DOCSLIB.ORG

E S S Ays OH East of Eden ]Ohl'l Ditsky Steinbeck Monograph Series, No

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
E S S Ays OH East of Eden ]Ohl'l Ditsky Steinbeck Monograph Series, No E s s ays OH East of Eden ]Ohl'l Ditsky Steinbeck Monograph Series, No. 7, 1977 · A A ` EM _ ams! r' L5 *• ' , ` yyyeezé '—*§ :/·¢¢C»£ ME}! » ,e·>¤,.’%§ ··‘$a! ‘2'¤;;l { {W Hkigéi Au? °22*% [52 ¤j·x.’€:>%€ · im"}“E"3 » x:img;?, _, e· ·# ; 7i;$‘~» ` &, - `.»&:M EZQWQ ’ »rJw_ “ V »?a¢[?§ .;=;;~$& E s says OI] East of Eden ]0lm Ditsky S i w U 7 ’ibélli /Lx f· \/""~ ~ Wit/” Steinbeck Monograph Series, N0. 7, 1977 The ]0hn Steinbeck Society 0fAinerica English Department, Bail State University Muncie, Indiana 47306 U.S.A. Steinbeck Monograph Series Published by the ]0hn Steinbeck Society of America under the Sponsorship of Ball State University Sponsors: Richard W. Burkhardt, University Sponsor Robert L. Carmin, College Sponsor Advisor: Warren French (Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis) A Checklist of Published Monographs (1971-1977) * No. 1971: Tetsumaro Hayashi, ed.,]ohn Steinbeck: A Guide to the Doctoral Dissertations (1946-1969) * No. 1972: Reloy Garcia, Steinbeck and D.H. Lawrence: Fiction Voices and the Ethical Imperative * No. 1973: Lawrence William ]0nes,]ohn Steinbeck as Fabulist, ed. Marston LaFrance * No. 1974: Tetsumaro Hayashi, ed., Steinbeck Criticism: A Review of Book-Length Studies (1939-1973) * No. 1975: Tetsumaro Hayashi, ed., Steinbeck and the Arthurian Theme No. 1976: Roy S. Simmonds, Steinbeck’s Literary Achievement No . 7, 1977: ]0hn Ditsky, Essays on “East of Eden,) No . 8, 1978: Tetsumaro Hayashi, ed.,]ohn Steinbeck: A Collection of Dissertation Abstracts (1946-1977) (forthcoming) out of print Editorial Staff (1976-1977) Tetsumaro Hayashi (Ball State University): Editorial Duector Richard Peterson (Southern Illinois University); Associate Editor Donald L. Sielker (Ball State University), Kenneth D. Swan (Taylor University), and George H. Spies, III (Culver Military Academy): Assistant Editors © 1977 The ]ohn Steinbeck Society of America Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 77-71393 for my wife, and for his ’A Contents Pages Acknowledgements v1 Foreword (By Tetsumaro Hayashi) . vii Preface 1x I. Toward a Narrational Self. II. Outside of Paradise: Men and the Land in East 0fEden 15 III. The “East” in East ofEden . 41 Steinbeck Monograph Series (1971- ) . 51 Steinbeck Society Pamphlet Series (1971- ) . 52 Contributor and Editors . 53 Quotations from ]ohn Steinbeck in this monograph are used by permission of the Steinbeck Literary Estate through Mrs. Elizabeth R. Otis Kiser. I can hardly improve on the performance of Reloy Garcia who, for the second number in this series, paid tribute to Dr. Tetsumaro Hayashi of Ball State University in these words: “I know of no Steinbeck scholar who has promoted more Stein beck criticism for so little recompense, except for the respect and admiration of his friends and colleagues? Ditto and Amen. Respects are also owing to my unseen and unmet benefac tors at Ball State University, and to my graduate students at the University of Windsor, whose collective encouragement meant so much to me during the preparation of this manuscript. Thanks also to these distinguished clergymen-colleagues for their assis tance: Professor Samuel Stollman of the University of Windsor and Professor Nonnan McKendrick ofthe University of Detroit. A negative acknowledgement is also due: to the man’s many detractors who condemn what they have rarely ever read, my thanks for leaving so much to be said. ]0hn Ditsky University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada v1 In 1970, acting as editorial director, I initiated the Steinbeck Monograph Series under the sponsorship of Ball State Univer sity. ]udging from the public response, I can safely say that this series has met some of the important demands in Steinbeck studies and reflected some of the manor interests of our active Steinbeck scholars in many lands. Fortunately our sponsors at Ball State University, Dr. Richard W. Burkhardt, Dr. Robert L. Carmin, and many other leaders, who firmly believe in the edu cational and scholarly value of our monograph series, have con tinued their unflagging support. ]ohn Ditsky’s Essays on “East of Eden” (Steinbeck Mono graph Series, No. 7, 1977) represents our continuing effort to publish a longer essay on Steinbeck’s work or a series of essays that approach a common Steinbeck theme. Professor Ditsky, who shares with me the belief that Steinbeck’s East ofEden de serves to be more fully explored and more dimensionally re assessed, was invited to do this monograph in 1976-1977. A dis tinguished poet in his own right, he is also well known for his impeccable devotion to Steinbeck studies as teacher, scholar, and editor. If the finest tribute any one can pay to our senior scholars who have pioneered Steinbeck studies is to pursue the goals inspired by their achievements, I feel Professor Ditsky has accomplishedjust that. Iwelcome and appreciate the author’s dedication and originality in exploring the new dimensions of East of Eden in this monograph. I had the good fortune to have Professor Richard F. Peterson of Southern Illinois University as Associate Editor, and Profes sors Donald L. Siefker of Ball State University and Kenneth D. Swan of Taylor University along with Dr. George H. Spies of Culver Military Academy as Assistant Editors. I wish to express my profound indebtedness to their editorial service and advice. Tetsumaro Hayashi Editorial Director of the Steinbeck Monograph Series October 25, 1976 vii The Viking editions of three of Steinbeck’s works are cited in parenthetical references made within my text and indicated by abbreviations as follows: East of Eden (1952): ]our— al of u Novel (1969): UN"; Steinbeck: A Life in Letters (1975): “SLL.’ vm What follows are three interrelated essays that aim to give ]ohn Steinbeck’s East of Eden (1952) the closer look their au· thor believes the book deserves. These pieces are indebted to no prior criticism; thus, while they may inadvertently repeat an observation of another reader, they are in no sense meant as an attack on any writer or critical approach. Rather, they attempt to supplant the previous, cookie cutter form of attention with serious and original readings not pre-formed by any school of criticism. Quite simply put, if Steinbeck is the writer — at any stage of his career ——— that many of us take him for, then East of Eden, simply by being, deserves our attention. Having myself grown impatient oflate with all sorts ofjudgments that claim to be qualitatively normative, but are in reality based on obscure and highly personal criteria, I have almost gleefully concluded that the ultimate praise is attention itself East of Eden requires attention; it is therefore to some degree praiseworthy. Luckily, it earns its praise and rewards its perusing. The man knew what he was doing. Most of us, devoted to Steinbeck scholarship but browbeaten by sometimes-ignorant colleagues, are accustomed to a professional defensiveness and the habit of pious apologetics. We ought to quit acting as though we were indulging in some harmless milquetoast hobby, some futile piety. ]ohn Steinbeck’s own humility was, perhaps, his own worst enemy. Had he the ego ofa Hemingway, a Roethke, or a Robert Frost, he might have had us cowed. We might have fear ed to call him less than great. Instead, we fear to do him simple justice. The Steinbeck Quarterly and the Steinbeck Monograph Series have made a giant step towards changing all that. I am proud to be a participant in the latter enterprise, and hope that these essays achieve the synthesis of approach I have intended. In the first of these pieces, I discuss the ways in which Stein beck’s career might be said to have been a conscious — and un conscious — preparing for the writing of East of Eden. In the second, I examine the various ways in which the relationship ofindividuals in the novel to Nature can be said to be an index of their characters, and in turn contributes to the structural ar rangement of the book’s materials. And in the final essay, I at tempt a fusion ofthese ideas along with Ste inbeck’s employment 1x of "Eastem” influences — Oriental and Biblical — in a novel meant to possess a general societal impact, yet spring out of the writer’s own past. I make no claims for what I have done, nor for the novel’s final worth, beyond the statement that I hope the fonner is proportioned to the latter, and that I have begun to get at the hidden thing. In 1930, ]ohn Steinbeck wrote to Carl Wilhelmson about a new book, Dissonant Symphony, he was at work on. "A series of short stories or sketches,” the new work nevertheless . is not the series in Salinas at all. I shall not do that yet. I am too vindictive and harsh on my own people. In a few years I may have outgrown that. (SLL, 22) And later that same year, he wrote Amasa Miller that he was working on a novel “which will get some spleen out of my sys tem. Bile that has been sickening me for years” (SLL, 28). Stein beck was unsuccessfully trying to use one book to unblock an other’s path; apparently, the poisons proved too strong for this piece of deliberate therapy to overcome. What were the sources of the "bile” and "spleen” that in fected Steinbeck’s vision in 1930? I have no factual information to offer beyond what is already available to us, especially in the letters, but clearly Steinbeck’s feelings had to do with anguish caused by his own struggle for self—identity and self-worth, or with the quest for self—definition or for self-accommodation; the letters make this likelihood too strong to ignore. In 1935, he wrote to George Albee that the forthcoming In Dabioas Battle was to present a strike situation "as the symbol of man’s eternal, bitter warfare with himself.” This generalized "man hates some thing in himself He has been able to defeat every natural ob stacle but himself he cannot win over unless he kills every in dividual.” Steinbeck had therefore written about "this self-hate which goes so closely in hand with self—love,” becoming in the process “merely a recording consciousness, judging nothing, simply putting down the thing” (SLL, 98).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Fall of Satan (After Creation)
    © 2021 Nathan E. Brown January 2 – OT Chronological Synopsis – NASB Version comeafterme.com The Fall of Satan (After Creation) Isaiah 14:12–15; Ezekiel 28:12–17; Revelation 12:3–4a As Typified in the Destruction of the King of Babylon—Isaiah 14 12 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. As Typified in the Destruction of the King of Tyre—Ezekiel 28 12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there.
    [Show full text]
  • Steinbeck's East of Eden: Redefining the Evil Within Cathy Ames
    International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences Submitted: 2018-03-24 ISSN: 2300-2697, Vol. 82, pp 19-23 Revised: 2018-05-07 doi:10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.82.19 Accepted: 2018-05-10 CC BY 4.0. Published by SciPress Ltd, Switzerland, 2018 Online: 2018-06-11 Steinbeck’s East of Eden: Redefining the Evil within Cathy Ames 1,a* Bianca Saputra 1James B. Conant High School, Hoffman Estates, USA a*[email protected] Keywords: Archetypes, Feminism, East of Eden, Cathy Ames, John Steinbeck, Literary Theory Abstract. East of Eden, published in 1952, has been criticized as both feminist and misogynistic in nature. This contrasting criticism can be attributed to the varied interpretations of female roles in the novel. This paper aims to examine East of Eden using feminist and archetypal theory. Archetypal theory studies roles characters play through fundamental and inherited symbols. These symbols are thematic associations that are common to humanity in general. Feminist theory analyzes texts based on how power is manipulated to establish the dominance or subordination of either gender. In particular, feminist theory studies how females claim, assert or subvert power for themselves. Coupled together, the theories seek to understand how established conventions influence the female experience. By analyzing the intersection between the roles portrayed by the women in the Salinas Valley and societal expectations, this paper intends to explore the influence of tradition on decision making. 1. Introduction Children are taught from a young age to fear monsters; in fact, part of the reason monsters are so alarming is due to the fact that they represent inner darkness that no one wishes to acknowledge.
    [Show full text]
  • Timshel: the Monomyth in East of Eden
    Walker 1 Nikkita Walker Timshel: The Monomyth in East of Eden Throughout 1951 the American author John Steinbeck was entrenched in writing what he considered was the book he had “been practicing for all of my life”( Letters 408). It was to be written as though addressed to his young sons, “so simple in its difficulty that a child can understand it”( Journal 6); a novel about what Steinbeck called “perhaps the greatest story of all - the story of good and evil, of strength and weakness… how neither can exist without the other and how out of their groupings creativeness is born”( Journal 4). In December of 1951 he delivered the manuscript of his novel, East of Eden , enclosed in a beautifully carved wooden box to his publisher and close friend Pascal Covici with a letter which said “here’s your box. Nearly everything I have is in it and it is not full. All pain and excitement is in it and feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts – the pleasure of design and some despair and the indescribable joy of creation…And still the box is not full”( Letters 433). Steinbeck’s East of Eden utilizes mythical and Biblical stories to create an allegorical bridge to understanding what he considered “the basis of all human neurosis - and if you take the fall along with it, you have the total of the psychic troubles that can happen to a human” (Journal 104). Joseph Campbell, a literary theorist and contemporary with Steinbeck had elaborated on this same concept in 1949 in his work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces , wherein he posited that, universally, the story at the heart of mythology is an awareness of the human ability to consciously act, “the hero is the champion of things becoming, not of things become, because he is ”(Campbell 225).
    [Show full text]
  • Social Critic and Ecologist
    Narrative Section of a Successful Application The attached document contains the grant narrative and selected portions of a previously funded grant application. It is not intended to serve as a model, but to give you a sense of how a successful application may be crafted. Every successful application is different, and each applicant is urged to prepare a proposal that reflects its unique project and aspirations. Prospective applicants should consult the Summer Seminars and Institutes application guidelines at http://www.neh.gov/grants/education/summer-seminars-and-institutes for instructions. Applicants are also strongly encouraged to consult with the NEH Division of Education Programs staff well before a grant deadline. Note: The attachment only contains the grant narrative and selected portions, not the entire funded application. In addition, certain portions may have been redacted to protect the privacy interests of an individual and/or to protect confidential commercial and financial information and/or to protect copyrighted materials. The page limit for the narrative description is now fifteen double-spaced pages. Project Title: John Steinbeck: Social Critic and Ecologist Institution: San Jose State University Research Foundation Project Director: Susan Shillinglaw Grant Program: Summer Seminars and Institutes 400 7th Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024 P 202.606.8500 F 202.606.8394 E [email protected] www.neh.gov JOHN STEINBECK: SOCIAL CRITIC AND ECOLOGIST A SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS 2. NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION 1 A. INTELLECTUAL RATIONALE 1 B. PROGRAM OF STUDY 3 Structure 4 1. Themes and Questions 5 2. Core Readings and Approaches 5 3.
    [Show full text]
  • East of Eden by John Steinbeck
    East of Eden by John Steinbeck About the author No writer is more quintessentially American than John Steinbeck. Born in 1902 in Salinas, California, Steinbeck attended Stanford University before working at a series of mostly blue-collar jobs and embarking on his literary career. Profoundly committed to social progress, he used his writing to raise issues of labor exploitation and the plight of the common man, penning some of the greatest American novels of the twentieth century and winning such prestigious awards as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He received the Nobel Prize in 1962, "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception." Today, more than thirty years after his death, he remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. East of Eden, the novel he called "the big one," was published in 1952. About the book East of Eden, John Steinbeck's passionate and exhilarating epic, re-creates the seminal stories of Genesis through the intertwined lives of two American families. The result is a purely American saga set in Steinbeck's own childhood home, the Salinas Valley of northern California. The valley is a new world both idyllic and harsh, and Steinbeck sings to it with a personal nostalgia that is clouded by the knowledge that this valley-as all human dwellings-is the location for as much tragedy as triumph. A brilliant novel of ideas, East of Eden is far-reaching in its effort to explicate the most fundamental trials of mankind. Brutally realistic-and sometimes fatalistic-about people's ability to harm themselves and those around them, it is also a celebration of perseverance, enduring love, and the noble yearning to better oneself.
    [Show full text]
  • A Gender Study of John Steinbeck's East of Eden: an Analysis of Cathy Ames, Sibling Rivalry, Marriage, Women, and Masculinit
    Copyright By Christopher James De La Mater 2019 A Gender Study of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden: An Analysis of Cathy Ames, Sibling Rivalry, Marriage, Women, and Masculinity By Christopher James De La Mater A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English California State University, Bakersfield In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Masters of English Spring 2019 Table of Contents Acknowledgments I. Introduction II. Cathy Ames: An Analysis of Steinbeck’s Femme Fatale III. Of Mice and Men: An Analysis of Masculinity as Defined by John Steinbeck in East of Eden IV. Two Generations of Sibling Rivalry: The Trask Brothers and an Analysis of Their Cain and Abel Dynamic in Relation to Gender V. East of Eve(n): Analysis of the Marriages and the Idea of an Ideal Woman in East of Eden VI. Works Cited Acknowledgments I would like to take this opportunity to thank those individuals that offered me guidance and support in pursuit of my Master’s Degree in English and the culminating project of this thesis. I would like to first give a number of thanks and extend the upmost appreciation to my committee members, Dr. Steven Frye and Dr. Monica Ayuso. Without their guidance, this thesis would not have come to fruition and I cannot imagine any other individuals I would have rather consulted during this process. I would also like to thank my parents for their support during my academic endeavors. Both committing their lives to education, it was almost impossible for me to choose any other professional career than education. They are the models that I intend to mold the educator that I will ultimately become.
    [Show full text]
  • A Feminist Reading of East of Eden by John Steinbeck Mostafaei, Somaye; Shabanirad, Ensieh
    www.ssoar.info A Feminist Reading of East of Eden by John Steinbeck Mostafaei, Somaye; Shabanirad, Ensieh Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Mostafaei, S., & Shabanirad, E. (2015). A Feminist Reading of East of Eden by John Steinbeck. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 63, 145-150. https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.63.145 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY Lizenz (Namensnennung) zur This document is made available under a CC BY Licence Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden (Attribution). For more Information see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.de International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences Online: 2015-11-30 ISSN: 2300-2697, Vol. 63, pp 145-150 doi:10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.63.145 © 2015 SciPress Ltd., Switzerland A Feminist Reading of East of Eden By John Steinbeck Somaye Mostafaei1, Ensieh Shabanirad2 1M. A. Student of Language and English Literature University of Semnan, Iran 2PhD Candidate of Language and English Literature University of Tehran, Iran Corresponding Author: [email protected] Keywords: East of Eden, Feminism, Cathy Ames, feminine, patriarchal, John Steinbeck ABSTRACT. East of Eden one of the most controversial works by John Steinbeck since its publication up to now has been receptive to many critical discourses in almost all of the critical approaches. One of the most important reasons to this critical reception is its wide circle of themes and symbolic nature. Having created a world full of universal values, Steinbeck succeeded to challenge many of these values.
    [Show full text]
  • John Steinbeck
    John Steinbeck Authors and Artists for Young Adults, 1994 Updated: July 19, 2004 Born: February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California, United States Died: December 20, 1968 in New York, New York, United States Other Names: Steinbeck, John Ernst, Jr.; Glasscock, Amnesia Nationality: American Occupation: Writer Writer. Had been variously employed as a hod carrier, fruit picker, ranch hand, apprentice painter, laboratory assistant, caretaker, surveyor, and reporter. Special writer for the United States Army during World War II. Foreign correspondent in North Africa and Italy for New York Herald Tribune, 1943; correspondent in Vietnam for Newsday, 1966-67. General Literature Gold Medal, Commonwealth Club of California, 1936, for Tortilla Flat, 1937, for novel Of Mice and Men, and 1940, for The Grapes of Wrath; New York Drama Critics Circle Award, 1938, for play Of Mice and Men; Academy Award nomination for best original story, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1944, for "Lifeboat," and 1945, for "A Medal for Benny"; Nobel Prize for literature, 1962; Paperback of the Year Award, Marketing Bestsellers, 1964, for Travels with Charley: In Search of America. Addresses: Contact: McIntosh & Otis, Inc., 310 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10017. "I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature." With this declaration, John Steinbeck accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, becoming only the fifth American to receive one of the most prestigious awards in writing. In announcing the award, Nobel committee chair Anders Osterling, quoted in the Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series, described Steinbeck as "an independent expounder of the truth with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or ill." This was a reputation the author had earned in a long and distinguished career that produced some of the twentieth century's most acclaimed and popular novels.
    [Show full text]
  • Rediscovering Me and Juliet and Pipe Dream , the Forgotten Musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein
    ABSTRACT Title of Thesis: “WHO EXPECTS A MIRACLE TO HAPPEN EVERY DAY?”: REDISCOVERING ME AND JULIET AND PIPE DREAM , THE FORGOTTEN MUSICALS OF RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN Bradley Clayton Mariska, Master of Arts, 2004 Thesis directed by: Assistant Professor Jennifer DeLapp Department of Musicology Me and Juliet (1953) and Pipe Dream (1955) diverged considerably from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s influential and commercially successful 1940s musical plays. Me and Juliet was the team’s first musical comedy and had an original book by Hammerstein. Pipe Dream was based on a John Steinbeck novel and featured bums and prostitutes. This paper documents the history of Me and Juliet and Pipe Dream , using correspondence, early drafts of scripts, interviews with cast members, and secondary sources. I analyze the effectiveness of plot, music, and lyrics, while considering factors in each show’s production that may have led to their respective failures. To better understand reception, emphasis is placed upon each show’s relationship to the political and cultural landscape of 1950s America. Re-examining these musicals helps document the complete history of the Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration and provides valuable insights regarding the duo’s social values and personal philosophies of musical theatre. “WHO EXPECTS A MIRACLE TO HAPPEN EVERY DAY?”: REDISCOVERING ME AND JULIET AND PIPE DREAM , THE FORGOTTEN MUSICALS OF RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN by Bradley Clayton Mariska Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts 2004 Advisory Committee: Professor Jennifer DeLapp, Chair Professor Barbara Haggh-Huglo Professor Richard King © Copyright by Bradley Clayton Mariska 2004 To Grandma Bonnie, for The Sound of Music To my parents, for Joseph ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to many individuals who have helped in the completion of this document.
    [Show full text]
  • Cathy Trask, Monstrosity, and Gender-Based Fears in John Steinbeckâ•Žs East of Eden
    Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2014-06-01 Cathy Trask, Monstrosity, and Gender-Based Fears in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden Claire Warnick Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Classics Commons, and the Comparative Literature Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Warnick, Claire, "Cathy Trask, Monstrosity, and Gender-Based Fears in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 5282. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5282 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Cathy Trask, Monstrosity, and Gender-Based Fears in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden Claire Warnick A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Carl H. Sederholm, Chair Francesca R. Lawson Kerry D. Soper Department of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature Brigham Young University June 2014 Copyright © 2014 Claire Warnick All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Cathy Trask, Monstrosity, and Gender-Based Fears in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden Claire Warnick Department of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature, BYU Master of Arts In recent years, the concept of monstrosity has received renewed attention by literary critics. Much of this criticism has focused on horror texts and other texts that depict supernatural monsters. However, the way that monster theory explores the connection between specific cultures and their monsters illuminates not only our understanding of horror texts, but also our understanding of any significant cultural artwork.
    [Show full text]
  • 2002 Conference: Steinbeck's Americas (PDF)
    HOFSTRA CULTURAL CENTER presents JOHN STEINBECK’S AMERICAS A CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE Thursday, Friday, Saturday March 21, 22, 23, 2002 Registration Program Cooperating Institutions: Center for Steinbeck Studies at San José State University John Steinbeck Society of Japan HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK 11549 PRE-CONFERENCE EVENT WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2002 7 p.m. Student Center Theater North Campus ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION: “Reassessing Steinbeck in the 21st Century” Robert J. DeMott Brian E. Railsback Ohio University Western Carolina University Warren G. French Kathleen Hicks Tallahassee, Florida Arizona State University Mimi Gladstein Louis Owens The University of Texas at El Paso University of California-Davis Photograph by Hans Namuth, courtesy of the estate of Hans Namuth. Conference Directors Ruth Prigozy Susan Shillinglaw Professor of English Professor of English and Hofstra University Director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies San José State University Conference Coordinator Natalie Datlof Executive Director Hofstra Cultural Center Hofstra Cultural Center gratefully acknowledges the support of Hofstra University Bookstore A service of BARNES & NOBLE 2 Thursday, March 21, 2002 9 a.m.-5 p.m. CONFERENCE REGISTRATION Student Center Theater Lobby North Campus 10-11 a.m. OPENING CEREMONY Welcome Ruth Prigozy Professor of English Hofstra University Susan Shillinglaw Professor of English and Director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies San José State University Greetings Stuart Rabinowitz President and Andrew M. Boas and Mark L. Claster Distinguished Professor of Law Hofstra University Keynote Address Morris Dickstein Distinguished Professor of English Queens College/CUNY and The Graduate Center/CUNY “Steinbeck and the Great Depression” 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
    [Show full text]
  • EAST of EDEN DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Part One 1. How Do
    EAST OF EDEN DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Part One 1. How do the contrasting values in the landscape affect a reader's sense of the valley? 2. There is an epic scope to the opening chapter, as if Steinbeck is announcing to the reader the grandness of his the me. Comment on how he suggests the grandness of his conception. 3. Steinbeck describes the inhabitants of the valley —Indians, Spanish, Americans —in rather unattractive terms, as if he's echoing an "official" history. Why would he do so? 4. How do the p atriarchs, Samuel Hamilton and Cyrus Trask —and their respective families — differ? Compare their different moral environments. 5. How do Samuel and Cyrus contrast as storytellers? Why does storytelling play such a major role in this novel? What kind of sto ryteller is the character Steinbeck? 6. How are children in Part One influenced by perceived flaws in their fathers, and how do they respond? What are the consequences of parental love, neglect or rejection among the Hamiltons and Trasks? 7. Regardless of Charles's brutal beating of Adam and his infidelity with Adam's wife, does he love his brother? Why? Are the brothers close? Why might they be closer through letters? Why does Charles' handwriting change in the strange letter he writes to Adam at the e nd of Chapter 4? And why might Steinbeck say that this letter is a "key" to the novel? 8. Is Cathy Ames doomed by nature to be who she is, or does she have a choice? Cathy is introduced as a monster in Chapter 8; in Chapter 12 she's described slightly di fferently.
    [Show full text]