Steinbeck's Author Diary Leading to WWII
California life chronicler John Steinbeck wrote diary entries each day before and after writing chapters of his best known book, "Grapes of Wrath", his eighth novel which won the Pulitzer Prize. The diary which begins February 1938 before he writes the first page, continues through Oct. 25, 1938 when he finishes the last page, and ends with a January 30 1941 entry, eleven months before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The diary was published after his death, at his request . A reader's hindsight knowledge throws Steinbecks' sporadic observations of current events into relief. The first mention of brewing European and Pacific conflicts appears in his June 16th, 1938 entry. Steinbeck orients himself to where in the pre-planned story he is, what he needs to write next. He purges to the page mind clutter from the night before, describes a dream he had, and describes an impression of distant, bombastic global leaders (March 12, 1938, Hitler had annexed Austria into Germany, 1...
