Auteur's library

John Steinbeck

A l'Est d’Éden (East of Eden)

1952

Le plus beau livre du monde! Il n'y a rien que je puisse dire sur ce livre que Steinbeck n'a mieux écrit dans son bouquin.
Alors, à la place de mes mots, voici les siens, la dédicace que John Steinbeck écrivit pour A l'Est d’Éden:
"Dear Pat,
You came upon me carving some kind of little figure out of wood and you said, “Why don’t you make something for me?”
I asked you what you wanted, and you said, “A box.”
“What for?”
“To put things in.”
“What kind of things?”
“Whatever you have,” you said.
Well, here’s your box. Nearly everything I have is in it, and it is not full. Pain and excitement are in it, and feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts- the pleasure of design and some despair and the indescribable joy of creation.
And on top of these are all the gratitude and love I have for you.
And still the box is not full.

JOHN"

Tags: the power and limits of mankind, good and evil and innocence, religious and philosophical thought, Biblical myth, racial relations and positive representation (finally!), positive female representation, family drama, 19th-century society, early 20th century, roman de mœurs, going through the years,  destin, héros malmené, wild dusty west

John Steinbeck

Des Souris et des Hommes (Of Mice and Men)

1937