Write like Steinbeck!!!
Purpose: Part of the answer to Steinbeck's success lies in his ability to set a scene. The author did not merely want readers to understand the scene of the book. He wanted the audience to feel that they were there.
- Creating something memorable, visceral, appealing to the reader
- Incredibly detailed
- Setting:
Let's do some creative writing!!!
Describing the scene
- Set the scene: Steinbeck rarely started a story with a specific description. He started with a 'macro' description. TO set the scene, he would first focus on the whole, generalised area.
- Relate: Readers have not all been to the Salinas Valley, but know what a river looks like, hence they can relate to the setting.
- Present things the audience knows, and is familiar with.
- Create: With descriptive tone, build stage and backdrop of the theatre that is the novel's conflict
Of mice and men, The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden are good examples of Steinbeck's writing style.
- Steinbeck's writing style is very distinctive.
Attempt 1
The pale metropolitan area of Subiaco, with its high-rise concrete looming over the empty pavements, its brief display of greener hidden amongst the asphalt lines marking the earth. Plain grey buildings with reflective windows stand firm above the bustling traffic, empty and deserted. The asphalt streets battered down by the relentlessness of furious rainfall, thundering down onto unfortunate pedestrians. A melange of coffee and wet grass diffuses through Subiaco's quiet cafes, and
Narrow the general setting down
- Introductions: After establishing the general setting, Steinbeck would then narrow the scene to focus on his main characters.
- Effect: Then, the overarching, encompassing descriptions of nature and humanity are boiled down to one place and one character (or group).
- Evolves a relationship between the characters and the environment. A harsh environment may suggest a sense of resilience for the characters.
- Reason: The audience are made to feel part of the scene's natural surroundings, shaping our response to the humans we meet next.
Attempt 2
The pale suburban area of Subiaco, with its high-rise concrete carrying panicked cars looming over the empty pavements;, aside from the roaring whispers of the wind. Its brief display of life and colour slotted neatly amongst the asphalt lines marking the earth. Plain grey buildings with reflective windows stand firm above the bustling traffic, empty and deserted. Alongside the glass, metallic frames are plaster houses with wooden, earthy outlines, overgrown with luscious evergreen. The asphalt streets battered down by the relentlessness of furious rainfall, thundering down onto unfortunate pedestrians. A melange of roasted coffee beans and wet grass diffuses through Subiaco's quiet cafes, and cash registers chimes them usual, off-pitch melody. Rays of faint light pass through the smudges and stains of a cafe's front window, as two customers sit opposite and silently mull over their coffee.
"Lovely arvo, huh?" One mutters, breaking the silence. His partner stays quiet, scratching their neck. "Hm?" "Oh, sorry. Damn mozzies. What'd ya say?" "Nuttin'." "Should'av got some bikkies. Forgot brekkie today." "Too busy." "Not hung over from the boozer?" "Ha. Don't tell the wife."
Use vivid, inspiring imagery
- Imagery: Steinbeck's ability to set a scene relied heavily on the use of imagery.
- Emotion and memory: Steinbeck used words filled with emotion and feeling, words that reminded readers of their own personal memories.
- Simplicity: He often used simple, short words.
Conclusion
Steinbeck has a distinct style, one that would allow you to unpack his approach to writing and the impact it has on the meaning.
Preparing an essay on this would also allow you to rework your ideas for an essay on aesthetics, genre, language, narrative point of view, structure and other key course concepts.
- How does your knowledge of Steinbeck's style affect his understanding.
Steinbeck's style
- Realism and naturalism
- Symbolism and allegory
- Regionalism and sense of place
- Very closely related to Dialogue and dialects (slang, vernacular)
- Social commentary
- Sympathetic characters
- Simple and accessible language
- Narrative structure
- Intercalary chapters, experimentation
- Themes of friendship and brotherhood
- Human nature and psychology
- Economic realities
- Marxist reading is good :) (not an endorsement)
Stylistic features (SCSA)
- Style can distinguish the work of individual authors
- As well as the work of a particular period
- Or of a particular genre of type of text.
- This is why stylistic features are important, because it is specific to authors. You may be able to identify them, but you have to elaborate on what unique effect they have.
