Back The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936–1941

John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936–1941

The Grapes of Wrath | The Long Valley (stories) | The Log from the Sea of Cortez | The Harvest Gypsies More

Edited by Elaine Steinbeck and Robert DeMott

“This corrected edition of The Grapes of Wrath is essential for all serious American literature collections.” — Library Journal

Overview
Table of Contents

Overview

Interviews New life of John Steinbeck reveals a writer “fueled by anger”
October 14, 2020

News The Grapes of Wrath at Seventy-Five: 1939–2014
July 26, 2016

Buy all four Steinbeck volumes and save $47.50.

The second volume in the Library of America’s authoritative edition of John Steinbeck features his acknowledged masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath. Written in an incredibly compressed five-month period, the novel had an electrifying impact upon publication in 1939, unleashing a political storm with its vision of America’s dispossessed struggling for survival. It continues to exert a powerful influence on American culture, and has inspired artists as diverse as John Ford, Woody Guthrie, and Bruce Springsteen. Tracing the journey of the Joad family from the dust bowl of Oklahoma to the migrant camps of California, Steinbeck creates an American epic, spacious, impassioned, and pulsating with the rhythms of living speech. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize and has since sold millions of copies worldwide.

This text of The Grapes of Wrath has been newly edited based on Steinbeck’s manuscript, typescript, and proofs. Many errors have been corrected, and words omitted or misconstrued by his typist have been restored. In addition, The Harvest Gypsies, his 1936 investigative report on migrant workers, which laid the groundwork for the novel, is included as an appendix.

The Long Valley (1938) displays Steinbeck’s brilliance as a writer of short stories, including such classics as “The Chrysanthemums,” “The White Quail,” “Flight,” and “The Red Pony.” Set in the Salinas Valley landscape that was Steinbeck’s enduring inspiration, the stories explore moments of fear, tenderness, isolation, and violence with poetic intensity.

The Log from the Sea of Cortez, an account of the 1940 marine biological expedition in which Steinbeck participated with his close friend Ed Ricketts, is a unique blend of science, philosophy, and adventure, as well as one of Steinbeck’s most revealing expositions of his core beliefs. First published in 1941 as part of the collaborative volume Sea of Cortez, Steinbeck’s narrative was reissued separately a decade later, augmented by the moving tribute “About Ed Ricketts.”

This volume contains a newly researched chronology,
notes, and an essay on textual selection. It is the
second of four volumes in The Library of America
edition of John Steinbeck’s writings.

The editors of this volume are Robert DeMott and Elaine A. Steinbeck (1914–2003). Robert DeMott is the Edwin and Ruth Kennedy Distinguished Professor at Ohio University and the author of Steinbeck’s Typewriter, an award-winning book of critical essays. Elaine A. Steinbeck, co-editor of Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, was married to John Steinbeck from 1950 until his death in 1968.

This Library of America series edition is printed on acid-free paper and features Smyth-sewn binding, a full cloth cover, and a ribbon marker.

John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936–1941 is kept in print with a gift from Devin Rambo, made in memory of Meg Rambo, to the Guardians of American Letters Fund.
Table of Contents

The Long Valley
The Chrysanthemums
The White Quail
Flight
The Snake
Breakfast
The Raid
The Harness
The Vigilante
Johnny Bear
The Murder
St. Katy the Virgin
Red Pony
The Leader of the People

The Grapes of Wrath

The Log From the Sea of Cortez
About Ed Ricketts
Introduction
Log
Glossary
Index

Appendix (Collected as Their Blood Is Strong)
The Harvest Gypsies
Starvation Under the Orange Trees

31.50 List Price: $40.00 (Save: 21%) Free shipping on orders $50 and over

Or buy from our partners

Phone orders: 1-800-964-5778 Request product #200867

ISBN: 978-1-88301115-4 1067 pages

LOA books are distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House

N° 86 Library of America Series

Subscribers can purchase the slipcased edition by signing in to their accounts.

Related Books

Thornton Wilder: The Bridge of San Luis Rey & Other Novels 1926–1948 LOA N°194

John Dos Passos: U.S.A. LOA N°85

John Steinbeck: Novels 1942–1952 LOA N°132

John Steinbeck: Novels and Stories 1932–1937 LOA N°72

John Steinbeck: Travels with Charley and Later Novels 1947–1962 LOA N°170

Library of America

CURATOR

A champion of America’s great writers and timeless works, Library of America guides readers in finding and exploring the exceptional writing that reflects the nation’s history and culture.

Learn More

PUBLISHER

From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely recognized as America’s literary canon.

Browse our books Subscribe

NON-PROFIT

With contributions from donors, Library of America preserves and celebrates a vital part of our cultural heritage for generations to come.

Support our mission

John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936–1941

Related Books

Get 10% off your first Library of America purchase.