OSHER 904 - "East of Eden": The Brilliance of John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1939 for "The Grapes of Wrath." He went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. He has called "East of Eden" (1952) "the first book," and it has achieved the power and simplicity of myth. It explores themes such as Good vs. Evil, Human Nature, Individual Choice, the Inevitability of Change, and Strength and Weakness. More than the saga of two families, "Eden" is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes.