Description

In January, 1951, John Steinbeck embarked on his final stab at the Great American Novel, eventually producing East of Eden. He dedicated the novel to his sons and, when he finished it, uncharacteristically thought of it as his best book. Certainly it was his most ambitious, pulling in personal family history, the Bible and Moby Dick, while at the same time rebelling against his own artistic tendencies. In short, he purposely wrote a novel that would reinvent him and his world. When it was published in 1952, critics were stunned. Steinbeck was supposed to be finished as a serious writer, and then late in his career he sprung this epic work on them. As such, East of Eden is a wild novel, in plot, meaning and execution. (If you saw the movie version with James Dean, it only managed to cover the last third of the book.) The text is available on Amazon.com. If possible, purchase the following paperback edition so that we will all “be on the same page”: East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Steinbeck Centennial Edition, published by Penguin, June 18, 2003). Presenter: Brian Railsback, Ph.D., is Professor of English, former founding Dean of the Honors College, presently Chair of the Faculty and founding Director of the Office of National and International Awards at Western Carolina University. In addition to numerous works, he co-edited A John Steinbeck Encyclopedia and the Library of America edition, John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley and Later Novels. His most recent book chapter concerning John Steinbeck appeared in “Critical Insights: Of Mice and Men” (2017). Location: Participants Home (Pot Luck Dinner) Limit: 20 Cost:  $40/$50             Coordinator: Marge Meeter

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