice and Men.