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John Steinbeck. 1902-1968 Salinas, California Stanford University – 1920 Earned a living working on ranches Never Graduated 1925 went to New York, struggled, and returned to California. John Steinbeck. 1 st Wife – Carol Henning Divorced 1943 2 nd Wife – Gwyn Conger
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John Steinbeck • 1902-1968 • Salinas, California • Stanford University – 1920 • Earned a living working on ranches • Never Graduated • 1925 went to New York, struggled, and returned to California
John Steinbeck • 1st Wife – Carol Henning • Divorced 1943 • 2nd Wife – Gwyn Conger • Married in March of 1943 • Two sons, Thorn and John • 3rd Wife - Elaine Scott • Married Dec. 26, 1950
John Steinbeck • 1962 – Won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature • December 20, 1968 – Steinbeck died in New York and was buried in the family plot in Salinas, California
John Steinbeck Important Works • Cup of Gold (1929) – 1st Novel • Tortilla Flat (1933) – gang of “paisanos” • In Dubious Battle (1936) – Strikes of migrant fruit pickers • Of Mice and Men – (1937) Lennie – imbecile giant
John Steinbeck Important Works • The Long Valley (1938)– Series of short stories • The Grapes of Wrath (1939) – Oklahoma tenant farmers moving to California to become migratory workers (Won Pulitzer Prize)
John Steinbeck Themes • Knowledge and love of natural world and diverse cultures • Social novels dealing with economic problems of rural labor • Locality of fertile Salinas Valley forms the background for many descriptions of the common man’s everyday life • Raised in moderate circumstances but on equal terms w/ workers’ families