Fan Favorite: Great American Authors | John Steinbeck: The Observer
3/18/202641 min
Growing up in the Salinas Valley of Northern California, John Steinbeck dreamed of becoming a professional writer. In his youth he took on odd jobs and worked amongst ranch hands and migrant workers, who would inspire some of his greatest work, including The Grapes of Wrath. Published in 1939, the book captured the struggles of everyday Americans during the Great Depression, and Steinbeck became famous for his empathetic portrayal of the working class.
Steinbeck would go on to become one of the most decorated authors of the 20th Century, winning the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for...
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLindsey Graham· Host0:00
[intro music] Imagine it's a hot July night in nineteen twenty-four. You're a World War I veteran traveling with a crew of itinerant workers heading north from California toward Oregon. You've heard there might be jobs at the lumber mills there. You and your fellow travelers, who proudly call themselves hobos, have made camp for the night near a rail yard north of San Francisco. You're sipping bootleg whiskey and swapping stories with the other men, and among them is a young college student who says he's dropped out of school to travel and work. He's been scribbling in a notebook as you and the others tell tales of life on the road. Hey, what are you writing in that notebook, kid? Uh, just some notes for a novel I'm working on. A novel? Yeah, haven't you ever wanted to write a novel? [scoffs] No. Read a few, but write one? No, I don't think so. Well, I don't blame you, really. It's the hardest damn thing in the world. Doesn't seem so hard to me. You just tell folks a story, don't you? Well, that's the thing. I don't have enough stories, and I guess what the notebook's for, to collect tales from people I meet. So far, though, I'm mostly hearing dirty jokes and [scoffs] obvious lies. You like this kid. He seems shy, but also sure of himself. You hand him your flask. Well, what kind of stories are you looking for? [gasps] The young man takes a sip and then grimaces, handing the flask back. Ugh. I guess, um, I want a real