Brooke Zielenske

Mrs. Mckenzie
Advanced American Literature
May 2, 2014
A Biography on John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California on February 27, 1902. Steinbeck
graduated from Salinas high School in 1919, and then attended Stanford University in California.
He left there in 1925, but did not finish his degree in journalism. (Joseph R. Millichap 15) After
leaving Stanford, he moved to New York where he worked as laborer and a newspaper reporter.
He only lived in New York for a few months before moving back to California.
There he wrote his first novel Cup of Gold. It earned the writer little recognition and
even less money (15). It was published in 1929 right before the stock market crash and the
beginning of the great depression.
Steinbeck often wrote his novels on what was happening in America at the time. This
probably comes from his history in journalism. He spent much time interviewing migrant
workers during the great depression and the dust bowl. One of his books that came out of his
research is of Mice and Men.
`Steinbecks next two novels The Pastures of Heaven and To a God Unknown were still
very unsuccessful. In 1935 though, Steinbeck got recognition with his book Tortilla flat. The
book was such a success that it was made into a move in 1942. This gave Steinbeck enough
money to pay off his debts, move to Mexico, and continue to research the migrant workers there.
Unfortunately his parents died just before this, and they were never able to see him succeed.
In the 1930s he began so show his talent in writing, and became very popular with his
books. His short novels The Red Pony and Of Mice and Men followed in 1937, his story
collection The Long Valley in 1938, and his epic of the "Okie" migration to California, The
Grapes of Wrath, 1939. His own play version of Of Mice and Men won the Drama Critics'
Circle Award in 1938, and The Grapes of Wrath received the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. Steinbeck
had become one of the most popular and respected writers in the United States (16).
Although John Steinbecks family life was not made into a book, it was probably
interesting enough to be one. In 1930, just as he was starting to become more popular, he
married Carol Henning. They lived in a house in Pacific Cove, California until they divorced in
1941. This is when Steinbeck moved back to New York with a lady named Gwyndolyn Conger.
On March 29, 1943 his divorce with carol Henning became final, and he married Gwyndolyn
Conger. On August 2, 1944 they have their first son Thomas Steinbeck is born. On June 12,
1946 they have their second son john Steinbeck IV together. Just a few months after one of John
Steinbecks close friends was killed in a car accident in 1948, Gwyndolyn Conger divorced
Steinbeck. Finally on December 28, 1950 he married his third and final wife Elaine Anderson
Scott.
John Steinbeck later died on December 20, 1968 of congestive heart failure at the age of
66. He had been a lifelong smoker and an autopsy showed his main coronary arteries were
almost completely closed.
Works sited
Millichap, Joseph R. "Biography of John Steinbeck." (2010): n. pag. Galileo. Web. 2 May 2014.