When John Steinbeck died in 1968, he was one of America's most popular novelist. His works had a profound effect on the American people. Today, he is still a popular and powerful author in America as well as a worldwide literary figure. Jay Parini has written that "the author remains unfailingly attractive to readers of all ages and levels of sophistication" (23).
John Ernst Steinbeck was born in 1902 in the Salinas Valley. He was the third of four children and the only boy. His family was a close, middle class unit living in a small community. The Salinas Valley would later prove to be the location of many of his books and short stories. Both of his parents believed in exposing their children to culture and they often traveled to San Francisco
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He wrote several articles and two novels which dealt with war and were not considered among his best works. However, after his return from his wartime travels, he wrote Cannery Row in just six weeks. This was said to be his only powerful novel from that era. It is ironic that it is not about war but it is about the residents of the Row in Monterey during the peaceful 1930's.
Steinbeck continued his political involvement and in the1950's, his writings turned towards a strong, direct expression. He helped in writing speeches for the presidential campaigns in 1952 and 1954. In 1964, he was appointed as an advisor to President Johnson. He was an active supporter of Viet Nam until he visited the ravaged country. He then encouraged Johnson to pull troops out of the country.
John Steinbeck was a versatile writer. He has been described as a social-protest writer, a realist, a naturalist, a journalist, and a playwright. He has many strong themes running through his works. The most notable are the strengths of the family, the effects of the environment on man, and social protests. He experimented with many different writing styles and points of views. All of these factors combine to explain why Steinbeck is still a literary force today. His presence on the World Wide Web is great and he is the subject of many high school and college courses. Steinbeck had described his duty as a novelist in his acceptance Nobel Prize acceptance