University of Kentucky UKnowledge Literature in English, North America English Language and Literature 5-29-2013 A Political Companion to John Steinbeck Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh University of Connecticut Simon Stow The College of William and Mary Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Zirakzadeh, Cyrus Ernesto and Stow, Simon, "A Political Companion to John Steinbeck" (2013). Literature in English, North America. 76. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_north_america/76 continued from front flap political science / literature Zirakzadeh a political companion to and Stow John Steinbeck John Steinbeck Prior investigations of Steinbeck’s political “This volume offers finely crafted essays that explore the a political companion to Edited by Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh thought have been either episodic, looking at relationship between the political and the literary in diverse ways. and Simon Stow a particular problem or a single work, or have These compelling essays assess the motivations and ambiguities in approached their subject within a broader Steinbeck’s engagement with politics and nationhood and trace how Though he was a recipient of both the biographical format, relating the writer’s ideas that engagement is transfigured as literary art. Essays about Steinbeck Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for almost entirely to his personal experiences. are especially timely now, as we face a time of economic crisis when Literature, American novelist John Steinbeck This volume, by contrast, examines his work suffering and inequality remain mostly invisible, when the supremacy (1902–1968) has frequently been censored. primarily in terms of discrete concepts and of market values seems incontestable, and when alternatives are widely Even in the twenty-first century, nearly themes that have played important roles ridiculed and demonized.”—George Shulman, New York University ninety years after they first appeared in print, in the history of Western political thought, Steinbeck’s novels, stories, and plays still including patriotism, democracy, revolution, “Do you think you know John Steinbeck? You might have to think generate controversy. His 1937 book Of Mice elitism, and the state. Few authors have been again. Stow and Zirakzadeh have put together a superb volume of essays and Men was banned in some Mississippi as successful as Steinbeck in demonstrating on Steinbeck’s astounding body of work: novels, plays, journalism, schools in 2002, and as recently as 2009, he how deeply relevant literature is to politics, screenplays, travel writing, and more. Steinbeck engaged America in all made the American Library Association’s and this engaging collection illustrates its tragic complexity and came away a thoroughly ambivalent American. annual list of most frequently challenged the breadth and significance of his work’s Readers of this indispensable volume are likely to find themselves in a authors. enduring political legacy. similarly disconcerting position—and thankful for it.”—Steven Johnston, University of Utah A Political Companion to John Steinbeck examines the most contentious political Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh is professor “The editors are to be congratulated for assembling a political aspects of the author’s body of work, from his of political science at the University of companion to John Steinbeck that is at once biographically and early exploration of social justice and political Connecticut. He is the author or editor of historically informative, interdisciplinary in its attentions, and accessibly authority during the Great Depression to numerous books, including Social Movements written all the way through.”—Susan McWilliams, Pomona College his later positions regarding domestic and in Politics: A Comparative Study. international threats to U.S. policies. In addition, the book explores the influence Simon Stow is associate professor in the of Steinbeck’s political vision on American Department of Government at the College POLITICAL COMPANIONS TO GREAT AMERICAN AUTHORS artists and popular culture. The editors of William and Mary. He is the author of Series Editor: Patrick J. Deneen, University of Notre Dame contend that Steinbeck was a politically Republic of Readers? The Literary Turn in ambivalent American who was both proud Political Thought and Analysis. of the nation’s achievements and worried a political companion to about its future. Featuring interpretations of his novels and essays by historians, literary scholars, and political theorists, this book covers the spectrum of Steinbeck’s writing, John Steinbeck exploring everything from his place in ISBN: 978-0-8131-4202-9 Cover photo courtesy of the Martha Heasley Cox Center American political culture to his seeming for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University. 9 0 0 0 0 betrayal of his leftist principles in later years. 9 780813 142029 edited by Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh and Simon Stow continued on back flap A Political Companion to John Steinbeck A POLITICAL COMPANION TO John Steinbeck Edited by Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh and Simon Stow Copyright © 2013 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offi ces: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com 17 16 15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A political companion to John Steinbeck / edited by Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh and Simon Stow. pages cm. — (Political companions to great American authors) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8131-4202-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8131-4203-6 (epub) — ISBN 978-0-8131-4204-3 (pdf) 1. Steinbeck, John, 1902-1968—Political and social views. 2. Politics and lit- erature—United States—History—20th century. I. Zirakzadeh, Cyrus Ernesto, 1951– editor of compilation II. Stow, Simon, editor of compilation PS3537.T3234Z787 2013 959.704’3373--dc23 2013003757 This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. Member of the Association of American University Presses I believe that out of the whole body of our past, out of our differ- ences, our quarrels, our many interests and directions, something has emerged that is itself unique in the world: America—compli- cated, paradoxical, bullheaded, shy, cruel, boisterous, unspeakably dear, and very beautiful. —John Steinbeck, America and Americans I did not need or want to be a citizen of this gray and dangerous country. —John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent Contents Series Foreword ix Patrick J. Deneen Prologue: John Steinbeck in the 1930s: Living Under the Gun 1 Rick Wartzman Introduction: The Dangerous Ambivalence of John Steinbeck 8 Simon Stow PART I: STEINBECK AS SOCIAL CRITIC 1. Revolutionary Conservative, Conservative Revolutionary? John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath 19 Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh 2. Star Signals: John Steinbeck in the American Protest Literature Tradition 49 Zoe Trodd 3. The Novelist as Playwright: Adaptation, Politics, and the Plays of John Steinbeck 77 Donna Kornhaber 4. Steinbeck and the Tragedy of Progress 98 Adrienne Akins Warfi eld PART II. THE CULTURAL ROOTS OF STEINBECK’S POLITICAL VISION 5. Group Man and the Limits of Working-Class Politics: The Political Vision of Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle 119 Charles Williams viii Contents 6. The Indifference of Nature and the Cruelty of Wealth 146 Michael T. Gibbons 7. “The Technique of Building Worlds”: Exodian Nation Formation in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath 171 Roxanne Harde PART III. STEINBECK IN AMERICAN POLITICAL CULTURE 8. Focusing on the Migrant: The Contextualization of Dorothea Lange’s Photographs of the John Steinbeck Committee 191 James R. Swensen 9. Participatory Parables: Cinema, Social Action, and Steinbeck’s Mexican Dilemma 227 Marijane Osborn 10. “Not Afraid of Being Heroic”: Bruce Springsteen’s John Steinbeck 247 Lauren Onkey 11. Retelling an American Political Tale: A Comparison of Literary, Cinematic, and Musical Versions of The Grapes of Wrath 268 Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh PART IV: JOHN STEINBECK: AMBIVALENT AMERICAN? 12. Patriotic Ironies: John Steinbeck’s Wartime Service to His Country 293 Mimi R. Gladstein and James H. Meredith 13. John Steinbeck’s Shifting View of America: From Travels with Charley to America and Americans 311 Robert S. Hughes 14. “Can You Honestly Love a Dishonest Thing?” The Tragic Patriotism of The Winter of Our Discontent 325 Simon Stow Acknowledgments 349 Selected Bibliography 353 List of Contributors 357 Index 361 Series Foreword THOSE WHO UNDERTAKE a study of American political