John Steinbeck; the life he led.

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902 of German and Irish ancestry. When he graduated from Salinas High School in 1919, Steinbeck attended Stanford University. Steinbeck majored in English and preferred to study his subjects alone as his attendance at school was infrequent so during this time he worked periodically at many different jobs and eventually left Stanford university permanently in 1925 to pursue hi writing career in New York which was very unsuccessful in getting any of his writing published so he returned to California. His first novel to get published was, Cup Of Gold which was published in 1929, but didn't get much attention from consumers. His two consecutive novels, The Pastures of heaven and To a God Unknown, were also poorly received by the literary world. In 1930 Steinbeck married his first of 3 wives, Carol Henning. They lived in Pacific Grove which is where much of the material for the novels Tortilla flat and Cannery row was retrieved.

English: John Steinbeck

132 Central Avenue, Salinas, California, the home ...

Big Sur, California

Tortilla Flat (1935) was a turning point in Stienbecks writing career. It received the California commonwealth club's Gold Medal for best novel by a California author. Steinbeck continued with his writing career, which relied upon extensive and strenuous research and his personal observation of the human condition of his stories e.g.: The Pearl (1948) Just as a person becomes more aware of the structures of their own language as they study a foreign one, placing the events and characters from one story into a new time and place brings the literary devices the author uses into prominent relief. John Stienbecks novel The Pearl is recognized as both an engaging story and a timeless parable. As you read The Pearl you should consider the symbolism and universal qualities of human nature that are represented in...