East of Eden is a novel by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, published in September 1952. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families -- the Trasks and the Hamiltons -- whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Reuploaded by decabristka
The Pastures of Heaven is a short story cycle by John Steinbeck, first published in 1932, consisting of twelve interconnected stories about a valley in Monterey, California, which was discovered by a Spanish corporal while chasing runaway Indian slaves. Enchanted by the valley's natural beauty, the corporal names it Las Pasturas del Cielo or "The Pastures of Heaven." The stories are written in classic Steinbeck style; the lives of the families that relocate to the valley are portrayed with a mixture of humor and poignance. A recurring theme in the book is the pain caused when people try ineptly to help or to please others.
To a God Unknown is a novel by John Steinbeck, first published in 1933. The book was Steinbeck's second novel (after his unsuccessful Cup of Gold), the title taken from a hymn excerpt of the Rig Veda's Book X. Steinbeck found To a God Unknown extremely difficult to write; taking him roughly five years to complete, the novella proved more time-consuming than either East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's longest novels. In this short novel, Steinbeck explores the relationship of man to his land. The plot follows a man, Joseph Wayne, who moves to California in order to establish a homestead, leaving his father, who soon dies.
Tortilla Flat (1935) is an early John Steinbeck novel set in Monterey, California. The novel was the author's first clear critical and commercial success. The book portrays with great sympathy and humour a group of paisanos - literally, countrymen - a small band of errant friends enjoying life and wine in the days after the end of the Great War. Tortilla Flat was made into a film in 1942. Steinbeck would later return to some of the panhandling locals of Monterey (though not the Spanish paisanos of the Flat) in his novel Cannery Row (1945).
Once There Was a War, published in 1958, is a collection of articles written by John Steinbeck while he was a very special war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune from June to December 1943. It is a non-fiction novel. Steinbeck's articles include descriptions of life on a troop transporter, an account of the liberation of a small Sicilian town, a description of how homesick US soldiers tried to grow their native vegetables in the English gardens where they billeted, and an account of how a detachment of US paratroopers tricked the German garrison at Ventotene into surrendering.
