Word: steinbecker
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...SIXTY YEARS I've left a lot of tracks," wrote John Steinbeck in 1962, when confronted with the idea of publishing a collection of his letters. "To try to cover the trail would be nonsense even if it were possible." Steinbeck was almost as prolific a letter-writer as a novelist; he began most mornings by writing a letter or two to ease himself into his work. They went to a variety of people: friends, wives, politicians, presidents and publishers. Even this large volume contains only a careful sifting of his enormous output of correspondence...
These letters do not reveal all the dark secrets of Steinbeck's mind. He was not an especially open man and seldom burdened others with his personal turnoil, which was considerable. But there are enough hints and subtle revelations to finally give the reader an understanding of what kind of man he was. The image of Steinbeck emerges slowly, almost resentfully, as if he was only willing to let people know him if they were ready to put a lot of time into the effort...
...Steinbeck's early life was marked by repeated failures to get his work published, and he alternated between defiance and self-doubt. Shortly after the publication of Cup of Gold, his first novel, which attracted little attention, he declared, "The failures of the last couple of years seem to have no effect on my spirit whatsoever. Eventually I will be so good I cannot be ignored." Only a few years before, he had written, "I wonder if that sharp agony of words will occur to me again. I wonder if I shall ever be drunken with rhythms anymore...
...Steinbeck was an instinctive writer; he seldom ventured into theorizing about his craft, and then only in a vague, subjective way. Early in his career, in 1929, he wrote a friend who was also a writer...
...Most of Steinbeck's musings on the subject of writing are even less concrete than these examples. He had a modest view of his own ability; discussing his philosophy of writing, he said, "I suppose what it boils down to is this--a man has only a little to say and he says it over and over again. And the terrible thing is that I still don't know what it is I have to say, but I do know it isn't very complicated and it surely isn't new." Steinbeck gives the impression that for him writing...