John Steinbeck bibliography explained

Author:John Steinbeck
Novel:12
Option:6
Optionname:Novella
2Option:12
2Optionname:Short Stories
3Option:11
3Optionname:Nonfiction
4Option:5
4Optionname:Screenplays

The following is a complete list of books published by John Steinbeck, one of the foremost American authors of the 20th century. Steinbeck published seventeen works of fiction and ten works of nonfiction between 1929 and 1966, as well as his work writing short stories and screenplays.[1] Born in California, his novels often center around lower-class Americans navigating life in Western states.[2] Although The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men remain his most popular novels, Steinbeck himself regarded East of Eden as his magnum opus.[3] All of these were New York Times Bestsellers along with The Moon Is Down and Cannery Row. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception".[4]

Fiction

Standalone Novels

TitleYearNotes
Cup of GoldHistorical fiction based on the life of Welsh privateer Henry Morgan.
The Pastures of HeavenA fix-up novel containing 12 interconnected stories taking place in Monterey, California
To a God UnknownCentres on a California rancher who develops a religious infatuation with the land around him.
Tortilla FlatSteinbeck's first critical and commercial success; adapted into a film of the same name
In Dubious BattleSet amid a strike organized on a California farm; adapted into a film of the same name
The Grapes of Wrath
The Wayward BusSwitches between multiple viewpoints of characters within California's Salinas valley; lacked critical praise although commercially successful
East of EdenSteinbeck's most ambitious novel; follows two American families in the 19th and 20th centuries
The Winter of Our DiscontentSet among aristocrats in Sag Harbor, New York; Steinbeck's last true novel (unadapted from an existing source)
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble KnightsA retelling of the story of King Arthur, based on the Winchester Manuscript text of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur along with some personal letters concerning the Arthurian legend.[5] It is unfinished, containing only Tales 1 and 3, published posthumously.

Novel Series

TitleYearNotes
Cannery RowSet among canning factories in Monterey, California
Sweet ThursdaySequel, though generally regarded to be inferior to its predecessor

Novellas

TitleYearNotes
The Red PonyConsisting of stories centring on Jody Tiflin, a boy growing up on a California ranch; originally published between 1933 and 1936, then as a standalone volume in 1937 by Covici Friede[6]
Of Mice and Men2 men's friendship on a California ranch, one of whom is mentally disabled; frequently taught in schools, though also frequently censored; subject of numerous adaptions
The Moon Is DownSet in a small Norwegian town occupied by the nazis during World War 2; written to be adapted for the stage; Steinbeck's first book since Cup of Gold to be set outside of California; subject of the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross
The PearlConcerning pearl divers inspired by a Mexican folk tale; one of Steinbeck's most popular and most taught works
Burning BrightPublished as an attempt to put a play into novel form
The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A FabricationPolitical satire of French politics

Short story collections

TitleYearNotes
The Pastures of HeavenSeries of 12 interconnected stories taking place in Monterey, California
The Long ValleyCompilation of 12 separate short stories, many individually published previously; includes Steinbeck's novella The Red Pony

Nonfiction

TitleYearNotes
Their Blood is StrongOriginally a series of stories written in 1936 for The San Francisco News about migrant workers in California under the title The Harvest Gypsies; collected in a pamphlet in 1938 with accompanying photos by Dorothea Lange[7]
The Log from the Sea of CortezA chronicle of Steinbeck's experience collecting marine specimens in the Gulf of California with his friend Ed Ricketts; originally published as Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research, which provided his account as well as portions by Ricketts
A commissioned work, where Steinbeck wrote about U.S. bomber squads involved in World War II
A Russian JournalEyewitness account of a journey through the Soviet Union during the Cold War
Once There Was a WarWar articles published in the New York Herald in 1943
A chronicle of a journey across the United States with his dog, Charley; Steinbeck's best-known work of nonfiction
America and AmericansA collection of essays focusing on America; the last book published in Steinbeck's lifetime
Steinbeck: A Life in LettersThe collected letters of Steinbeck[8]
Working Days: The Journals of the Grapes of WrathA journal that Steinbeck kept while writing The Grapes of Wrath in 1938 [9]
Steinbeck in Vietnam: Dispatches from the WarA collection of dispatches written by Steinbeck for Newsday during the Vietnam War

Screenplays

TitleYearNotes
The Forgotten VillageDocumentary depicting life in a small Mexican village, and changes brought by modernization
LifeboatFollows a group of survivors of a German U-boat attack adrift on a lifeboat; screenplay written by Steinbeck on request from director Alfred Hitchcock, though he later criticized the film's direction[10]
The PearlBased on Steinbeck's 1947 novella of the same name about pearl divers in a fishing village; Steinbeck also co-wrote the screenplay
The Red PonyBased on Steinbeck's 1937 work of the same name, set on a ranch in Salinas Valley, California; Steinbeck also co-wrote the screenplay
Viva Zapata!Fictionalization of the life of Emiliano Zapata, a key revolutionary in the Mexican Revolution

Notes and References

  1. Web site: John Steinbeck - Bibliography . The Nobel Prize . 3 December 2023.
  2. Web site: John Steinbeck, American Writer . The Steinbeck Institute . Stanford University . 22 November 2023.
  3. Book: Ditsky, John. Essays on East of Eden. Steinbeck Society of America, Ball State University. Muncie, Indiana. 1977. 3. October 12, 2011.
  4. Web site: Nobel Prize in Literature 1962. Nobel Foundation. October 17, 2008. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20081021034222/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/index.html. October 21, 2008.
  5. John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, ed. Chase Horton (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976), Introduction by John Steinbeck, pp. xiii–xiv; see also Appendix, letter dated July 7, 1958, p. 318.
  6. News: Three. Short Stories by John Steinbeck; THE RED PONY. By John Steinbeck. 81 pp. Edition limited to 699 copies, signed by the author. New York: Covic-. The New York Times .
  7. Brian E. Railsback, Michael J. Meyer, eds. A John Steinbeck Encyclopedia (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2006), 148.
  8. Web site: Popova . Maria . Author John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter . The Atlantic . 13 January 2012 . 30 November 2023.
  9. Web site: Working Days by John Steinbeck . Penguin Random House . 30 November 2023.
  10. Web site: John Steinbeck Wanted His Name Taken Off Hitchcock's 'Lifeboat'. Temple. Emily. Feb 4, 2012. Flavorpill Productions, LLC.. February 27, 2014. May 2, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140502090042/https://flavorwire.com/256717/john-steinbeck-wanted-his-name-taken-off-hitchcocks-lifeboat. dead.

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