John Steinbeck is one of the great American writers, perhaps the greatest. His works are literary classics. Most of his most famous novels have been adapted into films. Many famous actors played in those films: Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, Henry Fonda, James Dean, John Malkovich... Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962, certainly for his entire literary ouevre, and after his last novel "The Winter of Our Discontent" . About twenty years before he won the Pulitzer Prize.

2. John Steinbeck
(1902 – 1968)
 American writer. Winner of the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962
 The most famous novels:
 “Of Mice and Man”
 “The Grapes of Wrath”
 “In Dubious Battle”
 “East of Eden”
 “Winter of Our Discontent”

3.  “I ovo verujem:
da je slobodan, istraživački um pojedinca
najvrednija stvar na svetu. A za ovo bih
se borio:
slobodu uma da krene u bilo kom pravcu,
bez direktive.
I protiv ovoga se moram boriti:
bilo koje ideje, religije ili vlade
koja ograničava ili uništava
pojedinca. Ovo je ono što sam ja
i za šta se zalažem”.
CITAT
“Istočno od raja”

5. “Pokušajte da razumete ljude”
 “U svakom iskrenom pisanju na svetu postoji osnovna tema.
 Pokušajte da razumete ljude, ako se budete razumeli, bićete
pažljivi jedni prema drugima.
 Dobro poznavanje čoveka nikada ne vodi u mržnju i skoro
uvek vodi ka ljubavi”.

6. THE FIRST LITERARY
SUCCESSES
 “Tortilla Flat” (1935) – collection of
stories about paisanos
from Monterey (literally,
countrymen – a small band of errant
friends enjoying life and wine in the days
after the end of WWI).
 Popularity and money...
 The movie “Tortilla Flat” with Hedy Lamarr
and Spencer Tracy was a;lready filmed in 1942.
.

8. PULITZER PRIZE
 “In Dubious Battle” (1936)
 “Of Mice and Men” (1937)
 “The Grapes of Wrath” (1939) – probably his famous novel
 This novel won him the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1940.

12. CHRISTIAN IMAGES
 Many have noted the use of Christian imagery and motifs in
the novel “The Grapes of Wrath”.
 The main characters in the novel, Tom and Jim Casy, are
interpreted as figures similar to Christ in different periods of
his life, i.e. resurrection.
 There are also religious images in other characters and plot
elements.
 Steinbeck will deal with biblical themes and motifs later,
especially in the novel “East of Eden”.

13. SECOND WORLD WAR
 He was a war reporter for one New York newspaper.
 The works he wrote related to the Second World War are:
“Bombs Away” (1942), “The Moon is Down”(1942), “A Russian
Journal”(1948), “Once There Was a War”(1958).

14. THE POST-WAR
PERIOD
 Social themes, i.e. injustices in society, poverty,
hard life and the cruelty that exploitation
imposes, were Steinbeck great
preoccupation.
 Steinbeck will return to social criticism even
after the WWII in his works: “The Wayward
Bus” , “The Pearl” ...
 However, those works are somewhat more
relaxed and sentimental than his
other stories.

15. LATE YEARS
 “Burning Bright” (1950) – a dramatic piece “wrapped” in a novel, a
moral drama revolving around spouses.
 “East of Eden” – a monumental epic story, a saga of the Salinas
Valley, a chronicle of the writer’s family and an allegorical novel
about identity, suffering, grief and humanity.
 It is a novel that he dedicated to his sons.
 The themes of the novel are connected to the Bible (especially the
story of Cain and Abel).
 A part of this novel was used by director Elia Kazan for the film
“East of Eden” (1955) starring James Dean and Julie Harris.

18. Citat
 “Verujem da jaka žena
može biti jača od
muškarca,
posebno ako joj se desi
da ima ljubavi u srcu.
Mislim da je žena koja
voli neuništiva”.
“Istočno od raja”

19. Citat
 “Strašno je ne biti
voljen. To je najgora
stvar na svetu…
To te čini zločestim,
nasilnim i okrutnim”.
“Istočno od raja”

20. THE LAST NOVEL
 The novel “The Winter of Our Discontent” is as much a
psychological story about self-discovery as it is a moral
portrait of America in the sixties of the 20th century.
 That novel was not considered by many to be as good as his
previous novels, but the fact is that after that novel Steinbeck
received the Nobel prize in 1962.
 The great book ”Travels with Charlie: In Search of America” ,
which was written after Steinbeck’s last novel, certainly
contributed to this.

22. “Biti živ znači imati ožiljke” – citat iz “Zime
našeg nezadovoljstva”

23. MOVIES
 John Steinbeck’s literary works received a number of film
adaptations: “Tortilla Flat”, “Of Mice and Men”, “The Grapes of
Wrath”, “East of Eden”. “In Dubious Battle”…
 Steinbeck himself wrote several screenplays for feature,
documentary and biographical films (Viva Zapata).

24. Presentation: Milan Stanković