John Ernest Steinbeck was born in California, on February 27th, 1902. Being the third child of four, he was the only son to parents John Ernest II and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. He worked through Stanford University but left without a degree. He journeyed to New York to pursue his writing career. However he was unsuccessful in getting his work published so he returned to California. .
After publishing some novels and short stories John Steinbeck first became well known after the novel "Tortilla Flat" (1935). This was a turning point in Steinbeck's writing career. .
In WW2 he served as a correspondent for the New York Tribune. Steinbeck's later writings were combined with entertainment, journalism and experiences from WW2. Steinbeck died in New York in 1968 of arteriosclerosis. He was 66 years old.
Ten Novels by John Steinbeck.
• Cup of Gold - 1929.
• The Red Pony - 1933.
• Tortilla Flat - 1935.
• In Dubious Battle - 1936.
• Sea of Cortez - 1941.
• The Moon is Down - 1942.
• The Pearl - 1947 .
• The Wayward Bus - 1947.
• Burning Bright - 1950 .
• East of Eden - 1952.
Steinbeck's Style.
His work in this book seems to depict the economic problems of rural labour in the USA. Steinbeck also creates the story to match the setting and time era, including giving the characters accents and poor literature skills and using slang from the 1930's when the book was written. This gives the novel an authentic and more realistic tone to it. Although sometimes the dialogue may be harder to follow. In relation to Hemingway, Steinbeck no doubt read Hemingway's books before and had adopted some of Hemingway's traits. Such as long/short sentences and very descriptive, yet factual paragraphs. Though Steinbeck elaborates on the character feelings more and gives a less sterile account on the characters emotions, he is writing in second person where as Hemingway prefers first person.