{"product_id":"after-the-grapes-of-wrath-paul-d-ruffin-9780821411025","title":"After the Grapes of Wrath: Essays on John Steinbeck in Honor of Tetsumaro Hayashi","description":"\u003cp\u003eTraditionally, the critical reputation of Nobel Prize-winning American novelist John Steinbeck (1902-1968) has rested on his achievements of the 1930s, especially \u003ci\u003eIn Dubious Battle\u003c\/i\u003e (1936), \u003ci\u003eOf Mice and Men\u003c\/i\u003e (19370, \u003ci\u003eThe Long Valley\u003c\/i\u003e (1938), and, of course, \u003ci\u003eThe Grapes of Wrath\u003c\/i\u003e (1939), one of the most powerful - and arguable on of the greatest - American novels of this century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBook reviewers and academic critics often turned antagonistic toward Steinbeck when he no longer produced work with the sweeping reach and social consciousness of \u003ci\u003eThe Grapes of Wrath\u003c\/i\u003e. He was accused of selling out, or co-opting his talent, when in fact the inordinate public success of \u003ci\u003eGrapes\u003c\/i\u003e and especially its attendant notoriety had caused a backlash for Steinbeck. As a result he became self-conscious about his own ability, and suspicious of that \"clumsy vehicle,\" the novel. The very act of researching and writing \u003ci\u003eGrapes\u003c\/i\u003e, which occupied him fully for several years and which he had already conceived as his final book on proletarian themes, changed him drastically.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo longer willing to be the chronicler of Depression-era subjects, Steinbeck went afield to find new roots, new sources, new forms. For example, in the six years following the publication of \u003ci\u003eGrapes\u003c\/i\u003e, Steinbeck completed a suit of love poems; a full-length novel (bastardized by Alfred Hitchcock in his 1943 film, \u003ci\u003eLifeboat\u003c\/i\u003e); a nonfiction scientific book, \u003ci\u003eSea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research\u003c\/i\u003e (with Edward F. Ricketts); a documentary film, \u003ci\u003eThe Forgotten Village\u003c\/i\u003e; a documentary book to help the war effort, \u003ci\u003eBombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team\u003c\/i\u003e; a series of articles he wrote as a war correspondent for the \u003ci\u003eNew York Herald Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e (later collected as \u003ci\u003eOnce There Was a War\u003c\/i\u003e); and two novels, \u003ci\u003eThe Moon Is Down\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCannery Row\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSteinbeck came to define himself less as a novelist and more as a man of letters, a restless experimenter with form and subject matter, and a prophetic postmodernist whose key subject for the rest of his career was the dilemma of individual choice and ethical consciousness. Thus, Steinbeck's later fiction, from \u003ci\u003eThe Moon Is Down\u003c\/i\u003e (1942) through \u003ci\u003eThe Winter of Our Discontent\u003c\/i\u003e (1962), and his later nonfiction, from \u003ci\u003eSea of Cortez\u003c\/i\u003e (1941) through \u003ci\u003eTravels with Charley\u003c\/i\u003e (1962) and \u003ci\u003eAmerica and Americans\u003c\/i\u003e (1966), often shows a different set of stylistic, thematic, and philosophical bearings from his earlier work and underscores his dramatic shift toward \"individual thinking.\" A full appreciation of Steinbeck's mid-career metamorphosis and, consequently, of his later achievement requires a corresponding shift in critical approach - a departure from the traditional New Critical norms. Instead of marginalizing these works, all the contributors to this volume agree that Steinbeck's later publications merit - indeed, demand - closer scrutiny.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten especially for this collection in honor of Professor Tetsumaro Hayashi, the distinguished founder and editor-in-chief of the \u003ci\u003eSteinbeck Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e, on his retirement from Ball State University and his move to Kwassui Women's College in Nagasaki, Japan, these essays explore new ways of addressing Steinbeck's later work and career, and include forays into subjects as diverse as ethnicity and music. They range from treatment of his post-structuralist use of language in \u003ci\u003eSea of Cortez\u003c\/i\u003e and his involvement as a speech writer for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's reelection bid in 1944 to the influence of Charles Darwin's theories of sexual selection in \u003ci\u003eThe Wayward Bus\u003c\/i\u003e, his revision of the myth of Cain in \u003ci\u003eThe Winter of Our Discontent\u003c\/i\u003e, and his employment of Arthurian quest values in his last book, \u003ci\u003eAmerica and Americans\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor this group of critics - which includes respected veteran Steinbeck scholars Robert DeMott, John Ditsky, Mimi Gladstein, Cliff Lewis, Robert Morsberger, Susan Shillinglaw, and Roy Simmonds, as well as talented new voices Debra Barker, Kevin Hearle, Michael Meyer, Brian Railsback, Eiko Shiraga, and Geralyn Strecker - \u003ci\u003eThe Moon is Down\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Wayward Bus\u003c\/i\u003e loom as significant works in the post 1930s re-evaluation (two essays each appear on these works). The book also includes Donald Coers's interview with the writer's widow, Elaine Steinbeck, the first of its kind ever published. \u003ci\u003eAfter The Grapes of Wrath\u003c\/i\u003e opens with eminent Americanist Warren French's appreciation of Professor Hayashi's distinguished career and his influence in Steinbeck studies; a bibliography of Hayashi's major publication concludes this honorary gathering.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Paul D. Ruffin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0821411020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780821411025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Ohio University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/01\/1995\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 265\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.83lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.38h x 6.36w x 1.22d","brand":"Paul D. Ruffin","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48448997261567,"sku":"9780821411025","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_8ffa6331-0b64-474e-ad8c-492aff6dfafe.jpg?v=1777261495","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/after-the-grapes-of-wrath-paul-d-ruffin-9780821411025","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}