Steinbeck also wrote EoE as a family mythology of his own extended family in California. So he attempted to ground a 'Californian Genesis' as you say within a deeply personal set of characters whom he knew well or knew family lore about (hence the mother in an airplane aside).
Steinbeck wrote to his editor and friend, Pat Covici, that EoE was his attempt to put 'everything' into a book, meaning everything he knew and understood of the world, all of his personal history, the essence of America and California, and by hyperlocalising amd specifying it, he managed the difficult task of showing us the universal through the particular.
I think he succeeded, by and large. He’s got a book that recounts the writing of EoE, but I’ve only read a few bits from it. Would love to explore that further.
East of Eden remains one of my favorite novels. I recently read a Steinbeck biography, Mad at the World, and one of the big questions I ended with was whether or not Steinbeck was aware of how much he was like the absent father figures in his own book--if he was intentionally exploring one of his own life's weaknesses, or if it simply came out in his characters at a subconscious level.
The other thing that stands out to me from your essay here is the part of the novel where he talks about emotional monsters, people who are born evil...and if that is possible. It does seem like the book could have done without the author's explicit stating of this thesis, but what we often see in Steinbeck, I think, is an author who doesn't always trust his reader to pick up on the important things he's trying to convey in the work.
I’ve not read enough Steinbeck yet to have a sense of him as an author. East of Eden, Mice and Men, and Charley are all I’ve read so far. I do hope to read much more of him in the next year or so. If we regard some of that preachiness as a fault, he seems to overcome it by other means.
Have you read Journal of a Novel? If not, and if you want to read more Steinbeck, I highly recommend it...it's the journal he kept and sent to to his editor/agent while writing East of Eden. You get a lot of insight into his emotional space (though I'm aware that it was probably highly curated for an audience).
Thanks for your insights, particularly the connections to Eden and to Jacob’s pronouncements over his sons. I just finished the book over the Christmas holiday and am still thinking about it. So many flawed and twisted lives converging in one story!
Yes! That’s one of its great virtues—the sheer number of people he pulls into the story with all their diverse and sometimes competing views of the world and their place in it. Just like life.
Yes, but Caleb maliciously exposes his brother to the truth about their mother and drives him off to war where he dies. He’s still Cain—hence Lee’s appeal that he not give into his dark side and his subsequent guilt when he does.
Comparing Steinbeck's POV issues and meandering makes sense when you compare it to the way Scripture is written. Also, makes sense for a story with Eden in the title.
East of Eden has been on my list for the past year. Yours is the second review I've read of it in the past week. I need to get to it this year. I loved The Woman in White and David Copperfield was my summer read last year (well--I listened to it read by Richard Armitage which was fantastic) and it's now my favorite Dickens. The characters are fantastic!
East of Eden is in my top 5 books of all time list, just a truly epic novel all the way through. The relationship that Samuel Hamilton has with Lee is one of my favorite parts of the book, the first time he meets Lee he calls him out immediately for speaking pidgin english astonishes Lee, it was the first time he had been seen as a man and not as some illiterate fool. I've long wanted to get a vanity plate for my car that says Timshel, thou mayest is one of the greatest endings in literary history.
You might get a kick out of this memory. Janet Grant had edited a couple of my NF books for Zondervan, and when I sought her out to represent my first novel (which she successfully did -- published by Moody), she asked me who was my favorite author. I said, "Faulkner." She said, "Oh, dear."
Hilarious. That reminds me of reading about a scientist who let Cormac McCarthy edit one of his journal articles. The editor nearly panicked when they heard the news.
I read this in high school but don't remember if I got anything out of it at the time. Certainly not enough; I should revisit. Thanks for the review, Joel!
In his earlier work, To A God Unknown, Steinbeck humanized pagan gods (of animals, of fertility, of rain) and placed them in a California valley. By 1952 he was at the top of his game, and he had the talent and the hubris to take on Genesis.
Thank you Joel for this review, you've just changed my mind on reading East of Eden. I recently read Grapes of Wrath, which I first read in my teens, and although I found the writing beautiful and the story never stalled, I really didn't like the preachy tone of the biblical/lyrical chapters that are interspersed between the narrative chapters. I would much rather understand the point being made myself through the story than have it hammered in through chapters dedicated to this sole purpose. And so I thought that I'd stay with my earlier memories of Steinbeck but am now curious to reread East of Eden. And as an aside, I don't know where Steinbeck got his translations but in Genesis there is no TIMSHEL. The Hebrew is TIMSHOL or TIMSHAL BO which means YOU SHALL RULE HIM.
Yeah, the biblical studies folks are quick to point out that he really didn’t know what he was talking about regarding the Hebrew :) In general, I’m also with you on preferring to come to my own conclusions about the characters and events of a story rather than having the author spoonfeed me. By and large, however, I think the total effect works here.
Steinbeck also wrote EoE as a family mythology of his own extended family in California. So he attempted to ground a 'Californian Genesis' as you say within a deeply personal set of characters whom he knew well or knew family lore about (hence the mother in an airplane aside).
Steinbeck wrote to his editor and friend, Pat Covici, that EoE was his attempt to put 'everything' into a book, meaning everything he knew and understood of the world, all of his personal history, the essence of America and California, and by hyperlocalising amd specifying it, he managed the difficult task of showing us the universal through the particular.
I think he succeeded, by and large. He’s got a book that recounts the writing of EoE, but I’ve only read a few bits from it. Would love to explore that further.
Your excellent review suggested an interesting future topic: what are some really good works of fiction that retell Biblical stories?
That’s a great question. Par Lagerkvist’s Barabbas definitely belongs on such a list.
Two that come to mind are William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom, and Frederick Buechner's Son of Laughter.
Thomas Mann's epic Joseph and His Brothers is awesome
East of Eden remains one of my favorite novels. I recently read a Steinbeck biography, Mad at the World, and one of the big questions I ended with was whether or not Steinbeck was aware of how much he was like the absent father figures in his own book--if he was intentionally exploring one of his own life's weaknesses, or if it simply came out in his characters at a subconscious level.
The other thing that stands out to me from your essay here is the part of the novel where he talks about emotional monsters, people who are born evil...and if that is possible. It does seem like the book could have done without the author's explicit stating of this thesis, but what we often see in Steinbeck, I think, is an author who doesn't always trust his reader to pick up on the important things he's trying to convey in the work.
I’ve not read enough Steinbeck yet to have a sense of him as an author. East of Eden, Mice and Men, and Charley are all I’ve read so far. I do hope to read much more of him in the next year or so. If we regard some of that preachiness as a fault, he seems to overcome it by other means.
Have you read Journal of a Novel? If not, and if you want to read more Steinbeck, I highly recommend it...it's the journal he kept and sent to to his editor/agent while writing East of Eden. You get a lot of insight into his emotional space (though I'm aware that it was probably highly curated for an audience).
I haven’t read it, just a few pages out it. But I’m definitely planning on reading more Steinbeck.
Thanks for your insights, particularly the connections to Eden and to Jacob’s pronouncements over his sons. I just finished the book over the Christmas holiday and am still thinking about it. So many flawed and twisted lives converging in one story!
Yes! That’s one of its great virtues—the sheer number of people he pulls into the story with all their diverse and sometimes competing views of the world and their place in it. Just like life.
Excellent. I have not liked what Steinbeck I read before, but this made me want to read this novel! Thank you.
My pleasure!
It was a fun realization to see the characters who followed in Cain's footsteps had names beginning with 'C', and Abel with an 'A'.
On the other hand, note that the two boys are actually named Caleb, and Aaron. There, the survivor didn't commit the sin that doomed the other.
Yes, but Caleb maliciously exposes his brother to the truth about their mother and drives him off to war where he dies. He’s still Cain—hence Lee’s appeal that he not give into his dark side and his subsequent guilt when he does.
On the third hand, Aron wasn't exactly innocent in the situations leading up that.
Which is why having a reversal on the A/C situation is -- interesting.
Yes, agreed.
I think he was really trying to draw those connections back to Genesis with bold lines.
It's perhaps 40 years since I read East of Eden - your review has pushed it to the front of my reading and I am loving it. Many thanks
Comparing Steinbeck's POV issues and meandering makes sense when you compare it to the way Scripture is written. Also, makes sense for a story with Eden in the title.
East of Eden has been on my list for the past year. Yours is the second review I've read of it in the past week. I need to get to it this year. I loved The Woman in White and David Copperfield was my summer read last year (well--I listened to it read by Richard Armitage which was fantastic) and it's now my favorite Dickens. The characters are fantastic!
East of Eden is in my top 5 books of all time list, just a truly epic novel all the way through. The relationship that Samuel Hamilton has with Lee is one of my favorite parts of the book, the first time he meets Lee he calls him out immediately for speaking pidgin english astonishes Lee, it was the first time he had been seen as a man and not as some illiterate fool. I've long wanted to get a vanity plate for my car that says Timshel, thou mayest is one of the greatest endings in literary history.
You might get a kick out of this memory. Janet Grant had edited a couple of my NF books for Zondervan, and when I sought her out to represent my first novel (which she successfully did -- published by Moody), she asked me who was my favorite author. I said, "Faulkner." She said, "Oh, dear."
Hilarious. That reminds me of reading about a scientist who let Cormac McCarthy edit one of his journal articles. The editor nearly panicked when they heard the news.
McCarthy? Good grief!
I read this in high school but don't remember if I got anything out of it at the time. Certainly not enough; I should revisit. Thanks for the review, Joel!
I read "East of Eden" recently. Your post made about the most sense of almost all the many reviews and commentaries on the book. An excellent review.
In his earlier work, To A God Unknown, Steinbeck humanized pagan gods (of animals, of fertility, of rain) and placed them in a California valley. By 1952 he was at the top of his game, and he had the talent and the hubris to take on Genesis.
I’m glad he did.
Thanks for this. I made the mistake of tackling the book on audio, and just found it too confusing and hard to follow. I’ll try again on paper.
Man, there really is a ton going on in that story. Keeping up with all the threads is a feat.
Thank you Joel for this review, you've just changed my mind on reading East of Eden. I recently read Grapes of Wrath, which I first read in my teens, and although I found the writing beautiful and the story never stalled, I really didn't like the preachy tone of the biblical/lyrical chapters that are interspersed between the narrative chapters. I would much rather understand the point being made myself through the story than have it hammered in through chapters dedicated to this sole purpose. And so I thought that I'd stay with my earlier memories of Steinbeck but am now curious to reread East of Eden. And as an aside, I don't know where Steinbeck got his translations but in Genesis there is no TIMSHEL. The Hebrew is TIMSHOL or TIMSHAL BO which means YOU SHALL RULE HIM.
Yeah, the biblical studies folks are quick to point out that he really didn’t know what he was talking about regarding the Hebrew :) In general, I’m also with you on preferring to come to my own conclusions about the characters and events of a story rather than having the author spoonfeed me. By and large, however, I think the total effect works here.