The Critical Response to John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath

(Hardback)

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When it was initially published in 1939, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath instantly became a bestseller. Like many phenomenally popular works, it has elicited a wide range of critical responses. Some earlier reviewers faulted Steinbeck for his apparent sentimentality, while others were disturbed by his portrait of heartless, greedy Americans. Others, too, criticized his aesthetics. His novel became an important part of the American curriculum, many readers praised his epic vision, and modern critics have tended to respond favorably to his works. But despite the publication of four new editions of the book from 1989 to 1997, its place in the American literary canon is precarious. Through reprints of early reviews and scholarly articles, along with original essays and reviews of the four most recent major editions, this volume traces the critical reception of Steinbeck's novel. The first part of the book looks back at the first 50 years of the novel's reception, from 1939 to 1989, while the second examines the response to Steinbeck during the 1990s. Some of these later essays reflect on the lasting significance of the novel, while others note that some scholars and educators have questioned its relevance. The volume includes a chronology and bibliography, and an extensive introductory essay overviews the major trends in Steinbeck scholarship.

Reviews

"Barbara Heavilin has, in editing this fascinating collection of reviews and essays and in her creatively analytical introduction, presented a persuasive case in calling for fresh approaches in the critical and scholarly assessment of Steinbeck's 1939 masterpiece. The book effectively charts the course and changes in the evolving critical attitudes toward The Grapes of Wrath (and, by both example and inference, of Steinbeck's total literary output) during the past sixty years, and points the way into the future. This is a volume which will inevitably stimulate much discussion among Steinbeck scholars and an essential book for anyone interested in Steinbeck studies."-Roy Simmonds Author of John Steinbeck: The War Years, 1939-1945
"John Steinbeck composed The Grapes of Wrath in 100 days in 1938. What he wrote, and what he wrote about, in that creative burst 60 years ago remains with us, though we have not always done his greatest novel justice. Now, Professor Heavilin's useful collection traces Grapes controversial critical reception and challenges us to push our interpretative efforts even farther for the coming century."-Robert DeMott English Department Ohio University
A necessary volume for all academic collections.-Choice
"A necessary volume for all academic collections."-Choice

Author Bio

BARBARA A. HEAVILIN is Associate Professor of English at Taylor University.