Steinbeck

[Treeshepherd]

What ever happened to the 120 page novel? Seems like the perfect fit for today's short attention span.

I went to the library to check out Tortilla Flat. That was loaned out so I grabbed Cannery Row. It's one of his longer works at almost 200 pages. The setting is the same, in a rough area of Monterey.

I don't remember there being much point to Tortilla Flat. It just succumbs to entropy. The magic of Steinbeck is in the aesthetic of small moments of friendship in the midst of tragedy. His characters are deeply flawed but capable of love and generosity. The backdrop is California during the Great Depression. It's always raw, but somehow he shows beauty amongst the abandoned lots where drunkards gather amongst heaps of rubbish. Steinbeck is not a moralist, just a portrait painter with words.

If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe that can be passed from one person to another.
~Steinbeck

 

[Slade3200]

What ever happened to the 120 page novel? Seems like the perfect fit for today's short attention span.

I went to the library to check out Tortilla Flat. That was loaned out so I grabbed Cannery Row. It's one of his longer works at almost 200 pages. The setting is the same, in a rough area of Monterey.

I don't remember there being much point to Tortilla Flat. It just succumbs to entropy. The magic of Steinbeck is in the aesthetic of small moments of friendship in the midst of tragedy. His characters are deeply flawed but capable of love and generosity. The backdrop is California during the Great Depression. It's always raw, but somehow he shows beauty amongst the abandoned lots where drunkards gather amongst heaps of rubbish. Steinbeck is not a moralist, just a portrait painter with words.

If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe that can be passed from one person to another.
~Steinbeck

Well stated. I grew up and live in Monterey and Steinbeck has always been a local hero. Puts magic in the history of our town and surrounding area.

Thanks for the post

 

[Asclepias]

Steinbeck is a great writer. You could feel the desolation when you read his books.

 

[IsaacNewton]

I learned to scuba dive on the beach just behind one of the main canneries there on Cannery Row. The place is all tourists now but Monterey is still one of a kind. I go several times a year. I haven't read the book, the movie was terrible. Will have to give it a read.

 

[cnm]

Steinbeck's best work is Once There Was a War, detailing some of his experiences as a war correspondent. He is more honest than in the rest of his writing.

Though Cannery Row is not his worst by any means.

 

[Dekster]

Not a huge Steinbeck fan, but as to the 120 novel question, short-novel fiction generally has been replaced by tv/film and the fiction that is being published seems to be more oriented toward trying to become TV/film.

 

[MisterBeale]

I read Obama's favorite book this Summer, In Dubious Battle, again. Love Steinbeck.