Beyond Boundaries
Rereading John Steinbeck

Susan Shillinglaw (Edited by), Kevin Hearle (Edited by)

9780817358600

Paperback / softback, published 15 September 2016

374 pages, 4 black & white illustration
23.6 x 15.4 x 2.5 cm, 0.6 kg

This book takes Steinbeck criticism beyond the frozen boundaries of the past and pushes out over boundaries in many different directions. It shows Steinbeck as an explorer of form and a far more profound thinker than he has been credited to be. It refutes the clichés of criticism and takes us into new territory."" —Jackson J. Benson, San Diego State University

As a writer who, beginning in the 1930s, gave voice to the ordinary man and woman, Steinbeck came to be the conscience of America. He witnessed and recorded with clarity much of the political and social upheaval of the 20th century: the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, Vietnam. Yet his place in the literary canon of American literature has been much debated and often dismissed by academics. Beyond Boundaries challenges that dismissal and replaces it with a fuller, more nuanced and international appreciation of the popular Nobel laureate and his works.

Topics treated in these wide-ranging essays include the historical and literary contexts and the artistic influence of the eminent novelist; the reception and translation of Steinbeck works outside the United States; Steinbeck's worldview, his social vision, and his treatment of poverty, of self, and of patriotism; influence on Native American writers; the centrality of the archetypal feminine throughout his fiction; and the author's lifelong interest in science and philosophy.

Truly international in scope, this timely study reevaluates the enduring and evolving legacy of one of America's most significant writers.