John Steinbeck: the Postmodern Mind In The Modern Age
Author(s): Gloria Gaither
Source: The Steinbeck Review, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring 2006), pp. 53-68
Published by: Penn State University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41581998
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John
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Gloria
Steinbeck:
the
Modern
Age
Gaither,
Postmodern
Alexandria,
Mind
Indiana
The John SteinbeckWho Began With The Spiritual, mystical,
and symbolicTo a God Unknown (1933) and ended with The
Winterof Our Discontent (1961), Travelswith Charlie (1962),
and Americaand Americans(1966) was a man and a writercome
full circle. Slapped around by criticswith a Modern mindset,
youngSteinbeckstaggered,bruisedand discouraged,away from
hisearlyinclinations.It would be a gradualhealing,butregaining
his sea legs, he would launch into effortsthat would be much
morerealisticand moreto thelikingsof thecriticsand readersof
what we now recognizeas thelast decades of theModern era.
But the Steinbeckwho remainedconfinedby that realism
preferred
by the Modern critics,and the pressuresof his literary
peers,beganto emergeonce morein his laterlifeand works.This
Steinbeck,however,would be disillusionedand morecynical.Still
convincedin his soul that science,materialism,and a consumer
attitudetowardtheenvironment
carriedin its floweringthe seed
of destruction,he would plead
for a new approach (a non. . . Steinbeck's
teleological one) to research
WRITINGGRIEVES
and a more urgent view of
THE LOSS OF
communityas a forcethatcould
COMMUNITYAND
be the planet's and society's
PLEADS ONCE
salvation.
MORE FOR THE
CONNECTEDNESS
Rather than reflecting the
OF US ALL AND
attitudeof escape from"societal
THE EARTH THAT
bonds," as Thomas Mann had
SUSTAINS US.
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identifiedas an objectiveof a Modern mind,or the attitudeof
that Maurice Beebe includes
detachmentand non-commitment
in his list of Modernism'straitsin literature,Steinbeck'swriting
grievesthe loss of communityand pleads once more for the
connectednessof us all and the earththatsustainsus.
Had he lived two more decades, it is likelythat Steinbeck
would have experienced the coming together of some new
kindredminds as the postmodernreaders,thinkers,and critics
came to the table. As it was, thispostmodernmindin a Modern
age experiencedthe despair of feelingthat "we're all, or most
of us, thewards of the nineteenth-century
scienceswhichdenied
existenceof anythingit could not reason or explain...and [that]
meanwhilea greatpart of theworld was abandoned to children,
insane people, fools and mystics,who were more interestedin
what is thanin whyit is" (Steinbeck,Winter75).
A concise overviewof themajor assumptionsof theModern
mindsetmay help focus on the criteriataken for granted as
"right"ones by Modern thinkers,includingmanyof Steinbeck's
critics.A movement,the birthof which many historiansplace
at the beginningof the Enlightenment
and others as far back
as the Renaissance, is not simple to summarize.But certainly
what JürgenHabermas refersto as the "project of Modernity,
formulatedin the eighteenthcentury"(62), had as its goal some
identifiableintentionswhich placed knowledgeand the human
cognitivepotentialto access it at thecenterof theModern world
view. StanleyGrenz summarizesthe Enlightenment
projectvery
in
A
his
Primer
on
Postmodernism
, and from
succinctly
insightful
his summaryseveralearmarksof the Modern mindmightgive a
basis forthisdiscussion.
Firstis the assumptionthat "knowledgeis certain,objective
and good," followedby the beliefthatknowledgeis "accessible
to the human mind." Third, Grenz observesthat "the demand
for knowledge,then,sends the modern inquirerin search of a
methodof demonstrating
theessentialcorrectnessofphilosophic,
and politicaldoctrines,"and "places
scientific,
moral,
religious,
of
under
the scrutinyof reason and assesses
manyaspects reality
it on the basis of that criteria."The Enlightenment
projectalso
assumed that knowledgeis not only certainand hence rational,
butalso objectiveand dispassionate,claimingto be able to "view
theworld as unconditionedobservers"(4).
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Steinbeck
Because knowledgeis assumedto be good, rational,objective,
and dispassionate,scienceis viewedas the saviorthatwill rescue
humanityfrom the ills of society as well as its vulnerability
to nature. The futureis, therefore,viewed as optimistic.The
Modern mind consideredas suspect views that would "curtail
autonomy" and individualfreedomand those that seem to be
"based on someexternalauthorityotherthanreasonand scientific
[factual]experience."As Grenz summarizes,"The modernideal
subjectwho
championstheautonomousself,theself-determining
existsoutsideany traditionor community"(4).
This mindset,of course,encompassednot only scienceitself
but all of culture,with a tendencyto make a "science" of art,
architecture,
literature,
politics,and thebehavioralsciences.There
tendedto emergeformulasforwhat was "good" in everyaspect
of lifeand that"good" had to be measuredbyobjective,realistic,
and dispassionatecriteria.Therewas thewidespreadassumption
that structuresgive meaning -language itself being such a
- and thatliteratureat its bestprovides"categoriesthat
structure
help us to organize and understandour experienceof reality"
(Grenz 6).
But as sciencefailedto cure all the ills of societyand to free
to natureand as societiesthe world over
us of our vulnerability
did not get betterand better,empiricalthoughtand individual
And by
autonomybegan to slip as the formulafor fulfillment.
the i97o's, certainly-thoughthe seeds of deconstructionwere
sproutinglong before what was to be labeled "postmodern"
would begin to disassemblethe formulaapproach- a new view
would beginto emerge.
In real lifeexperienceModern individualism,autonomyand
personal freedomhad too oftenproduced isolation,loneliness,
The science
of community.
and the disintegration
estrangement,
to natureand solve
thatwas to freehumanityfromvulnerability
medical,societal,and governmentalproblemswas beginningto
be questioned as a savior,as pollution,toxin-generated
illness,
diseases beganto emergeas threats.At present
and stress-induced
the disillusionmentwith the Modern promise has blossomed
into a recognizableera with some identifiable(thoughnot easily
definable) sensibilitiescommonly known as postmodern. As
Lance Olsen warns in his article,"Cyberpunkand the Crisis of
Postmodernity,"
postmodern"is a mode of consciousness(and
not, it should be emphasized,a historicalperiod) that is highly
suspiciousofthebeliefin sharedspeech,sharedvalues,and shared
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perceptionsthatsome would liketo believeformour culturebut
whichin factmay be no morethanempty,ifnecessary,fictions"
(143)Modernistfaithin rationality,
science,and freedomhad by
year2000 precipitateddeep-rootedskepticism,and theformulas
for everythingand the structuresto house them began to be
deconstructedand disassembled.Fluidity,unfixedboundaries,
and the absence of definabledistinctionsbegan to emergeas
earmarksof the postmodernmindset.In the face of this new
consciousness,it may be a temptationof the Modern mind
to simplyadjust a few methodologiesin an effortto go on
functioningin the postmodernworld. But as Bill Readings so
cautions:
insightfully
Make no mistake.Post-modernthoughtis not
just a tweaking of the modern approach. It
is not just Modern becominginnovative.. . .
innovationseeks to make a new move withthe
rulesof thelanguagegame 'art,'so as to revivify
the truthof art. Paralogism seeks the move
that will displace the rules of the game, the
'impossible'or unforeseeablemove. Innovation
refinesthe efficiencyof the system;whereas
the paralogical move changes the rules in the
pragmaticsof knowledge.(73)
Nearing a decade into the new millennium,thereare a few
sensibilities
emergingthathintat some directionsin postmodern
thinking.First,thereis a suspicion of anyone who has all the
answers, wants to make life into a formula,or attemptsto
press all thingsinto systemsand dogmas. Rather,there is an
opennessto divergentideas, philosophies,and approaches,and a
willingnessto livewithparadox and proceedwithcontradictions
unresolved.
There is a waningof emphasison individualism(and, thus,
also on isolation,independence,and personalself-reliance)and
an increasingawarenessoftheneedforcommunity.
Relationships
take precedenceover systemsand formulas,and a realization
seems to be emergingthat we do not exist as autonomous
individuals,but thatall thingsare connected,not onlydivergent
human culturesand conditionsbut nature and the cosmos as
well. There is an emphasison interactionand interdependence
even ifnot in traditionalroles.
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Steinbeck
a willingnessto
There is also an appreciationof diversity,
to appreciateother
live witha wide varietyof global ethnicities,
historiesand to listento otherviewpoints.Unlike the Modern
assumptions, there is a willingnessto consider valid those
experiences that do not come from dispassionate empirical
sources,as, forexample,art and music as subjectiveexperience,
and diversityin design,and mixturesof styles,periods,
ethnicity
functions,and materialsin architecture.
The postmoderncultureis no longercertainthatthe human
mind is capable of apprehendingall truthor all knowledgeor
that,even if it could, knowledgecan solve all problems.Rather,
live withparadox,
thereis a willingnessto embracethe mystery,
and acceptthatwe are onlya partofthegreatsoul oftheuniverse
and beyond.There is a willingnessto accept that not all truth
can be knownbyany means and thatsome "knowing"maywell
come fromnon- or supra- rationalsources.
In the arts as in life,there is in the postmodernworld a
willingnessto blend forms,deconstructformulas,and mix styles
to realize a new thing.In fact,thereis a resistanceto the whole
concept of boundariesand an emphasison explorationwithout
The postmoderndebateis impossible
assumptionsor categorizing.
ButHenry
is
because
definition
itselfa rejectedstructure.
to define
Girouxgivesa clue as to thethemesof thisdebate:
Master narrativesand traditionsof knowledge
grounded in first principles are spurned;
philosophical principlesof the canonical and
the notion of the sacred have become suspect;
epistemic certaintyand the fixed boundaries
of academic knowledge have been challenged
by a "war on totality" and a disavowal of
all encompassing, single, world-views; rigid
distinctionsbetweenhigh and low culturehave
been rejected by insistencethat the products
of the so-called mass culture, popular, and
folk-artformsare proper objects of study;the
Enlightenment
correspondencebetweenhistory
faithinrationality,
andprogressandthemodernist
scienceand freedomhave incurreddeep-rooted
skepticism;the fixedand unifiedidentityof the
humanistsubject has been replaced by a call
fornarrativespace that is pluralizedand fluid;
and, finally,thoughfar fromcomplete,history
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is spurnedas a unilinearprocessthatmoves the
toward a finalrealizationof
West progressively
freedom,(i)
In religionand history,as well, thereis a distrustof recent
but a stronginterestin things
traditionsand culturaldefinitions,
ancient- rituals,symbols,and practicesthatpre-datetheModern
era and, indeed,pre-dateany culture'sinventions.In his epilogue
to The TruthAbout Truth, WalterAndersonwrites:
We are beginningto see all mannerof thingsvalues and beliefs,rituals,ideas about childhood
of history,
and death,traditions,interpretations
rituals,ethnicity,even the idea of culture- as
It is central to an emerging
invention. ...
of
understanding thehumancondition,and also
a centralpartof a new global culturewhichis, in
a sense,a cultureabout cultures.(241)
There is a reaching for a discoveryof some new thing
about our own reality,rooted in what Václav Havel calls selfa
transcendence,
transcendence as a hand reached out to
to the human
those close to us, to foreigners,
to
all
living creatures,to nature,
community,
to the universe;transcendenceas a deeply and
joyouslyexperiencedneedto be in harmonyeven
withwhat we ourselvesare not,what we do not
understand,what seems distantfromus in time
and space, but with which we are nevertheless
linked because, togetherwith us,
mysteriously
this
all
constitutesa singleworld.Transcendence
as the onlyreal alternativeto extinction.(238)
Studentsof JohnSteinbeck'sworks will readilyrecognizein
these emergingpost-modernsensibilitiesmany corresponding
Steinbeckthemes,philosophicalleanings,and approachesto both
writingstylesand humanand naturalresearch.These themesand
approachesare mostclearlyreflectedin the veryearlyTo a God
Unknownand in the later The Log fromthe Sea of Cortez and
convictions
Americaand Americans, thoughtheyare underlying
in all of his works,bothfictionand non-fiction.
The firm belief in the connectednessof all things- both
human and natural- and the view that communityis necessary
to survival, recurs throughout Steinbeck's work. Viewing
humanconnectednessnot as organizationbut as organism,and
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Steinbeck
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organismsas a part of a larger"tide pool" of all lifeand nature,
Steinbeckresistedthe effortsof both liberal political activists
and conservativestructuralists
to forcehim into theirpolitical
molds and to use his work as propaganda for theirobjectives.
His convictionthatwhat we as individualsdo to the Lenniesof
our world directlyaffectsus all drewtheire of Modern reviewer
StanleyEdgar Hyman,who, wantingSteinbeckto use his pen as
a social reformer,
claimed to have lost interestin his work after
Mice
and
Men
and went on to call CanneryRow "merely
Of
an insipid watering-downof Steinbeck'sengagingearlierbook
TortillaFlat" (Benson 188).
But Steinbecksaw the connectednessas somethinglarger
thanpoliticalpartiesor evencultures.Indeed,he saw thesystems
themselvesas drawbacks to greaterdiscovery,be theythe presea life in the Sea of Cortez,
supposed systemsof identifying
that
could
take
religiousdogma
precedenceoverrelationshipin a
or
and
family, stylistic
categories
writingformulasthatprescribed
what thepen was permittedto do to wield thepower he knew it
had.
Beforehe had ever tasted success as an author,Steinbeck
wroteto a Stanfordclassmate,A. Grove Day (who also aspired
to be a writerand who evidentlyexaltedtheproducersof a clean,
well-punctuated,and perfectlyspelled manuscriptas exhibiting
the "manners"of the "printedword"): "I have no interestin the
printedword. ... I put mywords down fora matterof memory.
Theyare moreto be spokenthan
to be read. I have theinstinctsof
a minstrelratherthanthoseof a
The firm
scrivener.. . . when the sounds
BELIEF IN THE
are all in place, I can send them
CONNECTEDNESS
to a stenographerwho knows
OF ALL THINGShis trade...." (Letters 19).
BOTH HUMANAND
Much later Steinbeck would
NATURAL-AND
call the purveyorsof formover
THE VIEW THAT
substance "catalogers" and
COMMUNITYIS
hold out for an approach he
NECESSARY TO
called non-teleological
thinking.
SURVIVAL,RECURS
He urgedan acceptanceofwhat
THROUGHOUT
is - "Is- thinking" - without
Steinbeck's
presuppositions or prescribed
work.
expectations so that human
beings could "break through"
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to a new thing. In The Log fromthe Sea of Cortez, Steinbeck
wrote, "Let's see what we see, record what we find,and not
fool ourselveswithconventionalscientificstructures. . . not be
betrayedby thismythof permanentobjective"(i).
In his three stages to "Breaking Through," Steinbeck
well could have been writingin one of the recentcollections
of postmodernthinkers.First,he advocated an awareness of
the connectednessof living and non-livingthings, an "allembracingness." This, he believed, necessarily entailed an
appreciationof the whole organismand of each cell's function
in that largerwhole. Second came the realizationthat even the
whole organism is not the whole story.There are conditions
that don't fit;the prescribedcataloging,systems,theories,and
pre-heldhypothesesbecome paralyzing.There is needed a new
way of thinkingthat reservesjudgmentand makes room for
contradictions.One mustacceptonlywhatis withoutcataloging.
Third would come what he called an overwhelmingexperience
of "Breakingthroughthe crust," a realizationof a grand and
paradoxical "big picture"- a new thing.Here Steinbeckspeaks
the 'all-truth'...."
of a "deep and participatingunderstanding,
С OVERARTFORi О A LrODUNKNOWN
,
FRIEND
BYSTEINBECK'S
CREATED
, MAHLONBLAINE.
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Steinbeck
one could
(Log 162), a sortof Emersonianlargerlife,a mystery
not
reduce
and
This
onlyembrace,
categorize.
approach,though
not discusseddirectlyas a philosophyuntilthe Log, is bubbling
to the surfacefromSteinbeck'searliestwriting.
In To a God Unknownthe intimateconnectednessofJoseph
Wayneand theland, the "knowing"thatsomehowJohnWayne's
lifeforcewas one withthelifeof thegreattree,the "birthing"in
nature,thefamily,thepaisanos, and thespirit-were all a partof
some largertruthand granderlife.The blendingin the storyof
ethnicitiesand histories,of what Burtonconsideredacceptablein
his narrowreadingof Christianity
withthe ancientcustomsand
rituals,of thingsdeeplyspiritualwiththingsnaturaland earthy,
of the symbolicwith the realisticwas all consistentwith what
would lateremergeas Steinbeck'sunique philosophyof literature
and of life. "We have found somethinghere,all of us," Joseph
thinksto himselfas he watchesthedancersat thefiestaand feels
thethrobbingrhythm
ofthepaisano dance comingfromtheearth
intohis body. "In some way we've come closerto theearthfora
moment.. . . Somethingwill come of this.It's a kindof powerful
prayer"(To a God Unknown91).
With a Modern critic'smindset,John Ditsky would later
ignorethis"largerthing"as powerfulas prayerand tryto fitthis
storyinto a literaryclassificationas a "dynastytheme" genre.
"To a God Unknown" he would write,
is a double exampleof Steinbeck'sfailureto learn
a lesson, as he abandons a successfulapproach
to dynastic themes [as in The Pastures of
Heaven] in favorof an uncontrolledhandlingof
an unfamiliarone. In its disproportionbetween
image and symbol and plot and characteras
formal entities,this novel's failure evidences
excessive
Steinbeck'sreal sort of sentimentality:
relianceupon Natureas forceand presenceto the
exclusionof otheragenciesof realisticcharacter
motivation.("FaulknerLand" 16)
What Ditskyfailedto recognizewas thatthemold intowhichhe
was tryingto forceTo a God Unknownhad been broken,and
not onlyJosephWayne but Steinbeckhimselfhad, indeed,found
somethingthere.Somethingwould come of it. In a journal he
latergave to CarltonA. Sheffield, Steinbeckhad writtenof this
novel:
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The storyis a parable,Duke. The storyis ofa race,
growth,and death. Each figureis a population,
and thestones,thetrees,themuscledmountains
are theworld- but notworld apartfrommanthe world and man- the one inseparableunit,
man plus his environment.Why they should
everhave been misunderstoodas beingseparate
I do not know. (Sheffield195)
Judgedby the Modern critic,however,this assessmentdid not
elicita positiveresponse.As late as 1995 in his introductionto
a new edition of To a God Unknown, Robert DeMott writes
that "his propensityforwritingparables has ensuredSteinbeck's
popular success,but has hurthis
reputationin the highestreaches
of the criticalacademy; parables
[Steinbeck's]
and fables, the argumentgoes,
VERY POSTMODERN
are not seriousart" (xiii).
MIXINGOF THE
But the blurringof delineations
ANCIENT WITH THE
and the blendingof expectations
CONTEMPORARY,
would be an earmarkofSteinbeck
THE BLENDING OF
writingin every way. His very
REALISM AND THE
postmodern mixing of the
METAPHORICAL,
ancient with the contemporary,
THE MARRYING
the blending of realism and
OF SCIENCE
the metaphorical,the marrying
AND INTUITION,
of science and intuition, the
THE COMBINING
combiningof stylesand formsOF STYLES AND
all make him an innovatorhard
FORMS- ALL MAKE
to judge by Modern criteria.
HIM AN INNOVATOR
As DeMott also observes in
HARD TO JUDGE BY
his introductionto Steinbeck's
Modern criteria.
WorkingDays: The Journal of
The Grapes of Wrath,"Steinbeck
pushed back the accepted
boundaries of traditional realistic fiction and redefinedthe
proletarianform"(xxiv).
Steinbeckrefusedto conformto themodernexpectationthat
writerssurveytheworldfroman objectivevantagepointand not
intrudeinto the work emotionally.His knowledgeof his subject
matterwas not dispassionate.In fact,he seems oftento identify
with his charactersso much that he experiencedin his own life
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what he was writing.While writingthe scenes in The Grapes of
Wraththat dealt with the funeralof Grampa, he wrote in his
journal:
And I am terrifiedthat through illness or
somethingthe work may stop. When the first
draftis done, itwill be all rightbecause someone
could read it even ifI passed out of the picture.
. . . But once this book is done I won't care
how soon I die, because mymajor work will be
over. Today comes the funeralin the nightof
Grampa. ... It mustbe good and fullof fullness
and completion.And thatfeelingmustgo intoit.
( WorkingDays 4 1)
When Steinbeckwas working on revisionsof To a God
Unknown, therewas a pine treein his yardin PacificGrove that
he had planted when he was veryyoung. He and the treehad
grownup together,and he grew to thinkof it firstas a brother
thenlateras what he called a "kind of repositoryof mydestiny."
The limbsgrew large enough to endangerthe house and needed
to be cut. ButSteinbeckwrote,"I have a verypowerfulreluctance
to do it, such a reluctanceas I would have toward cuttinglive
ifthetreeshoulddie,I am prettysureI should
flesh.Furthermore,
be ill" (Letters31). This verysubjectiveand intuitivereaction
would parallel the scenes in To a God Unknown that vitally
connectedBurton'sslashingof the tree roots with the death of
the land. By modern definitions,such symbolic ties between
literatureand lifecontinueto be severelycriticizedas sentimental
and melodramatic.
Later,aftertheintensestressofwritingThe Grapesof Wrath,
with his personal life in disarraybecause of his disintegrating
marriageto Carol, and the world systemsin chaos as well,
Steinbeckturnedto the tide pool, as Robert DeMott observes,
"not as a replacementfortheworld of men,but ratheras a place
to heal his vision,to beginagain at the bedrockof observation"
('WorkingDays 105). Steinbeckwrote in a letterto Sheffield
thathe foundthetide pools "easier to understandthan Stalinist,
Hitlerite,Democrat, capitalist confusion,and voodoo. So I'm
goingto those thingswhich are relativelymore lastingto finda
new basic picture.I have a convictionthata new worldis growing
underthe old" (Letters193). Indeed it was.
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Steinbeckbucked the boundariesof definitionsof all kinds.
"Groups," he wrote in 1933 to Carlton A. Sheffield,"have
always been consideredas individualsmultiplied.They are not
so. They are beingsin themselves,entities"(Letters76). From
that earlyquestioningof definition,what would emergewould
be a lifelongturningfromthe Modern passion forindividualism
and autonomyto an awareness of the necessityforcommunity.
His theoryof "groupman" would be thefiercerside of his belief
in the cosmos in the tide pool that would become the driving
themeof In Dubious Battle, CanneryRow; and The Log fromthe
Sea of Cortez.As KiyoshiNakayama so insightfully
pointsout in
his article,"Steinbeckand Japan," Group Man - like Emerson's
all-soul concept- is Steinbeck's "fundamentalworld-view of
mankindand the universe.It underscoresthe factthatmen and
womenwantto livetogetherand decentlywiththepeople around
them,"Dr. Nakayama writes."A human cannot live alone; he/
she needs friends,love and a feelingof togetherness"(129).
Steinbeck's restless search
for a form to fit a new emerging
consciousnessrecursagain and again
in his works, journals, and letters
Sadly, critics
of Steinbeck
about them. He toyed with stories
WHO WERE WISE
as song, with what he called the
ENOUGH TO SEE
play-novel,with science as poetry,
VALUE IN WRITING
and with travelogue as fiction.He
THAT DID NOT FIT
blurredthe lines betweenformsand
the Modern
at times performedas both author
FORMULAS SEEMED
and character,characterand critic,
TO APOLOGIZE FOR
critic and performer.Though the
LIKINGWHATTHEY
critics were very uncomfortable
READ.
with his inconsistencyin form as
strictlydefinedby Modern criteria,
Steinbeck seemed uncomfortable
with conformingto the established
formsand theirboundaries,oftencalling the novel formitself
"clumsy."
Even Steinbeck'saffectionfor Arthurianthemes seems to
indicatethat fromthe beginninghe believed ultimateobjective
truthto be not an attainableconquestsubjectto the weapons of
thehumanmind,but thepursuitof an "illusiveideal," as Ditsky
once called it. The knightswho sharedthatpursuit- be theythe
ofdisplacedOkies headed
societyofCanneryRow, thecommunity
64
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Steinbeck
forthe promisedland of the West,or a dysfunctional
familyled
to
save
herwere
with
the
land
mated
who
by JosephWayne
not scientistsconqueringwith rational knowledgea subduable
formula,but seekersaround a table sharingtheirexperiencesto
about a truthlargerand granderthanhuman
gain enlightenment
mindscould everknow.'
It is regrettablethat Steinbeckis not here to observe the
questioningofModerncritics'assumptionthatonlyunsentimental,
objective,realistic,and statisticallyformulatedconsistenciesare
the highestgood - in writingas in other kinds of expression.
As Suzi Gablik observes in Has Modernism Failed?, while
Modernismwas "ideological at heart- fullof strenuousdictates
is "much
of what art could and could not be" - postmodernism
more eclectic,able to assimilateand even plunder,all formsof
and
and tolerantofmultiplicity
styleand genreand circumstance,
values" (73).
conflicting
Sadly, critics of Steinbeckwho were wise enough to see
value in writingthatdid not fitthe Modern formulasseemedto
apologize forlikingwhat theyread. Roy S. Simmondsin his 1980
criticalessay about Americaand Americans, aftera discussionof
the book's flaws,admitsthat "because the man's sincerityshines
throughso clearly,we appreciatejust how painfulit musthave
been forhimto tell unpalatabletruths,those self-evident
truths,
he has here set down on paper for us all, Americansand nonAmericansalike" (25).
Steinbeckhimselfseems to have been certainthat a whole
new mindsethad dawned,or,at least,thedoor was closingon the
old. In Americaand Americanshe writes:
We have notlostour way at all. The roads ofthe
past have come to an end and we have not yet
discovereda path to the future.I thinkwe will
findone, but its directionsmay be unthinkable
to us now.Whenitdoes appear,however,and we
move on, the path musthave direction,it must
have purposeand thejourneymustbe filledwith
a joyofanticipation,fortheboytoday,hatingthe
world,createsa hatefulworld or triesto destroy
it and sometimeshimself.We have succeededin
what our fathersprayedforand it is our success
thatis destroyingus. (42)
He is morethanhintingat leastat two postmodernrealizationsto
come: one, thattheso called "success" as a resultof our material,
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Steinbeck
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societal progresshas not broughtsuccess in affairsof
scientific,
the heart,and two, that the paradox and ambiguitySteinbeck
was perceivingand whichwas leavinghim feelingunsettledand
somewhatpessimistic,was a paradox postmodernmindswould
learn to live with and even accept as a part of the unsolvable
of lifesimplyto be embraced,not dissected."I am not
mystery
young," he wrote, "and yet I wonder about tomorrow.How
muchmore,then,mustmywonderbe about mypeople, a young
people. Perhaps my questioningis compounded of some fear,
morehope, and greatconfidence"(142).
Fear and confidence,questioningand hope are part of the
paradox of life,of what is. "There are mysteriousthingswhich
[can] not be explainedifman is the finalunit," Steinbeckwrote
morethanseventyyearsago to CarltonA. Sheffield.
Perhapsthere
is both hope and fearin livingwiththe awarenessthat "species,
includingour own, are only commas in a sentence."Indeed, we
are onlya partof the biggerstorywe findourselvesin.
Note
1 Thereare threeenlightening
discussionsof Steinbeck's
forms
Chris Kocela's
and themesin relationto postmodernsensitivities:
of
"A Postmodern
Or
Rose
Sharon
Meets
Steinbeck,
Oedipa Maas";
StevenMulder's"The Reader'sStory:East of Eden as Postmodernist
and Louis Owens' "Mirrorand Vamp: Invention,
Metafiction,";
and Bad, Bad,CathyTraskin East of Eden." See "Works
Reflection,
information.
Cited"forfullbibliographical
Works Cited
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: De-confusing
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Postmodern
Jeremy
constructing
Penguin,
1995. 239-44.
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ofOklahomaPress,1995.
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1995.vii-xxxvii.
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New York:Penguin1990. xi-lvii.
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Review
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О
г-1
Q
2
>
О
>
н
X
m
po
1984. 73.
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t/5
ŽE
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