Fiction by John Steinbeck
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights: From the Winchester MSS of Thomas Malory and Other Sources
1976
Steinbeck’s first posthumously published work. In his reinterpretation of seven tales from Malory completed in 1959 Steinbeck attempts to render Malory “…into a modern English, while…trying to recreate a rhythm and tone…” similar to the original Middle English.
Burning Bright
1950
A play in novelette form presenting the dilemma of a heredity possessed man who discovers he is sterile and must accept another man’s child as his own.
Cannery Row
1945
Steinbeck captures the characters and atmosphere of the row of shacks along the Monterey shoreline now known as Cannery Row.
Cup of Gold: A Life of Henry Morgan, Buccaneer
1929
A tale which traces Henry Morgan’s life from boyhood on the Welsh glens, to his death as lieutenant governor of Jamaica.
East of Eden
1952
The saga of two American families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, Steinbeck’s own Fiction forebears. The scene is chiefly Salinas from the turn of the century through World War I.
The Grapes of Wrath
1939
Steinbeck’s epic account of the migration of sharecroppers from the Dust Bowl to the mirage of a free and happy life in California.
In Dubious Battle
1936
A labor and strike novel set in the California fruit country, as seen through the eyes of a radical sympathizer.
The Long Valley
1938
Thirteen short stories which portray life in the Salinas Valley.
The Moon is Down
1942
One of Steinbeck’s shorter novels; describes the occupation of a small unnamed mining town by an unidentified army.
Of Mice and Men
1937
The Salinas Valley is the setting for this tale of two drifting ranch hands who dream of a piece of land of their own.
Pastures of Heaven
1932
A series of short stories relating incidents in the lives of a group of people living in a secluded valley in California, Las Pasturas del Cielo.
The Pearl
1947
A retelling of an old Mexican folktale involving the discovery of a great pearl and the ensuing misfortune of the fisherman who found it.
The Red Pony
1933
A heartbreaking true picture of boyhood on a small Salinas Valley ranch.
The Short Reign of Pippin IV
1957
A satirical account of an unsuccessful French attempt at reviving the monarchy with a descendent of Charlemagne.
Sweet Thursday
1954
In this comic, bawdy tale Steinbeck revisits several characters from Cannery Row after World War II.
To a God Unknown
1933
A symbolic and mystical novel of Joseph Wayne and his family and their new land in the fertile hills of California.
Tortilla Flat
1935
Set in a tumble-down-section of Monterey, Steinbeck’s humorous novel portrays the vagabond-type existence and exploits of Danny and his friends.
Uncollected Stories of John Steinbeck
1986
Contains “His Father,” “The Summer Before,” “How Edith McGillcuddy Met R.L. Stevenson,” “Reunion at the quiet Hotel,” “The Miracle of Tepayac,” “The Gifts of Iban,” and “The Time the Wolves Ate the Vice-Principal.”
The Wayward Bus
1947
A “Grand Hotel” type novel in which a group of strangers are stranded overnight at a roadside gas station and lunchroom in California.
The Winter of Our Discontent
1961
Through the life of a New England patrician family, the author portrays some of the shoddy attitudes toward honesty and success. The major theme of the novel is the loss of integrity in our world and the decline in our standards of personal, business, and political morality.