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John Steinbeck bibliography

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John Steinbeck
bibliography
Novels12
Novella6
Short Stories12
Nonfiction11
Screenplays5
References and footnotes
The Grapes of Wrath takes place during The Great Depression and, like many of Steinbeck's novels, is set in California

The following is a complete list of books published by John Steinbeck, one of the foremost American authors of the 20th century. Steinbeck published seventeen works of fiction and ten works of nonfiction between 1929 and 1966, as well as his work writing short stories and screenplays.[1] Born in California, his novels often center around lower-class Americans navigating life in Western states.[2] Although The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men remain his most popular novels, Steinbeck himself regarded East of Eden as his magnum opus.[3] All of these were New York Times Bestsellers along with The Moon Is Down and Cannery Row. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception".[4]

Fiction

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Standalone Novels

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Title Year Notes
Cup of Gold 1929 Historical fiction based on the life of Welsh privateer Henry Morgan.
The Pastures of Heaven 1932 A fix-up novel containing 12 interconnected stories taking place in Monterey, California
To a God Unknown 1933 Centres on a California rancher who develops a religious infatuation with the land around him.
Tortilla Flat 1935 Steinbeck's first critical and commercial success; adapted into a film of the same name
In Dubious Battle 1936 Set amid a strike organized on a California farm; adapted into a film of the same name
The Grapes of Wrath 1939 Set during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression in Oklahoma and California; winner of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize; adapted into a film of the same name
The Wayward Bus 1947 Switches between multiple viewpoints of characters within California's Salinas valley; lacked critical praise although commercially successful
East of Eden 1952 Steinbeck's most ambitious novel; follows two American families in the 19th and 20th centuries
The Winter of Our Discontent 1961 Set among aristocrats in Sag Harbor, New York; Steinbeck's last true novel (unadapted from an existing source)
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights 1976 A retelling of the story of King Arthur, based on the Winchester Manuscript text of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur along with some personal letters concerning the Arthurian legend.[5] It is unfinished, containing only Tales 1 and 3, published posthumously.

Novel Series

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Title Year Notes
Cannery Row 1945 Set among canning factories in Monterey, California
Sweet Thursday 1954 Sequel, though generally regarded to be inferior to its predecessor

Novellas

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Title Year Notes
The Red Pony 1933 Consisting of stories centring on Jody Tiflin, a boy growing up on a California ranch; originally published between 1933 and 1936, then as a standalone volume in 1937 by Covici Friede[6]
Of Mice and Men 1937 2 men's friendship on a California ranch, one of whom is mentally disabled; frequently taught in schools, though also frequently censored; subject of numerous adaptions
The Moon Is Down 1942 Set in a small Norwegian town occupied by the nazis during World War 2; written to be adapted for the stage; Steinbeck's first book since Cup of Gold to be set outside of California; subject of the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross
The Pearl 1947 Concerning pearl divers inspired by a Mexican folk tale; one of Steinbeck's most popular and most taught works
Burning Bright 1950 Published as an attempt to put a play into novel form
The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication 1957 Political satire of French politics

Short story collections

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Title Year Notes
The Pastures of Heaven 1932 Series of 12 interconnected stories taking place in Monterey, California
The Long Valley 1938 Compilation of 12 separate short stories, many individually published previously; includes Steinbeck's novella The Red Pony

Nonfiction

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The pick-up truck and mobile home that Steinbeck used to travel around the United States, documented in Travels with Charley


Title Year Notes
Their Blood is Strong 1936 Originally a series of stories written in 1936 for The San Francisco News about migrant workers in California under the title The Harvest Gypsies; collected in a pamphlet in 1938 with accompanying photos by Dorothea Lange[7]
The Log from the Sea of Cortez 1951 A chronicle of Steinbeck's experience collecting marine specimens in the Gulf of California with his friend Ed Ricketts; originally published as Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research, which provided his account as well as portions by Ricketts
Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team 1942 A commissioned work, where Steinbeck wrote about U.S. bomber squads involved in World War II
A Russian Journal 1948 Eyewitness account of a journey through the Soviet Union during the Cold War
Once There Was a War 1958 War articles published in the New York Herald in 1943
Travels with Charley: In Search of America 1962 A chronicle of a journey across the United States with his dog, Charley; Steinbeck's best-known work of nonfiction
America and Americans 1966 A collection of essays focusing on America; the last book published in Steinbeck's lifetime
Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters 1966 The letters that accompanied East of Eden, written to his friend and editor Pascal Covici
Steinbeck: A Life in Letters 1975 The collected letters of Steinbeck[8]
Working Days: The Journals of the Grapes of Wrath 1989 A journal that Steinbeck kept while writing The Grapes of Wrath in 1938 [9]
Steinbeck in Vietnam: Dispatches from the War 2012 A collection of dispatches written by Steinbeck for Newsday during the Vietnam War

Screenplays

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Title Year Notes
The Forgotten Village 1941 Documentary depicting life in a small Mexican village, and changes brought by modernization
Lifeboat 1944 Follows a group of survivors of a German U-boat attack adrift on a lifeboat; screenplay written by Steinbeck on request from director Alfred Hitchcock, though he later criticized the film's direction[10]
The Pearl 1947 Based on Steinbeck's 1947 novella of the same name about pearl divers in a fishing village; Steinbeck also co-wrote the screenplay
The Red Pony 1949 Based on Steinbeck's 1937 work of the same name, set on a ranch in Salinas Valley, California; Steinbeck also co-wrote the screenplay
Viva Zapata! 1952 Fictionalization of the life of Emiliano Zapata, a key revolutionary in the Mexican Revolution

References

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  1. ^ "John Steinbeck - Bibliography". The Nobel Prize. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  2. ^ "John Steinbeck, American Writer". The Steinbeck Institute. Stanford University. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  3. ^ Ditsky, John (1977). Essays on East of Eden. Muncie, Indiana: Steinbeck Society of America, Ball State University. p. 3. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  4. ^ "Nobel Prize in Literature 1962". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on October 21, 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
  5. ^ John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, ed. Chase Horton (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976), Introduction by John Steinbeck, pp. xiii–xiv; see also Appendix, letter dated July 7, 1958, p. 318.
  6. ^ "Three. Short Stories by John Steinbeck; THE RED PONY. By John Steinbeck. 81 pp. Edition limited to 699 copies, signed by the author. New York: Covic-". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Brian E. Railsback, Michael J. Meyer, eds. A John Steinbeck Encyclopedia (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2006), 148.
  8. ^ Popova, Maria (13 January 2012). "Author John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter". The Atlantic. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  9. ^ "Working Days by John Steinbeck". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  10. ^ Temple, Emily (Feb 4, 2012). "John Steinbeck Wanted His Name Taken Off Hitchcock's 'Lifeboat'". Flavorpill Productions, LLC. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2014.