John Steinbeck (1902–1968)
Auteur van Muizen en mensen
Over de Auteur
In recent years Steinbeck has been elevated to a more prominent status among American writers of his generation. If not quite at the world-class artistic level of a Hemingway or a Faulkner, he is nonetheless read very widely throughout the world by readers of all ages who consider him one of the toon meer most "American" of writers. Born in Salinas County, California on February 27, 1902, Steinbeck was of German-Irish parentage. After four years as a special student at Stanford University, he went to New York, where he worked as a reporter and as a hod carrier. Returning to California, he devoted himself to writing, with little success; his first three books sold fewer than 3,000 copies. Tortilla Flat (1935), dealing with the paisanos, California Mexicans whose ancestors settled in the country 200 years ago, established his reputation. In Dubious Battle (1936), a labor novel of a strike and strike-breaking, won the gold medal of the Commonwealth Club of California. Of Mice and Men (1937), a long short story that turns upon a melodramatic incident in the tragic friendship of two farm hands, written almost entirely in dialogue, was an experiment and was dramatized in the year of its publication, winning the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. It brought him fame. Out of a series of articles that he wrote about the transient labor camps in California came the inspiration for his greatest book, The Grapes of Wrath (1939), the odyssey of the Joad family, dispossessed of their farm in the Dust Bowl and seeking a new home, only to be driven on from camp to camp. The fiction is punctuated at intervals by the author's voice explaining this new sociological problem of homelessness, unemployment, and displacement. As the American novel "of the season, probably the year, possibly the decade," it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. It roused America and won a broad readership by the unusual simplicity and tenderness with which Steinbeck treated social questions. Even today, The Grapes of Wrath remains alive as a vivid account of believable human characters seen in symbolic and universal terms as well as in geographically and historically specific ones. Ma Joad is one of the most memorable characters in twentieth-century American fiction. It is her courage that sustains the family. Steinbeck's best and most ambitious novel after The Grapes of Wrath is East of Eden (1952), a saga of two American families in California from before the Civil War through World War I. Cannery Row (1945), The Wayward Bus (1947), and Sweet Thursday (1955) are lighter works that find Steinbeck returning to the lighthearted tone of Tortilla Flat as he recounts picaresque adventures of modern-day picaros. The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) struck some reviewers as being appropriately titled because of its despairing treatment of humanity's fall from grace in a wasteland world where money is king. Steinbeck also wrote important nonfiction, including Russian Journal (1948) in collaboration with the photographer Robert Capa; Once There Was a War (1958) and America and Americans (1966), which features pictures by 55 leading photographers and a 70-page essay by Steinbeck. His interest in marine biology led to two books primarily about sea life, Sea of Cortez (1941) (with Edward F. Ricketts) and The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951). Travels with Charley (1962) is an engaging account of his journey of rediscovery of America, which took him through approximately 40 states. Steinbeck was married three times and died in New York City on December 20, 1968 of heart disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66, and had been a life-long smoker. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder
Ontwarringsbericht:
(eng) For the author's son (1946-1991), see John Steinbeck IV.
Fotografie: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library
Reeksen
Werken van John Steinbeck
Cannery Row | East of Eden | Grapes of Wrath | The Moon is Down | Of Mice and Men (1976) 395 exemplaren
Grapes of Wrath, The Winter of our Discontent, and Short Novels (Tortilla Flat, Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, Moon is… (1961) — Auteur — 19 exemplaren
Untitled 9 exemplaren
Delphi Complete Works of John Steinbeck (Illustrated) (Delphi Series Ten Book 12) (2019) 8 exemplaren
Amerikaanse verhalen 7 exemplaren
Los hechos del Rey Arturo y sus nobles caballeros según los manuscritos de Winchester de Thomas Malory y otras… (1985) 7 exemplaren
East of Eden (3 of 3) 6 exemplaren
Muizen en Mensen / De Druiven der Gramschap 6 exemplaren
East of Eden; The Wayward Bus 5 exemplaren
Appunti sparsi e ribaldi su cani e libri 5 exemplaren
Letters to Elizabeth. A Selection of Letters from John Steinbeck to Elizabeth Otis. Edited by Florian J. Shasky and… (1978) 5 exemplaren
The Long Valley | The Pearl 5 exemplaren
The Leader of the People 5 exemplaren
The Short-Short Story of Mankind [short fiction] 5 exemplaren
The Grapes of Wrath (Heinemann Guided Readers) 5 exemplaren
The Great writers : their lives, works and inspiration. Vol.4. Part 44, John Steinbeck : the grapes of wrath 4 exemplaren
East of Eden (2 of 3) 4 exemplaren
Three Slipcased Volumes: Novels 1932-1937, The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936-1941, Novels 1942-1952 (The… (1996) 4 exemplaren
Muizen en mensen ; De druiven der gramschap. Dl. 1 4 exemplaren
THIRTEEN (13) GREAT STORIES: The Long Valley; The Chrysanthemums; The White Quail; The Leader of the People; The Great… (1943) 4 exemplaren
Best-in-Books: Great American Short Novels - Lost Horizon / Red Pony / Third Man / Single Pebble / Light in the Piazza… (1966) 4 exemplaren
De druiven der gramschap deel 2 ; De parel 4 exemplaren
John Steinbeck's The red pony 3 exemplaren
Travels with Charley [Motion picture] 3 exemplaren
El omnibus perdido / La perla 3 exemplaren
East of Eden (1 of 3) 3 exemplaren
LES RAISINS DE LA COLERE 3 exemplaren
East of Eden & Grapes Of Wrath 2 exemplaren
Т. 6. Собрание сочинений в шести томах 2 exemplaren
Т. 4. Собрание сочинений в шести томах 2 exemplaren
HLa Iluna e' tramontata 2 exemplaren
Speech Accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature 2 exemplaren
Tutto il teatro 2 exemplaren
World's Best Contemporary Short Stories 2 exemplaren
Tortilla Flat / The Grapes of Wrath / The Pearl 2 exemplaren
Moon is Down, The / Burning Bright 2 exemplaren
Of mice and men 2 exemplaren
The Pastures of Heaven 2 exemplaren
Big Book of Favorite Horse Stories 2 exemplaren
The Pearl (abridged) 2 exemplaren
MEKTUPLARDA BİR YAŞAM 2 exemplaren
13 Great Stories 2 exemplaren
Sweet Thursday, John Steinbeck, 1954 First Edition 2 exemplaren
The Grapes of Wrath 2 exemplaren
HLa Iluna e tramontata 2 exemplaren
John Steinbeck papers 2 exemplaren
La rasarit de Eden vol2 2 exemplaren
Т. 1. 2 exemplaren
Т. 2. 2 exemplaren
Т. 3. Гроздья гнева. Консервный ряд. 2 exemplaren
John Steinbeck Set, Collier Edition, 5 Volumes 1 exemplaar
The Raid 1 exemplaar
The Pearl - Penguin Active Reading - Level 3 1 exemplaar
Le gesta di Re Artù 1 exemplaar
John Steinbeck's Molly Morgan 1 exemplaar
Pian della tortilla romanzo 1 exemplaar
Cup of Gold: A Life of Henry Morgan, Buccaneer 1 exemplaar
Altın Kupa 1 exemplaar
Früchte des Zorns von John Steinbeck (Lektürehilfe): Detaillierte Zusammenfassung, Personenanalyse und… (2019) 1 exemplaar
Les raisins de la colère (The grapes of wrath) 1 exemplaar
Straße der Ölsardinen 1 exemplaar
Nine Stories 1 exemplaar
How Edith McGillcuddy met R.L.S.; 1 exemplaar
Die Straße der Ölsardinen Cannery Row 1 exemplaar
As Vinhas da Ira - volume 1 1 exemplaar
La fuga 1 exemplaar
Собрание сочинений в шести томах. Том 4 1 exemplaar
Boemios Errantes (Em Portuguese do Brasil) 1 exemplaar
John Steinbeck - la vita e le opere 1 exemplaar
The Pearl Stage 6 1 exemplaar
OBRAS COMPLETAS, VOLUMEN PRIMERO 1 exemplaar
Obras II 1 exemplaar
ð̃ðơ̌ £̃ ̌ 1 exemplaar
Las Uvas de la Ira 1 exemplaar
Boêmios Errantes 1 exemplaar
A Leste do Ėden - Altaya 1 exemplaar
[La valle dell'Eden] 1. 1 exemplaar
O Inverno da nossa Desesperança 1 exemplaar
A Rua das Ilusões Perdidas 1 exemplaar
As Vinhas da Ira - Abril Cultural 1 exemplaar
The pearl. Illustrated by Vera Jarman 1 exemplaar
AY BATTI 1 exemplaar
NJEREZ DHE MINJ 1 exemplaar
Lal Gusse Ke Angoor 1 exemplaar
Obras Completas. Volumen Tercero 1 exemplaar
KASIMPATLARI 1 exemplaar
Т. 5. Собрание сочинений в шести томах 1 exemplaar
5 best sellers 1 exemplaar
Negotova bitka 1 exemplaar
Este del edén , Al 1 exemplaar
Neizvjesna bitka 1 exemplaar
ZALUTALI AUTOBUS 1 exemplaar
Cennet Çayırı 1 exemplaar
Moon Is Down 1ST Edition 1ST Issue 1 exemplaar
Den rd̜e pony 1 exemplaar
Eedenist©Þ it©Þ©Þn 1 exemplaar
A Tale of Two Cities / The Moon is Down 1 exemplaar
Собрание сочинений в шести томах. Том 6 1 exemplaar
Собрание сочинений в шести томах. Том 5 1 exemplaar
Собрание сочинений в шести томах. Том 3 1 exemplaar
Собрание сочинений в шести томах. Том 2 1 exemplaar
Собрание сочинений в шести томах. Том 1 1 exemplaar
Reading & Training : John Steinbeck : Of mice and men [book + sound recording] (2011) — Writer — 1 exemplaar
Biblioteca de selecciones del Reader's Digest. Cuaderno prohibido. Madame Curie. El invierno de nuestra amargura. La… — Medewerker — 1 exemplaar
Vredens druer 1 exemplaar
Fiesta en Familia 1 exemplaar
Over the Hill 1 exemplaar
Na východ od raja 1 exemplaar
Antologia do Conto Moderno 1 exemplaar
Om mus og menn : et undervisningsopplegg 1 exemplaar
Tortilla Flat et 4 autres courts romans 1 exemplaar
Steinbeck Reads Steinbeck (Audio cd) (Adaptation of selected short stories from John Steinbeck's "The Long Valley") (1993) 1 exemplaar
John Steinbeck bio/works 1 exemplaar
Of Mice and Men (Easy Readers) (B) 1 exemplaar
Kaçış 1 exemplaar
The Winter of Our Discontent / Tortilla Flat 1 exemplaar
The Moon is Down | Cannery Row 1 exemplaar
John Steinbeck, Octopus/Heinmann — Auteur — 1 exemplaar
UOMINI E TOPI - LA BATTAGLIA (2 romanzi) 1978 1 exemplaar
Obras Completas. Las uvas de la ira, la perla, el ómnibus perdido, los arrabales de cannery, la llama viva. 1 exemplaar
Johnny Bear 1 exemplaar
Steinbeck - Premio Nobel 1962 1 exemplaar
A night on Ventotene 1 exemplaar
John Steinbeck - Collected Works 1 exemplaar
The Elf in Algiers 1 exemplaar
Story Novels 1 exemplaar
Collected Short Stories 1 exemplaar
Maanen er skjult 1 exemplaar
The Pearl (Intermediate)- Adventure 1 exemplaar
In Dubious Battle | The Long Valley | The Moon is Down | Of Mice and Men | Tortilla Flat 1 exemplaar
The Novels and Short Stories of John Steinbeck 1 exemplaar
Cannery Row | East of Eden | Grapes of Wrath | Of Mice and Men | The Pearl | Travels with Charley 1 exemplaar
Na plechárně ; Sladký čtvrtek 1 exemplaar
A Medal For Benny 1 exemplaar
Dust 1 exemplaar
The Turtle [from "The Grapes of Wrath"] 1 exemplaar
Charley and the Redwood Tree 1 exemplaar
Cannery Row | East of Eden | Grapes of Wrath | Of Mice and Men | The Pearl | Long Valley | Tortilla Flat 1 exemplaar
Your Only Weapon Is Your Work 1 exemplaar
The Affair at 7 Rue de M— 1 exemplaar
How Edith McGillcuddy Met R. L. S. 1 exemplaar
El caballero de las dos espadas 1 exemplaar
La copa de oro (Cup of gold) 1 exemplaar
Dubious Battle in California [article] 1 exemplaar
[La valle dell'Eden] 2. 1 exemplaar
Tortilla flat & Of mice and man 1 exemplaar
Novels 1942-195? 1 exemplaar
Novels & Stories 1 exemplaar
Tortilla Flat | Of Mice and Men | The Pearl 1 exemplaar
East Of Eden The Wayward Bus 1 exemplaar
The Short Novels of John Steinbeck, Etc. 1 exemplaar
KONUNG FÖR EN DAG 1 exemplaar
DE HIMMELSKA ÄNGDERNA 1 exemplaar
Breakfast 1 exemplaar
The Grapes of Wrath [abridged] 1 exemplaar
O Potro Vermelho Livro 18 1 exemplaar
The Short Reign of Pipin IV A Fabrication 1 exemplaar
Hundadagastjorn Pippins IV 1 exemplaar
Vanderbilt Clinic 1 exemplaar
Die Perle Roman 1 exemplaar
[La valle dell'Eden] 3. 1 exemplaar
O myších a lidech ; Na plechárně 1 exemplaar
Verdoolde mensen 1 exemplaar
Piratenschiff voraus! 1 exemplaar
East of Eden Volumes 1, 2 &3 1 exemplaar
steinbeck extras 1 exemplaar
Gabilan Amerikanische Novellen 1 exemplaar
Byla kdysi válka 1 exemplaar
Stories of John Steinbeck 1 exemplaar
The Long Valley short stories by John Steinbeck 1 exemplaar
The Acts of King Arthur and His Knights 1 exemplaar
O milagre de S. Francisco: romance 1 exemplaar
O Milagre de San Francisco 1 exemplaar
Savaş Üzerine Mektuplar 1 exemplaar
Mektuplarda Bir Yaşam 1 exemplaar
Měsíc zapadá = The moon is down 1 exemplaar
Księżyc zaszedł, W niepewnym boju 1 exemplaar
Była raz wojna, Bomby poszły 1 exemplaar
Grona gniewu 1 exemplaar
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Reader's Digest Condensed Books: The Winter of Our Discontent • A Fall of Moondust • The Day Lincoln Was Shot •… (1962) — Auteur — 1 exemplaar
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Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Officiële naam
- Steinbeck, John Ernst
- Geboortedatum
- 1902-02-27
- Overlijdensdatum
- 1968-12-20
- Graflocatie
- Garden of Memories Memorial Park, Salinas, Monterey County, California USA
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Geboorteplaats
- Salinas, California, USA
- Plaats van overlijden
- New York, New York, USA
- Oorzaak van overlijden
- heart disease and congestive heart failure
- Opleiding
- Stanford University (did not graduate)
- Beroepen
- writer
- Relaties
- Steinbeck, Thomas (son)
Steinbeck, John, IV (son) - Organisaties
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1939)
- Prijzen en onderscheidingen
- Nobel Prize (Literature ∙ 1962)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964)
Academy Award nominee (1944)
California Hall of Fame (2007)
National Book Award (1940)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1940) (toon alle 7)
DeMolay International Hall of Fame (1995) - Korte biografie
- John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American author. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." He has been called "a giant of American letters," and many of his works are considered classics of Western literature.
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. In the first 75 years after it was published, it sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists. - Ontwarringsbericht
- For the author's son (1946-1991), see John Steinbeck IV.
Leden
Discussies
March 2012: John Steinbeck in Monthly Author Reads (november 2018)
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Steinbeckathon 2012: The Winter of Our Discontent in 75 Books Challenge for 2012 (april 2012)
Steinbeckathon 2012: The Wayward Bus in 75 Books Challenge for 2012 (maart 2012)
Steinbeckathon 2012: Cannery Row in 75 Books Challenge for 2012 (februari 2012)
Book Discussion: Arthurian Themed Read *Spoiler Free* in The Green Dragon (maart 2008)
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Die titel kende ik immers al vele jaren, al ben ik niet helemaal zeker of ik hem eerst van de auteur, John Steinbeck, kende, of van de Brugse groep Red Zebra, die in 1983 met een nummer onder dié naam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n3QdPkS46o en eentje onder de titel Paradise Lost zowaar twéé literaire verwijzingen op het album Maquis staan had (ja, ik weet het, The Beauty of the Beast is er eigenlijk ook eentje). (Van) Muizen en Mensen, zoals de titel in Nederlandse vertaling luidt, zou me wellicht zelfs niet zo snel opgevallen zijn, in tegenstelling tot de ware aard van het boek. De ware aard? Inderdaad, diegene die naar voor komt in onder andere deze inleidende paragrafen:
“A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees – willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter’s flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool. On the sandy bank under the trees the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them. Rabbits come out of the brush to sit on the sand in the evening, and the damp flats are covered with the night tracks of ‘coons, and with the spread pads of dogs from the ranches, and with the split-wedge tracks of deer that come to drink in the dark.
There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores, a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water. In front of the low horizontal limb of a giant sycamore there is an ash pile made by many fires; the limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it.
Evening of a hot day started the little wind to moving among the leaves. The shade climbed up the hills toward the top. On the sand banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little gray, sculptured stones. And then from the direction of the state highway came the sound of footsteps on crisp sycamore leaves. The rabbits hurried noiselessly for cover. A stilted heron labored up into the air and pounded down river. For a moment the place was lifeless, and then two men emerged from the path and came into the opening by the green pool.”
Een stevig citaat, alleen maar om u duidelijk te maken wat die ware aard is: een toneelstuk. Dit boekje, honderdtwintig bladzijden in pocketformaat (ja, ik lees wel meer pockets tegenwoordig), was namelijk niet alleen het eerste waarvoor Steinbeck brede erkenning oogstte, maar was door hem oorspronkelijk ook opgevat als een toneelstuk (in welke gedaante het dan ook vele keren is opgevoerd). “Dat is aan de constructie goed te zien in de uitgebreide situatiebeschrijvingen die lezen als regie- en decoraanwijzingen”, schrijft Wikipedia dan, maar u had uiteraard net zomin als ik “De vrije encyclopedie” nodig om dat te zien.
Maar nu we dan toch bij Wikipedia zijn: ik bleek de titel Of Mice and Men nog van ergens anders te kennen. Met name van het gedicht To a mouse https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43816/to-a-mouse-56d222ab36e33 van Robert Burns, met daarin als voorlaatste strofe en meteen thema van Steinbecks boek:
“But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!”
En dat van dat “best laid”(“we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow” - iets wat me aan Gaston Durnez’ bespreking van De lach van Chesterton https://bjornroosebespreekt.blogspot.com/2023/03/de-lach-van-chesterton-gaston-d... deed denken) is in het geval van George en Lennie, de “two men [that] emerged from the path and came into the opening by the green pool”, dan nog met een stevige korrel zout te nemen, want ze improviseren in essentie maar wat. George, degene die de hersenen meegekregen heeft (zei het nu ook weer niet ál te veel – “If I was bright, if I was even a little bit smart, I’d have my own little place, an’ I’d be bringin’ in my own crops, ‘stead of doin’ all the work and not getting what comes up outta the ground”), heeft namelijk Lennie, “his big, childlike friend” zoals het op de achterflap heet, maar eigenlijk wat je een randdebiel zou kunnen noemen, onder zijn hoede genomen en heeft met zijn vriend nogal wat te stellen (“You keep me in hot water all the time”): “They have nothing except the clothes on their back, and a hope that one day they’ll find a place of their own and live the American dream”, luidt het verder op de achterflap, “But dreams come at a price. Gentle giant Lennie doesn’t know his own strength, and when they find work at a ranch he gets into trouble with the boss’s daughter-in-law. Trouble so bad that even his protector George may not be able to save him…”
Waarmee u zo’n beetje de grote lijnen van het plot kent, waarvan ik u verder ook geen details ga vertellen. Hoeft ook niet, het knappe aan het verhaal – vond ik toch – is immers de spanningsopbouw. Je wéét al na een paar bladzijden dat dit volkomen verkeerd gaat aflopen, maar Steinbeck speelt het klaar in een steeds nauwer wordende cirkel naar dat einde toe te werken, terwijl hij er intussen ook in slaagt je te doordringen van de menselijkheid van zijn figuren. “Knuckle-whitening… the tension is almost unbearable”, schreef de recensent van de Sunday Times in de bijdrage Books of the Century erover, maar “Human, uninhibited, bawdy and compassionate”, de commentaar van de Daily Telegraph, komt wat mij betreft dichter in de buurt van de kern van dit verhaal.
Verdomd levensecht ook. Wat ongetwijfeld mede te danken is aan het taalgebruik van de personages. Ik kan me niet meteen inbeelden hoe dat in vertaling klinkt, maar “beschaafd” Nederlands kan onmogelijk dienen om bijvoorbeeld deze dialoog tussen de twee zwervers neer te zetten:
“Lennie looked timidly over to him. ‘George?’
‘Yeah, what ya want?’
‘Where we goin’, George?’
The little man jerked down the brim of his hat and scowled over at Lennie. ‘So you forgot that awready, did you? I gotta tell you again, do I? Jesus Christ, you’re a crazy bastard!’
‘I forgot,’ Lennie said softly. ‘I tried not to forget. Honest to God I did, George.’
‘O.K. - O.K. I’ll tell ya again. I ain’t got nothing to do. Might jus’ as well spen’ all my time tellin’ you things and then you forget ‘em, and I tell you again.’
‘Tried and tried,’ said Lennie, ‘but it didn’t do no good. I remember about the rabbits, George.’
‘The hell with the rabbits. That’s all you ever can remember is them rabbits. O.K.! Now you listen and this time you got to remember so we don’t get in no trouble. You remember settin’ in that gutter on Howard street and watchin’ that blackboard?’
Lennie’s face broke into a delighted smile. ‘Why sure, George, I remember that… but… what’d we do then? I remember some girls come by and you says… you say…’”
En dan dat inlevingsvermogen van Steinbeck… “Human, uninhibited, bawdy and compassionate”, okee, maar de auteur moet lang gestudeerd hebben op een figuur als Lennie (en een figuur als George) om die ter gelijker tijd zo zacht en zo sterk neer te kunnen gezet hebben. Iemand die per ongeluk alles kapot maakt dat hij graag ziet, wat “purty” is, muis, hond of vrouw, (en iemand die... nee, dat verklap ik niet) is per slot van rekening moeilijker te schetsen dan een aantal van de andere figuren, bijvoorbeeld de oude Candy met zijn dito hond, of de staljongen, “a nigger”, “Nice fella too. Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him. The boss gives him hell when he’s mad. But the stable buck don’t give a damn about that. He reads a lot. Got books in his room”. Net zoals een warme schuur op een lome zondagnamiddag moeilijker te schetsen is als plaats van een misdaad dan, pakweg, een straat in de Bronx, terwijl Steinbeck ook dát briljant doet.
Meer kan ik u echter niet meegeven – mijn hart bloedt omdat ik een paar van de mooist geschreven scènes voor mezelf moet houden, hoe kort en knap ze ook zijn -, maar dat ik Of Mice and Men een vijf op vijf, desnoods een honderd op honderd, geef, mag u van mij wel weten.
Björn Roose… (meer)