When you think about 'The Grapes of Wrath,' it's an American masterpiece, and a very long process goes into the making of such a book.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When you look at 'Grapes of Wrath,' the weakest moments are those in which Steinbeck is spouting a political idea directly at the reader. The book's real power comes from its slower, broader movement.
The 1930s birthed two great agrarian novels: 'Gone with the Wind' from the viewpoint of the ruling class, 'The Grapes of Wrath' for the underclass. And both were turned into movies that dared to be true to the books' controversial themes.
There's a tradition in American fiction that is deadly serious and earnest - like the Steinbeckian social novel.
Since I can't write the greatest American novel, I'm going to write the longest American novel.
'Pride and Prejudice' - perhaps more than any other Jane Austen book - is engrained in our literary consciousness.
American fiction is good. It would be nice if somebody read it.
It used to be that the highest ambition of American novelists was to write 'the Great American Novel,' that great white whale of American fiction that would encompass all the American experience in one great book.
Everybody's idea of a great book is different, of course. For me it's one that makes my jaw drop on every page, the writing is so original.
Now, instead of loading up your jalopy and heading for California, you take a second, badly paid job; 'The Grapes of Wrath' has turned into 'Nickel and Dimed.'
I don't really know what the Great American Novel is. I like the idea that there could be one now, and I wouldn't object if someone thought it was mine, but I don't claim to have written that - I just wrote my book.