a different anniversary

[Grandpa]

No, not Tax Day for Americans today.

Yesterday, April 14, marked the 75th anniversary of the publishing of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

 

[skimom2]

I did not know that! It's a wonder that it wasn't noted anywhere (that I saw, anyway) yesterday. Then again, maybe Steinbeck is out of fashion--realistic people who suffer but just get on with life are a rarity in our navel-gazing era.

 

[Out of Order]

I would hope that this classic is still mandatory reading for students.


'Grapes Of Wrath' Is 75, But Its Depictions Of Poverty Are Timeless : NPR

 

[Grandpa]

It also spawned a pretty darned good movie a year later, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. As unrelenting as it was in its depiction of desperation, it veered from the book and its message at the very end. I would note that the movie probably could not depict the ending that Steinbeck had written, and the world was largely at war in 1940, and perhaps a different mood was more appropriate for the audience of hte time.

 

[skimom2]

I would hope that this classic is still mandatory reading for students.


'Grapes Of Wrath' Is 75, But Its Depictions Of Poverty Are Timeless : NPR

Thank you for that link.

 

[Out of Order]

Thank you for that link.

You're welcome!

 

[Walter Oobleck]

I've enjoyed The Grapes of Wrath each of the four or five times I've read. it. There is a Finnish writer, Kalle Päätalo, whose 5-volume series, Koillismaa is a good story, one that reminds me of Steinbeck.

• Our Daily Bread (Koillismaa, 1960)
• Before the Storm (Selkosen kansaa, 1962)
• Storm over the Land (Myrsky Koillismaassa, 1963)
• After the Storm (Myrskyn jälkeen, 1965)
• The Winter of the Black Snow (Mustan lumen talvi, 1969)

The series covers a time period of...sometime around the turn of the last century...as I recall...up to the 60s in Finland...a rural area. Too, if you're interested, Rope of Gold by Josephine Herbst or Vein of Iron by Ellen Glasgow are two stories with some of the same kind of themes/story as Steinbeck's and Päätalo's. There's others, I'm sure. Information. Reading Päätalo was enlightening...as there is one scene where "Tampere Boy" as he is called travels from one town to another and the people at the new location continue to refer to him as "Tampere Boy"...long after he has established himself there. This was echoed in my neck-of-the-woods as when younger, the old-timers would often ask "whose boy are you?" People are defined by place as much as relations...in fact, Finnish names...Christian names if you will, often refer to a place...Maki for hill...one that comes to mind...there are others for various locations. While Tampere Boy encountered some of the same kind of...whuducallit as the Joads in California...mistrust perhaps...that eventually fell away and was replaced by trust. But then, too, there's one of Vonnegut's stories where family matters...remember that story where they're all flowers? Daffodil 6? I best stop now...

 

[Terry B]

No, not Tax Day for Americans today.

Yesterday, April 14, marked the 75th anniversary of the publishing of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

It was also the 149th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln but I doubt too many remembered.

 

[skimom2]

I've enjoyed The Grapes of Wrath each of the four or five times I've read. it. There is a Finnish writer, Kalle Päätalo, whose 5-volume series, Koillismaa is a good story, one that reminds me of Steinbeck.

• Our Daily Bread (Koillismaa, 1960)
• Before the Storm (Selkosen kansaa, 1962)
• Storm over the Land (Myrsky Koillismaassa, 1963)
• After the Storm (Myrskyn jälkeen, 1965)
• The Winter of the Black Snow (Mustan lumen talvi, 1969)

The series covers a time period of...sometime around the turn of the last century...as I recall...up to the 60s in Finland...a rural area. Too, if you're interested, Rope of Gold by Josephine Herbst or Vein of Iron by Ellen Glasgow are two stories with some of the same kind of themes/story as Steinbeck's and Päätalo's. There's others, I'm sure. Information. Reading Päätalo was enlightening...as there is one scene where "Tampere Boy" as he is called travels from one town to another and the people at the new location continue to refer to him as "Tampere Boy"...long after he has established himself there. This was echoed in my neck-of-the-woods as when younger, the old-timers would often ask "whose boy are you?" People are defined by place as much as relations...in fact, Finnish names...Christian names if you will, often refer to a place...Maki for hill...one that comes to mind...there are others for various locations. While Tampere Boy encountered some of the same kind of...whuducallit as the Joads in California...mistrust perhaps...that eventually fell away and was replaced by trust. But then, too, there's one of Vonnegut's stories where family matters...remember that story where they're all flowers? Daffodil 6? I best stop now...

Thank you, Walter! You always have such interesting book recs! I'm definitely going to look up Paatalo.

 

[Walter Oobleck]

Thank you, Walter! You always have such interesting book recs! I'm definitely going to look up Paatalo.

Richard Impola is the translator of the copies I have. Fata Publishing, New Paltz and New York, 2000. Impola says in his preface, "although each one can be read as a separate work, taken together, they make up a single unit." And the time if the early 1930s to the 1960s, an engaging tale simply told...I especially liked//was intrigued by how the younger generation in Finland looked upon the veterans of the various Winter Wars Finland fought to defend herself from Soviet aggression...the last of the series as I recall...and a mindset that seemed to echo what was happening in the states at the time with Vietnam. I'd be curious to know how, if at all, the situation in the states contributed to the treatment of their veterans. His style, translated, is much like Steinbeck's simple and straight-forward.

 

[danie]

April 14 is another well-known anniversary. The Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40 in 1912, and sank a couple of hours later.

 

[FlakeNoir]

No, not Tax Day for Americans today.

Yesterday, April 14, marked the 75th anniversary of the publishing of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

Oh my, my... has Dana Jean seen this post yet?
Everybody... run, hide!
Get out while you still can!

 

[danie]

It also spawned a pretty darned good movie a year later, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. As unrelenting as it was in its depiction of desperation, it veered from the book and its message at the very end. I would note that the movie probably could not depict the ending that Steinbeck had written, and the world was largely at war in 1940, and perhaps a different mood was more appropriate for the audience of hte time.

I loved the ending of the book; afraid to watch the movie as it might ruin my book memory.

 

[Dana Jean]

Oh my, my... has Dana Jean seen this post yet?
Everybody... run, hide!
Get out while you still can!

Good lord. Don't make me vomit.

 

[FlakeNoir]

Good lord. Don't make me vomit.

 

[Dana Jean]

We're going to need a bigger bucket.

 

[FlakeNoir]

We're going to need a bigger bucket.

Spoiler

 

[Dana Jean]

Spoiler

That's getting closer.

 

[kingricefan]

Yo, DJ, we could always have turtle soup!!!

 

[kingricefan]

I really do like Steinbeck. He was a great writer! My favorite is (and probably always will be) East Of Eden.