[Music] Steck is a celebrated author around the world winner of the Nobel Prize in 1962 John Steinbeck gave voice to workingclass America he writes about people we're not familiar with but he makes them relatable to a general audience in spite of the fact that he's writing about hobos and Tramps and okis and other people such as that he manages to stress the universal condition that we all share John Ernst Steinbeck was born on February 27th 1902 in Selena California a region that would later be the setting for many of his most famous works Steinbeck reflected California through the people and the landscape and the history Not only was he a wonderful writer but he was a great student of his own home Steinbeck enrolled in Stanford University in 1919 but eventually dropped out he continued to write but for years was simply scraping by in until 1935 when he would receive his first critical success tortilla flat was a huge bestseller no one expected it it sold 26,000 copies in its first year which was astonishing during the middle of the depression it came out in 1935 this is a beautiful story about a gang of wios um living in a rundown house in California just after World War I in 1937 Steinbeck's Nolla of mice and men became an immediate bestseller and its play adaptation won him the New York drama critics Circle award what he wanted to do was to write something called a play novelet he was playing with a new form of of writing he wanted the story to be lifted from the book onto the stage he wanted it played he wanted it performed I think what appealed to readers about Of Mice and Men was the fact that it dealt realistically with the Grim situation of the depression and the inability of people to find work but it also struck an emotional cord with readers because in spite of all that there's this very strong friendship between George and Lenny and that seems to compensate for what they don't have in their lives Steinbeck reported on migrant Farm Workers for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1939 providing the basis for his Pulitzer Prize winning work The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath was an immediate bestseller when it came out and remained on the best seller list for more than a year it set a lot of things in motion not only is this a story about the jods but it's a story about a lot of people it put a face on the harsh truths that were occurring at the time in this country in 1940 the screen version of The Grapes of Wrath became one of the first 25 films selected for preservation by the Library of Congress it's rare for a masterpiece to translate into a great film The Grapes of Wrath directed by John Ford is a masterpiece in cinema history the timing is perfect the setting the lighting the characters Steinbeck died following a heart ATT attack on December 20th 1968 but left a legacy of 27 books Steinbeck had a huge productive decade over a 10-year period he produced half a dozen of America's great masterpieces in [Music] fiction