‘In 1963 Steinbeck told Caskie Stinnet: “I wrote ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ in one hundred days, but many years of preparation preceded it. It took a hell of a long time to get started. The actual writing is the last process.”
Though Steinbeck actually wrote the novel in ninety-three sittings, it was his way of saying that Grapes of Wrath was an intuited whole that embodied the form of his devotion. The entire 200’000 word manuscript took upto 165 handwritten pages (plus one smaller sheet) of a 12×18″ lined ledger book. When he was hot, Steinbeck wrote fast, paying little or no attention to spelling, punctuation or paragraphing. On top of that his script was so small he was capable of cramming over 1300 words onto a single sheet.’
– Introduction to The Grapes of Wrath
If you haven’t read the introduction to ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, then I suggest you do. It’s filled with very important facts on how the novel came to be written. Everything seemed to be sparked by a moment of inspiration, the genesis of it was driven purely by the need to chase down and live to the very core of this unique event. The mere thought of writing a 200’000 word manuscript in just over 100 days is an incredible feat. More amazingly, almost every word he wrote was published exactly as he wrote it. No wonder I love his writing so much. It’s raw and it comes from the heart. True novelists write about what they know, what they’ve lived. They aren’t afraid to have life show through the bones of their work.
Yes! The introduction was so interesting. I learned so much from it.
Hi Brenuh! What edition did you read? I think mine was the Penguin one. It’s funny really… I picked up ‘Grapes’ at my library one day and decided to read the intro instead of the blurb… it just happened to be these words that caught my eye.
It was at that point I knew I had something special in my hands. I have it on good word that ‘East of Eden’ is superior to ‘Grapes’ (if that is actually possible!)
Happy reading for us all yet!!
Was yours the Penguin one which has the cover of him in black and white looking all intense? That was mine. I think it’s the library edition – but, luckily, I found it at a library booksale. It’s one of my favourite covers.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE East of Eden! It’s marvelous. I think I do prefer it to Grapes, though I’m not sure which was technically better. Maybe Grapes. But East of Eden had this extra something I can’t really describe – but it’s something I really, really loved.
Yes, it was the penguin one, but it had an image of a winding dusty road. 2000 edition I think. 🙂 East of Eden is a read I’ll be saving for later. I usually find I hold back ones that I know are going to be good, ration them out a bit! The ending of GoW totally blew me away. I was staggered by the way he’d built it all up. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it does. It was so humbling, so poignant. It’s amazing the lengths people will go to when they are facing starvation.
What did you think of the alternate chapters where he completely switches to a reporter/ preacher mode?
They were actually my favourite part of the book. The writing! Whoa whoa whoa. So ferocious and perfectly done.
What did you think of them?
I guess the bias didn’t upset me that much, so it didn’t affect my liking (or disliking, if that had been the case) of the book to a large degree.