East of Eden Essay: Criticism of East of Eden -- East Eden Essays

Criticism of eastern United States of Eden Possibly the best piece of criticism I detect was an essay by Joseph Wood Krutch. Krutch begins by making a story praising the enormous amount of energy that is required for a platter with the scope of East of Eden. Very briefly, Krutch summarizes the novel and draws an analogy between it and The illusion Mountain by Thomas Mann. Krutch points out that in this novel, Steinbeck has avoided falling into the hole of writing a melodramatic as he has in slightly other pieces. Krutch says of Steinbeck Never, I think, not even in The Grapes of Wrath, has he exhibited much(prenominal) a grip upon himself and his material. (Krutch 370) Krutch points out that, especially in the first triplet of the curb, the character parallels to symbolic figures ar rather distracting, but become slight so as the book progresses. Steinbeck is often associated with writers who hold deterministic philosophies and are moral relativists, but Krutch asserts i t is difficult to imagine how any novel could more explicitly reject these values. (Krutch 370) Krutch assigns East of Eden the point of determining Steinbecks position as a moralist and ends his review by stating there is no question whether Mr. Steinbeck has written an intensely interesting and impressive book. (Krutch 371) Harvey Curtis Webster was the author of another(prenominal) review I found helpful. He begins with the very blunt educational activity that it will take almost equal quantities of pride and stupidity to forswear that it is one of the best novels of the past ten years and the best book John Steinbeck has written since the Grapes of Wrath. (Webster 369) To conclude his strong opening paragraph Webster states It is to be doubted it any American novel has better chronicled ou... ...ress. 1957. pp. 302-305. Rpt. In Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. David Marowski. Vol 45 Detroit Gale, 1987. pp. 370- 371 Neary, Walter. About John Steinbeck. 27 Nov. 2001 <http//www.steinbeck.org/About.html>. Steinbeck, John. Grapes of Wrath. 1939. New York Penguin, 1973. Steinbeck, John IV Nancy Steinbeck, and Andrew Harvey. separate Side of Eden. Prometheus Books. Feb. 2001. Various contributors. Amazon.com Buying Information. Amazon.com <http//www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0140186395/ customer-reviews/qid=1007248185/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_75_1/102-8744870-2692125>. 28 Nov. 2001 Webster, Harvey Curtis. Out of the New Born Sun. Saturday Review, New York. Vol. XXXV. No. 38. 20 fellowship 1952. pp. 11-12. Rpt. In Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. David Marowski. Vol 45 Detroit Gale, 1987. pp. 369-370