Steinbeck: A Life in Letters (ISBN 067066961X)

Five stars --- if you are a Steinbeck fan:
Steinbeck left an autobiography of sorts when he died, a collection of personal letters to his friends. His widow and his friend worked together to gather the letters from everyone they could. They edited them for clarity and published them in chronological order. The result is the personal story of a very creative, complex writer who worked every day with his hands. When he wasn't writing novels using pencils and a legal pad, he was mending the fence or fixing the roof. He loved people as much as he loved solitude, so he began each day by reaching out with these letters to his friends around the world. He talked about his surroundings and his thoughts and his ongoing projects. All of this would be enough to make a wonderful book, but there's the added benefit of Steinbeck's writing style. Steinbeck used as few words as possible, always trying for a poetic effect without pretension. He wanted to be honest and accurate, but he knew the value of capturing an image or feeling with a colorful use of words. As a result, this massive book is a pleasure to read, from start to finish. Steinbeck's writing style keeps you interested but never overwhelmed. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed a few Steinbeck novels. Aspiring writers should read it, as well. When you're done, read the Steinbeck chapter in 'Alcohol and the Writer' and Jackson Benson's books on Steinbeck. You'll be glad you did.

couldn't put it down:
Can't put it down in any sense. This collection goes right through Steinbeck's life, from his twenties into old age, and contains many letters to key people in his life interspersed with helpful commentaries by his wife to give the reader a sense of what Steinbeck was facing when he wrote. Highly recommended, and very moving in many places, whether humorous, joyful, or passionately angry. "I learn that all of my manuscripts have been rejected three or four times since I last heard. It is a nice thing to know that so many people are reading my books. That is one way of getting an audience." -- JS "One very funny thing. Hotel clerks here (Monterey) are being instructed to tell guests that there is no Tortilla Flat. The Chamber of Commerce does not like my poor efforts, I guess. But there is one all right, and they know it." -- JS in the years before the Chamber of Commerce boosted Cannery Row as a tourist shrine "I'm trying to write history while it is happening and I don't want to be wrong." -- JS before penning the Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck: A Writers Writer:
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone: The Life and Times of John Henry HollidayThe Hurricane Hunters And Lost in the Bermuda Triangle John Steinbeck never wrote an autobiography, but his letters probably reveal more about the writer and the man than an autobiography could have hoped to. John Steinbeck was everyman, suffered every weakness, stood up to every duty, doubted his own talent, feared the beginning of every new work, and grew with each experience. In one of his early letters he admitted his shortcomings when he was cornered by academia. He hated the idea of proper spelling and punctuation for a clean manuscript in his first draft and made the case for letting stenographers slip those commas into their proper places. A letter he wrote in February 1936 spells out his feelings of inadequacy at the beginning of a new project. And that form of self-doubt reoccurs throughout the book. But almost in the same breath he admits that he loves the writing once he gets down to work. He also had trepidations about dealing with death. In a letter to a friend that had just lost his mother Steinbeck shares a feeling of inadequacy that most of us feel when he says, `there's nothing for the outsider to do except stand by and maybe indicate that the person involved is not so alone as the death always makes him think he is.' In an April 29, 1948 letter he says he's about to embark on a marathon book about the Salinas Valley, the one he's been training for all of his life. And it becomes obvious that Steinbeck used a long gestation period to work up to that major project, for it was more than two years later, August 30, 1950, when he again mentions the Salinas Valley story. Apparently though he was still on track and moving toward the beginning of that new work. Then in a letter written to Mr. and Mrs. Elia Kazan from Nantucket July 30, 1951 Steinbeck indicates that he is presently six hundred pages into the book, but still has three or four hundred pages to go. And in that letter he announced the title as East of Eden. He also goes on to tell how perfect it is for the book. It comes from the first sixteen verses of the Fourth Chapter of Genesis. The title comes from the sixteenth verse, but he says the whole passage is applicable. In a letter April 18, 1952 he mentions Kazan and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Said he read Kazan's full statement to the congress and hoped that the communist and second raters don't cut him to pieces. Then on June 17, 1952 he said Kazan called that morning from Paris and was absolutely crazy about East of Eden and wants to do it. He also said the American communist and the Hollywood left had done their best to destroy him. His conscience was clear though for he had only given the facts to the congress and he could live with that truth. In 1955 Elia Kazan produced and directed the film, East of Eden. Steinbeck was always generous in sharing, his thoughts and some of the methods he used when writing, with other writers. A letter dated December 7, 1956 he said, `...the more one learns about writing, the more unbelievably difficult it becomes. I wish to God I knew as much about my craft, or what ever it is, as I did when I was 19 years old. But with every new attempt, frightening though it may be, is the wonder and the hope and the delight.' In a letter written to Kazan on October 14, 1958 he sums up his love for writing. `...I like to write. I like it better than anything. That's why neither theatre nor movies really deeply interest me. It's the fresh clear sentence or thought going down on paper for the first time that makes me pleased and fulfilled.' Those are just a few notes from a writer's perspective that I came away with and I'm sure you'll come away with a set of your own. The book is so rich in day to day living that you almost forget that you are in the presence of a man that over his writing career had won a room full of awards along with the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962. Tom Barnes author of The Goring Collection.

Every fan of Steinbeck`s should read this book:
I really enjoyed this book. It is a must read for the ones interested in his life as well as in his writings.

A life told in letters:
This book of letters tells the story of Steinbeck's life. As his third- wife the book's co- editor Elaine Steinbeck makes clear in her introduction Steinbeck was a life- long letter-writer. Steinbeck usually started his day writing letters to his friends, and business- associates. They were the warm-up for his real writing. Steinbeck speaks frequently in these letters of his love of writing. He writes with a refreshing frankness and directness. The book tells in no doubt an incomplete way the story of his struggle for literary success, of his three marriages, of his relation to his parents, children and a number of friends. Steinbeck seems in these letters a fundamentally decent, loyal , hardworking person. However one of the interesting elements in the letters is seeing how his relation to certain people, most notably his wives, changes in time. His first wife Carole in the early years is described and written about almost exclusively in superlatives. After his divorce from her he speaks about those years as ones in which each was angry at the other much of the time. His second wife, the mother of his children left him after five years, and his initial enthusiasm for her naturally cooled. Though he vowed not to marry again when he met Elaine SCott, who was then the wife of the actor Zachary Scott he found apparently the great love of his life. In one especially moving letter he will thank her for their life together and for her especially good relation to his two sons. Another exceptionally good letter is written to Elaine's daughter who is about to marry. His advice to her again shows him to be caring and non- conventionally wise. One especially notable set of letters are those he wrote to his lifelong friend Carlton A. Sheffeld( Duke). Another are those to his publisher Pascal (Pat)Covici. I have never been a special fan of Steinbeck, but reading these letters I have a sense I somehow did not fully appreciate his work. So these letters will probably move me to reading more of his work.