En Californie, dans les années 1930, deux amis travaillent rudement de ranch en ranch pour gagner modestement leur vie en dépit de la crise économique qui sévit dans tout le pays. George est un homme petit à l'esprit vif qui s'est promis de veiller sur Lennie, un grand gaillard simple d'esprit ayant la fâcheuse manie de se fourrer dans le pétrin. Ces deux amis, que tout oppose en apparence, partagent le même rêve : économiser suffisamment pour posséder une petite ferme et y vivre comme des rentiers. Des souris et des hommes conte l'histoire d'une amitié touchante devenue mythique.
Set against the background of Oklahoma and Californian migrant life, this novel tells of the Joad family, who, like thousands of others, are forced to travel West in search of the promised land.
«Dans la ville, on raconte l'histoire d'une grosse perle - comment elle fut trouvée, puis perdue à nouveau. On raconte l'histoire de Kino, le pêcheur, de Juana, sa femme, et de leur bébé, Coyotito. Et comme l'histoire a été si souvent racontée, elle est enracinée dans la mémoire de tous. Et, comme pour tous les vieux contes qui demeurent dans le coeur des hommes, on n'y trouve plus que le bon et le mauvais, le noir et le blanc, la grâce et le maléfice, sans aucune nuance intermédiaire. Si cette histoire est une parabole, peut-être chacun en tirera-t-il sa propre morale et y lira-t-il le sens de sa propre vie. Quoi qu'il en soit, on raconte dans la ville que...»
California's fertile Salinas Valley is home to two families whose destinies are fruitfully, and fatally, intertwined. Over the generations, between the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of the First World War, the Trasks and the Hamiltons will helplessly replay the fall of Adam and Eve and the murderous rivalry of Cain and Abel. East of Eden was considered by Steinbeck to be his magnum opus, and its epic scope and memorable characters, exploring universal themes of love and identity, ensure it remains one of America's most enduring novels. This edition features a stunning new cover by renowned artist Bijou Karman.
'Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.' Meet the gamblers, whores, drunks, bums and artists of Cannery Row in Monterey, California, during the Great Depression. They want to throw a party for their friend Doc, so Mack and the boys set about, in their own inimitable way, recruiting everyone in the neighbourhood to the cause. But along the way they can't help but get involved in a little mischief and misadventure. It wouldn't be Cannery Row if it was otherwise, now would it? This edition features a stunning new cover by renowned artist Bijou Karman.
'In the town they tell the story of the great pearl - how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby, Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man's mind.' The Pearl is Steinbeck's heartbreaking short parable about wealth and the darkness and evil it can instill in even the most generous of men's hearts. This edition features a stunning new cover by renowned artist Bijou Karman.
In 1960, when he was almost 60 years old, John Steinbeck set out to rediscover the United States, feeling he might have lost touch with its sights sounds and the essence of its people. This book decribes his travels in a pick-up truck across nearly 40 states with his dog Charlie, a French poodle.
Ethan Allen Hawley has lost the acquisitive spirit of his wealthy forebears. Scarred by failure, Ethan works as a grocery store clerk. But his wife is restless, his teenage children troubled and hungry for material comforts. Then a series of unusual events reignites Ethan's ambition.
THE PEARL is Steinbeck's flawless parable about wealth and the evil it can bring. When Kino, an Indian pearl-diver, finds 'the Pearl of the world' he believes that his life will be magically transformed. He will marry Juana in church and their little boy, Coyotito, will be able to attend school. Obsessed by his dreams, Kino is blind to the greed, fear and even violence the pearl arouses in him and his neighbours. Haunting and lyrical, THE PEARL sets the values of the civilized world against those of the primitive and finds them tragically inadequate.
Biographical noteNobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. Main descriptionOriginally published at the zenith of Nazi Germany's power, The Moon Is Down explores the effects of invasion on both the conquered and the conquerors. Occupied by enemy troops, a small, peaceable town comes face-to-face with evil imposed from the outside and betrayal from within the close-knit community. As he delves into the motivations and emotions of the enemy, Steinbeck uncovers profound and often unsettling truths both about war and human nature.
Biographical noteNobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. His key novels have been huge best-sellers in the UK for many years. His complete works will be available in Penguin Modern Classics. Main descriptionEach of these delightful interconnected tales is devoted to a family living in a fertile valley on the outskirts of Monterey, California, and the effects that one particular family has on them all. Steinbeck tackles two important literary traditions here; American naturalism, with its focus on the conflict between natural instincts and the demand to conform to society's norms, and the short story cycle. Set in the heart of 'Steinbeck land', the lush Californian valleys.
A collectible 50th anniversary deluxe edition featuring an updated introduction by Jay Parini and first edition cover art and illustrated maps of Steinbeck's route by Don Freeman In September 1960, John Steinbeck embarked on a journey across America. He felt that he might have lost touch with the country, with its speech, the smell of its grass and trees, its color and quality of light, the pulse of its people. To reassure himself, he set out on a voyage of rediscovery of the American identity, accompanied by a distinguished French poodle named Charley; and riding in a three-quarter-ton pickup truck named Rocinante.
Biographical noteNobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. His complete works will be available in Penguin Modern Classics. Main descriptionWhile fulfilling his dead father's dream of creating a prosperous farm in California, Joseph Wayne comes to believe that a magnificent tree on the farm embodies his father's spirit. His brothers and their families share in Joseph's prosperity andthe farm flourishes - until one brother, scared by Joseph's pagan belief, kills the tree and brings disease and famine on the farm. Set in familiar Steinbeck country, TO A GOD UNKOWN is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control theforces of nature and to understand the ways of God.
Steinbeck's sole work of historical fiction, this tale recounts the story of Henry Morgan, who ruled the Spanish Main in the 1670s. He was consumed by two passions, to possess the mysterious woman known as La Santa Roja, and to conquer Panama and wrest "the cup of gold" from Spanish hands.
George Milton et Lennie Small sont deux amis qui errent sur les routes de Californie en travaillant comme saisonniers. Lennie, simple d'esprit dans un corps d'homme, a une force hors du commun, et ne peut s'empêcher de caresser des choses douces tel que le pelage d'une souris, d'un chiot, d'un lapin... Mais il ne maîtrise pas sa force et cela finit par lui causer des ennuis notamment avec Curley, le fils du patron, et sa charmante épouse. En effet, lorsque cette dernière va proposer à Lennie de toucher ses cheveux, tout va mal tourner.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men remains one of America's most widely read and beloved novels. Here is Steinbeck's dramatic adaptation of his novel-as-play, which received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play in 1937-1938 and has featured a number of actors who have played the iconic roles of George and Lennie on stage and film, including James Earl Jones, John Malkovich and Gary Sinise.From the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden, this classic story of an unlikely pair, two migrant workers in California during the Great Depression who grasp for their American Dream, profoundly touches readers and audiences alike. George and his simple-minded friend Lenny dream, as drifters will, of a place to call their own-a couple of acres and a few pigs, chickens, and rabbits back in Hill Country where land is cheap. But after they come to work on a ranch in the fertile Salinas Valley of California, their hopes, like «the best laid schemes o'mice an' men,» begin to go awry. Of Mice and Men also represents an experiment in form, as Steinbeck described his work, «a kind of playable novel, written in novel form but so scened and set that it can be played as it stands.» A rarity in American letters, it achieved remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.
