East of Eden Author: John Steinbeck | Language: English | ISBN:
B001BC5HXG | Format: EPUB
East of Eden Description
In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called
East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. The masterpiece of Steinbeck’s later years,
East of Edenis a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence.
This edition features an introduction by David Wyatt.
- File Size: 1182 KB
- Print Length: 620 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0670033049
- Publisher: Penguin Classic; Revised edition (February 5, 2002)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B001BC5HXG
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,480 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #5
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Classics > Historical - #15
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Classics > Literary - #50
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction > Historical
- #5
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Classics > Historical - #15
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Classics > Literary - #50
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction > Historical
John Steinbeck's EAST OF EDEN was not well received by critics when it debuted in the 1950s, and although passing years have seen several re-evaluations it is still reguarded as secondary to the likes of GRAPES OF WRATH and OF MICE AND MEN. It is true that the novel is flawed: it is a great big rambling thing crammed with obvious allegory, metaphor, and allusion, loosely structured to say the least. And yet, in a odd sort of way, the very rambling, the looseness, the obviousness of the work gives it a tremendous grandeur that Steinbeck's more tightly structured work lacks. The novel is as broad and vulgar and lively and provocative as the America it describes--and it is my favorite of Steinbeck's fiction.
Any one who comes to the novel from the famous film adaptation starring James Dean will be surprized, for the roots of the novel run much deeper than the film, which is based only on perhaps a third of the novel. This is not so much the story of brothers Aaron and Caleb Trask as it is the story of their parents, Adam Trask and Catherine Ames. And in "Cathy" Ames, Steinbeck creates one of the darkest characters in all of 20th Century American Literature, a creature devoid of virtually anything recognizable as human emotion. Fleeing from a past that includes murder, perversion, blackmail, and prostitution, Cathy assumes an angelic demeanor and lures the emotionally needy Adam Trask into love and marriage. And when she no longer requires his protection... she destroys him.
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