Quote:
Originally Posted by herr_oberst
The problem I have with using Steinbeck as an allegory to today's seeming dystopia, is that I never felt a sense of dread when reading any of his novels. Quite the opposite. Even when he paints a landscape as seemingly dreary as the ones in Tortilla Flats or The Pearl, there is hope in the narrative.
ALWAYS hope in the narrative.
I feel a more suitable narrator of today's world would be more of a Chuck Palahniuk, George Orwell or even Paul Theroux with his novel The O Zone...
Maybe Nevil Shute if you really think we are closing shop as a civilization.
Not Steinbeck. Not to me anyway.
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I dunno "grapes of wrath " or "in dubious battle" pretty much wind down to nothingness. Hopeless nothingness. I see no hope in either of those novels.
I find Steinbeck depressing as heck in some of his writing so I have to disagree on that aspect, but it is a personal interpretation.
But then, when I pick up something like Tortilla Flats (I disagree with you on this one too - this is an example of the humorous Steinbeck) or Cannery Row - I see the other side of this magnificent author.
East of Eden is his most elegant and complex work but The Winter of Our Discontent is my personal favourite.