John Steinbeck John Steinbeck’s career as a writer led, led him to becoming a great American Novelist. When Steinbeck started his literary after dropping out of college, he was going nowhere. His work showed his inexperience, and it would be years before his writing would mature. Once he gained the experience he needed, his books were becoming top sellers and he became a distinguished author. The focus of his works was to reveal conditions in American work life. He particularly helped express what the conditions for farm hands were like. What made John Steinbeck a great American author is how he tried to help improve American’s life with his writing throughout his life. It is this focus is what makes him a true American author. “John Steinbeck was born February 17, 1902 in Salinas, California” (Gale). He was raised in a large family, “He was the only son and the third of four children of Olive (Hamilton) Steinbeck, a school teacher and John Ernst Steinbeck, manager and eventually owner of the Sperry Flour Mill, later treasurer of Monterey County” (Bernhard). His family was wealthy and down to earth allowing young Steinbeck an easy childhood, leaving a lasting impression in his literature. “The Salinas Valley, the rugged hills surrounding it, and the coastal flats bordering Monterey Bay … later became the backdrop for much of his fiction” (Bernhard). Both of Steinbeck’s parents actively stimulated his literature, but “Olive (Hamilton) Steinbeck … fostered Steinbeck’s love of reading

During John Steinbeck’s middle years he was left with experiences that would influence his future writing. “He worked as a hired hand on nearby ranches, nourishing his impression of the California country side and its people” (Neary). Steinbeck went to school in his hometown, “Steinbeck attended Salinas High School and graduated in 1919” (Neary). He did well in school, “Steinbeck earned high marks in English, literature, and biology and served as associate editor of the newspaper” (Bernhard). He went on to college, but did not do well, “He entered Stanford University as journalism major but did poorly in the required subjects and withdrew the following year” (Bernhard). He then went on to work, and “For the next two years he worked a succession of jobs …and saved enough money to return to Stanford” (Bernhard). Unfortunately he did not graduate, but “Several of his poems and short stories appeared in University publications before he again dropped out without receiving a degree” (Bernhard). He then gave up college and “Shipping out on a freighter, Steinbeck worked his way to New York City” (Bernhard). This is where he would start his new life. John Steinbeck’s career did not take off in New York. “He briefly held a job on a newspaper, the New York American, and tried unsuccessfully to sell his short stories” (Bernhard). This unsuccessfulness discouraged and “ He returned to California and supported himself as a construction worker, journalist, deckhand, and fruit picker while completing a novel, Cup of Gold” (Bernhard). This was not any breakthrough for him and “Steinbeck later termed this work “an immature experiment “and remarked, “I’ve outgrown it and it embarrasses me” ” (Bernhard). Steinbeck soon met a women and “Steinbeck married his first wife Carol Henning in 1930” (Neary). Steinbeck continued to write and in 1935 “Tortilla Flat marked the turning point in his career” (Neary). This novel received the California Commonwealth Club’s Gold Medal for best novel by a California author, and was a best seller. “Steinbeck continued writing, relying heavily upon extensive research and his personal observation of the human condition for his stories” (Neary). In 1937 came Steinbeck’s next book “Of Mice and Men, an intensely evocative novel about… George and the mentally retarded Lennie, and the accidental violence that shatters their dream” (Bernhard). In 1939 he published another novel and it was “Steinbeck’s greatest achievement… the Grapes of Wrath” (Gale). This novel was on the top of the best seller list and won the 1940 Pulitzer Prize. In 1941 Steinbeck divorced his wife and “moved to New York City with Gwyndolyn Conger, a singer whom he married two years later; they had two sons” (Bernhard). Steinbeck then became involved with World War II but “too old for military service… Steinbeck served the government as an unpaid consultant on propaganda” (Bernhard). In 1948 his life made another change, his good friend “Ricketts died in an automobile accident and Steinbeck divorced his wife” (Bernhard). He soon re-married, “the following year he met Elaine Scott, whom he married in 1950” (Bernhard). Steinbeck continued to release ne novels, but “During WWII, Steinbeck’s development as a novelist faltered, and he never recovered his artistic momentum” (John). Though Steinbeck’s career did not take off when he first went to New York, he kept trying and his hard work led to his success.