MAD AT THE WORLD

An authoritative and sympathetic account of the life of the Nobel laureate.

While John Steinbeck (1902-1968) still enjoys a good reputation in high school and undergraduate classrooms, the critical consensus is less generous, treating him as a sentimental writer undeserving of his Nobel. When asked if he deserved the prize, Steinbeck answered, “Frankly, no.” This is typical of Steinbeck as we encounter him in this book, the first major biography of him in 25 years. Souder, previously the biographer of Rachel Carson and John James Audubon, presents his subject as always somewhat ill-suited to his moment. Unlike his prominent contemporaries Fitzgerald and Hemingway, Steinbeck underwent a “long apprenticeship” due to his “failure to see that what he should write about was already inside him.” When he did find success—in dramatic fashion with Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath—much of it was due to significant contributions from his first wife, Carol. Steinbeck’s preoccupation with death kept him busy at his desk but with little attention to the quality of his work. By Souder’s account, the vague and indiscriminate grudge Steinbeck carried most of his life may have enabled what would prove to be his enduring attribute as a writer: his understanding and compassion for the downtrodden. “This was the part of the human condition,” writes the author, “he could never abide: the abuse and oppression of anyone by someone more powerful.” Strikingly, however, his empathy didn’t always extend to his intimates. He could be cruel, especially to his first two wives and his sons (both with his second wife, Gwyn). The affable narrator of Travels With Charley, then, isn’t whom we should call to mind when we think of Steinbeck. Souder’s version is much more persuasive.

A lively and perceptive portrait of the artist as a complicated guy.