Synopses & Reviews
"Steinbeck is an artists; and he tells the stories of these lovable thieves and adulterers with a gentle and poetic purity of heart and of prose." New York Herald Tribune
Adopting the structure and themes of the Arthurian legend, John Steinbeck created a Camelot” on a shabby hillside above the town of Monterey, California, and peopled it with a colorful band of knights. At the center of the tale is Danny, whose house, like Arthurs castle, becomes a gathering place for men looking for adventure, camaraderie, and a sense of belongingmen who fiercely resist the corrupting tide of honest toil and civil rectitude.
As Nobel Prize winner Steinbeck chronicles their deedstheir multiple lovers, their wonderful brawls, their Rabelaisian wine-drinkinghe spins a tale as compelling and ultimately as touched by sorrow as the famous legends of the Round Table, which inspired him. This edition features an introduction by Thomas Fensch.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 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.
Review
John Steinbeck knew and understood America and Americans better than any other writer of the twentieth century. (
The Dallas Morning News) A man whose work was equal to the vast social themes that drove him. (Don DeLillo)"
Synopsis
Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America?s greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as blackspine Penguin Classics featuring eye-catching, newly commissioned art. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books
East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and
Tortilla Flat. Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers?and to the many who revisit them again and again."
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. xxv-xxvi).
About the Author
JOHN STEINBECK (19021968) was born in Salinas, California. He worked as a laborer and a journalist, and in 1935, when he published Tortilla Flat, he achieved popular success and financial security. Steinbeck wrote more than twenty-five novels and won the Nobel Prize in 1962. Nearly all of his books are available in Penguin Classics.