Overwhelming drive to write: Of dissections and leprechauns

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	• John Steinbeck, Writer: A Biography Jackson J. Benson Penguin (Non-Classics), 1990 - 1184 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Fascinating man, troubling biography

Although I've enjoyed the book and getting to know Steinbeck, who I find funny and frustrating as man and writer, I thought this biography rather odd in certain aspects. One is the curiously intimate tone Benson takes in writing it. There are instances, especially in discussing Steinbeck's first wife Carol, that Benson actually argues in print with her. At other times he seems to be instructing the (dead) subject of his book. This is a first in any biography I've read.
The other, very odd and troubling aspect regards reviews of Steinbeck's work. John Steinbeck was one of the major American writer of the first half of the 20th Century. He wrote several novels that continue to be read into the 21st Century. Along with writing the screenplay for the Kazan/Brando film Viva Zapata, 4 of his books (The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden) were turned into major motion pictures. He was personal friends with Elia Kazan. And there are no, repeat, no clips from the reviews of any of these efforts. For a biography of a writer this is a huge hole to leave unfilled. And for the biography of a major writer whose work remains controversial it's a tremendous failing in an otherwise fine book

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Overwhelming drive to write: Of dissections and leprechauns

The man was contradiction personified: during his university time he started his interest in science, attended zoology classes, dissecting animals, and he also wrote stories full of fairies and mysticism. He was acting the outlaw in the face of convention, thus provoking the loneliness that he struggled with for a long time.
The end product of this amalgam is endearing: a mystical materialist, a non-intellectual with more science in his mind than most headier writers, a champion for low-lifers and misfits, a rebel without interest in politics, an apparent man of action who does not believe in purposes and causes.
He mixed up the fiction that he read, wrote and lived: disentangling the 3 is the main challenge of a biography.
He wanted to be a writer and that was what he became, against all odds. Nobody wanted his writing for a long time. The biggest mystery about him is how he overcame the endless period of rejection. When he finally found publishers, his first books were commercial failures, partly due to timing, partly because the publishers did nothing to push. All his publishers went bankrupt, so he needed a new one for each book.
How could he possibly know that he had the talent to become one of the most famous writers in the world? Puzzling and admirable.
I love many of his books, others are mediocre, others are unreadable. He had a performance and success plateau in his middle age. Then creativity dropped off, which bothered him strongly.
A likeable man with hindsight, even if not to all contemporaries, and a writer of loveable books. Benson wrote a readable, if a little too fat biography. Benson's approach is very detailed. That must lead to a very fat book automatically. He does not shy away from commenting on JS's behaviour, which sounds odd sometimes, as another reviewer observed.
He had access to letters which the collection published by Mrs.Steinbeck III had omitted, which allows a fuller picture in the bio than the letter volume.
And by the way, I will not be reviewing another book for a while, this one has 1000 pages! Even my personal speadreading skills are overwhelmed.

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Want to know Steinbeck? Start here!

For my doctoral research, which involves the history of coastal California, I wanted one big, clearly written book that was solidly put together but not clogged with footnotes. I found it here. Fifteen years of research, some of it with friends and relatives of Steinbeck's, went into this biography, which reads like a straight-up narrative of the writer's adventurous life. Though long, it reads quickly, devoid of academic jargon. Highly recommended.

A Wonderful Biography

When I was in eighth grade (which was 1984!), I insisted my father buy me this book. I was (and am) a Steinbeck nut. I read this book in bits and pieces for years and years--dipping into it from time to time. Eventually I did sit down and read the whole thing--wonderful, truly wonderful. A long book, yes, but only because it tells such a wonderful life and in such incredible detail. The research is impeccable; the story-telling riveting; the detail is magnificent. Someone once told me to make my life a work of art. Steinbeck did this with his life--as did Mr. Benson here.

If you like Steinbeck and would like to know more, read this. Even if you just want a fascinating story, read this--a wonderful ride from the early part of the century, to the Great Depression to the tumult of the 1960's--it is all here, through the ideas of a great biographer and a great subject.

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a great bio

I've read a few Steinbeck biographies and this one is my favorite. There is a ton of information in this brick of a book, and it took me a year to get through it (I read slow). Benson does a great job covering Steinbeck's childhood, his years at Stanford, his lousy jobs, his apprenticeship as a writer, and his perseverance and eventual publication (which still left him in dire financial straits).

The second half of the biography, where John moves to NYC, shows a different side of the man as he ventures away from his native California and obtains literary success. He does more traveling, marries for a second time, and contemplates writing his "big book" (East of Eden).

My favorite part of the book was its references to Steinbeck's writing habits. He was a very solitary man who was obsessive about writing everyday (his friends were often puzzled about why he was so selfish with his time). Also, he strove for simplicity in his stories (there was no showboating in the man or his work) and he tried to craft voice through a simple, parsed-down style.

This biography is very big, and the reader may get caught up in a different issue, storyline, or period of John's life. What facinated me, however, was John's writing habits and how he fought off doubt, depression, and writer's block. This biography was loaded with lots of information about the writing life (it's as good, if not better, than the Paris Review interviews).

Steinbeck is my favorite writer and if it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't write fiction. I enjoy reading about him, almost as much as I enjoy reading his books.

Also recommended: The Gospel of Arnie

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reviews: page 1, 2

Winner of the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1962, John Steinbeck (1902-1968) was one of America's most important and influential writers. Jackson J. Benson's definitive biography explores every aspect of the author's life-his campaigns for the rights of the little people; his stand on the Vietnam War; his Hollywood film scripts; and his ongoing difficulties with fame, the press, and lack of privacy-to reveal the private man behind the public persona.

? Winner of the PEN-USA West award for non-fiction

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