Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Grapes of Wrath


Published 70 years ago today.

"If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy and sick." -- John Steinbeck in 1966.

And here we are.

8 comments:

motheramelia said...

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Where has 70 years brought us.

June Butler said...

It's still true. What have we learned in 70 years? Exactly nothing.

Hans said...

I love your blog and good thoughts, best regards, Hans http://twitter.com/artclubcaucasus

Jeffery said...

70 years ago Steinbeck angered a lot of people when he published GRAPES. Some political groups even launched campaigns to censor, slander, murder and get Steinbeck in jail on trumped up rape charges. We need more writers who stir things up like Steinbeck did.
http://norcalbookstravelandthought.blogspot.com/2009/04/when-was-last-time-book-was-received.html

JCF said...

Doug, did you happen to see my comment a couple days ago, re your "Passion of Christ" at Mimi's? (I commented that I thought your Jesus looked Tom Joad-ish! ;-p)

JCF said...

I always wonder what happened to this woman (the "Migrant Mother").

The story (apocryphal?) I've heard about the Pulitzer Prize-winning pic---where she's really got the "Oh Shit: Now What?" expression---is that she's just sold the tires off her car, to buy food. :-(

Counterlight said...

JCF
Yes, I did see your comment, and I liked it very much. It will give me something to think about the next time I do a Passion series (which I will, though not tomorrow).

I don't really know much about this famous photo, but the story sounds very plausible.

Counterlight said...

Thanks Hans!

Jeffery,
I'm not surprised about the opposition to Steinbeck. But, he was a tough old buzzard.
And yes, I agree, we need writers -- and artists -- willing to stir things up by asking some basic questions about the fundamental justice of our society, rather than just shock value for the sake of attracting attention to promote a career.