The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings, 1936–1941 by John Steinbeck (Library of America)

A watershed period in his career

Likely nine out of ten books that I read are on the Kindle, but when I want to buy a print book, and the author happens to be American, I find that no one puts together better volumes of classic literature than the Library of America. This nonprofit publisher puts great care and attention into the editing and production of their books, and their list of titles is like a comprehensive museum of American literary history. Take John Steinbeck, winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, for example. The LOA has published four volumes of Steinbeck’s writings that encompass all of his major works. Chronologically, The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings is the second of these four volumes. This collection was first published in 1996.

Obviously, the main attraction here is Steinbeck’s 1939 masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath, one of the greatest novels in American literature. Even if you’ve already read that book, however, the remaining selections in the volume are worth the purchase price. The Grapes of Wrath is the fictional saga of the Joad family, farmers from Oklahoma who, having been displaced by the Dust Bowl, migrate to California to look for work. Prior to the publication of the novel, Steinbeck published a series of articles in The San Francisco Sun on the lives of California’s migrant farm laborers. These articles, grouped under the heading of The Harvest Gypsies, are include in this volume. This series of essays serves as a valuable historical document of the times and provides an interesting view into the journalistic research Steinbeck conducted as the basis for The Grapes of Wrath.

Another nonfiction work included in the volume is The Log from the Sea of Cortez, Steinbeck’s account of a nautical expedition to Mexico with marine biologist Ed Ricketts. Given that Ricketts served as the model for the character Doc in the novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, it would have made more sense to group those three works in one volume. The labor novel In Dubious Battle would have made a better fit for this Grapes of Wrath volume, but the Library of America has divided Steinbeck’s career chronologically, which explains the choice of contents. Like a more modern, aquatic version of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, The Log from the Sea of Cortez is a scientific travelog in which Steinbeck digresses into numerous philosophical asides. As a mix of exploration narrative and literary license, it is good at both but great at neither.

The remaining book included in this volume is Steinbeck’s 1938 collection of short stories The Long Valley, a truly exceptional collection of short fiction that combines the naturalism of Jack London or Frank Norris with a sort of modern California gothic or noir atmosphere reminiscent of William Faulkner’s darker visions of the American South. Among the selections included here are the stories that would eventually make up Steinbeck’s novella The Red Pony.

Like all Library of America books, this volume includes a chronology of the author’s life, information on the original publication of the texts, and copious notes. The chronology provides a surprisingly detailed overview of Steinbeck’s life that makes me want to learn more. The LOA has done their usual bang-up job on this volume. Anyone looking for a quality hardbound compendium of some of Steinbeck’s best work can’t go wrong with this book.

Works in this collection

The Long Valley 

The Grapes of Wrath 

The Log from the Sea of Cortez 

The Harvest Gypsies 

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