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95-434: The island, the remains of an ancient volcano, is elongated, with a length of 3 kilometres (2 miles) and a maximum width of about 800 metres (2,600 feet). The municipality includes the small ancillary island of Santo Stefano , located 2 km ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 4  mi) to the east, which was the site of a massive prison, now closed. Further islands are Ponza , Palmarola and Zannone , located 40 km (25 mi) to

190-556: A Thompson submachine gun to help capture Italian and German prisoners. Some of his writings from this period were incorporated in the documentary Once There Was a War (1958). Steinbeck returned from the war with a number of wounds from shrapnel and some psychological trauma. He treated himself, as ever, by writing. He wrote Alfred Hitchcock 's movie, Lifeboat (1944), and with screenwriter Jack Wagner , A Medal for Benny (1945), about paisanos from Tortilla Flat going to war. He later requested that his name be removed from

285-597: A hawk for his position on the war. His sons served in Vietnam before his death, and Steinbeck visited one son in the battlefield. At one point he was allowed to man a machine-gun watch position at night at a firebase while his son and other members of his platoon slept. Steinbeck and his first wife, Carol Henning, married in January 1930 in Los Angeles. By 1940, their marriage was beginning to suffer, and it ended

380-768: A snake species. 40°47′22″N 13°27′15″E  /  40.78944°N 13.45417°E  / 40.78944; 13.45417 John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( / ˈ s t aɪ n b ɛ k / STYNE -bek ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters." During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward Ricketts , including 16 novels, six non-fiction books , and two collections of short stories . He

475-454: A Swedish artist and a confidant of his: "I have put all the things I have wanted to write all my life. This is 'the book'... having done this, I can do anything I want". Also in 1952, John Steinbeck appeared as the on-screen narrator of 20th Century Fox 's film, O. Henry's Full House . Although Steinbeck later admitted he was uncomfortable before the camera, he provided interesting introductions to several filmed adaptations of short stories by

570-558: A backlash against the author for displaying communist views, especially in his hometown of Salinas. Steinbeck received so many threats that he purchased a handgun for his own safety. Claiming the book both was obscene and misrepresented conditions in the county, the Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's publicly funded schools and libraries in August 1939. This ban lasted until January 1941. Of

665-581: A biologist and ecological theorist, who would go on to write a classic early textbook on ecology . Ricketts became a proponent of ecological thinking, in which man was only one part of a great chain of being , caught in a web of life too large for him to control or understand. Meanwhile, Ricketts operated a biological lab on the coast of Monterey, selling biological samples of small animals, fish, rays, starfish, turtles, and other marine forms to schools and colleges. Between 1930 and 1936, Steinbeck and Ricketts became close friends. Steinbeck's wife began working at

760-472: A constant supply of many kinds of fresh fish to the imperial household, all year round and in all weather conditions. The fishery is best viewed from the water, swimming with snorkeling gear, as the sea level today is about a metre (1 yard) higher than when it was constructed. As Ventotene has never had an adequate supply of fresh water, several enormous cisterns to collect rainwater were built in Roman times in

855-452: A degree in 1925. He traveled to New York City where he took odd jobs while trying to write. When he failed to publish his work, he returned to California and worked in 1928 as a tour guide and caretaker at Lake Tahoe , where he met Carol Henning, his first wife. They married in January 1930 in Los Angeles, where, with friends, he attempted to make money by manufacturing plaster mannequins . When their money ran out six months later due to

950-399: A disappointment. Steinbeck wrote two more stage plays ( The Moon Is Down and Burning Bright ). Of Mice and Men was also adapted as a 1939 Hollywood film , with Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie (he had filled the role in the Los Angeles stage production) and Burgess Meredith as George. Meredith and Steinbeck became close friends for the next two decades. Another film based on the novella

1045-435: A fan of Steinbeck's work from Of Mice and Men , defended Steinbeck's work in her nationally syndicated newspaper column, "My Day". She wrote: "Now I must tell you that I have just finished a book which is an unforgettable experience in reading. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, both repels and attracts you. The horrors of the picture, so well drawn, make you dread sometimes to begin the next chapter, and yet you cannot lay

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1140-580: A former school teacher, shared Steinbeck's passion for reading and writing. The Steinbecks were members of the Episcopal Church , although Steinbeck later became agnostic . Steinbeck lived in a small rural valley (no more than a frontier settlement) set in fertile soil, about 25 miles from the Pacific Coast . Both valley and coast would serve as settings for some of his best fiction. He spent his summers working on nearby ranches including

1235-552: A gang of paisanos , asocial individuals who, in their wild revels, are almost caricatures of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table . It has been said that in the United States this book came as a welcome antidote to the gloom of the then prevailing depression." Tortilla Flat was adapted as a 1942 film of the same name , starring Spencer Tracy , Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield , a friend of Steinbeck. With some of

1330-552: A huge summer palace built on the island in the early part of his reign, including extensive thermae , terraces, gardens, an exedra and aqueducts, and which remained thereafter an imperial property. It is now known as the Villa Giulia as it was possibly the place to which he banished his daughter Julia the Elder in 2 BC as a reaction to her notorious adultery and where he could easily keep an eye on her. Augustus had two villas on

1425-501: A key radar station. On the night of 8 December 1943, an American PT boat slipped into Ventotene's harbour undetected and offloaded 46 American paratroopers from the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion , led by naval lieutenant (and actor) Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , who was tactical commander of the Beach Jumpers; a group that used all forms available of deception to deceive the enemy, and commando-trained. The paratroopers met with

1520-632: A living. Their coauthored book, Sea of Cortez (December 1941), about a collecting expedition to the Gulf of California in 1940, which was part travelogue and part natural history, published just as the U.S. entered World War II, never found an audience and did not sell well. However, in 1951, Steinbeck republished the narrative portion of the book as The Log from the Sea of Cortez , under his name only (though Ricketts had written some of it). This work remains in print today. Although Carol accompanied Steinbeck on

1615-802: A local exile from the Italian mainland who then lied to the German commander that there was a regiment of paratroopers on the island, deposited by a fleet of Allied ships. Terrified, the German commander demolished his positions, weapons, and quickly surrendered to the weaker American force before realizing his mistake. Ventotene was liberated at 03:00 without a shot being fired. The story is reported by John Steinbeck in Once There Was A War . In August 2016, then-Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi met with then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then-French President François Hollande on Ventotene, to lay

1710-568: A parable that it almost can't be". Steinbeck traveled to Cuernavaca , Mexico for the filming with Wagner who helped with the script; on this trip he would be inspired by the story of Emiliano Zapata , and subsequently wrote a film script ( Viva Zapata! ) directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn . In 1947, Steinbeck made his first trip to the Soviet Union with photographer Robert Capa . They visited Moscow , Kyiv , Tbilisi , Batumi and Stalingrad , some of

1805-562: A short-lived farming colony in Palestine that disbanded after Arab attackers killed his brother and raped his brother's wife and mother-in-law. He arrived in the United States in 1858, shortening the family name to Steinbeck. The family farm in Heiligenhaus , Mettmann , Germany, is still named "Großsteinbeck". His father, John Ernst Steinbeck (1862–1935), served as Monterey County treasurer. John's mother, Olive Hamilton (1867–1934),

1900-610: A slow market, Steinbeck and Carol moved back to Pacific Grove, California , to a cottage owned by his father, on the Monterey Peninsula a few blocks outside the Monterey city limits. The elder Steinbecks gave John free housing, paper for his manuscripts, and from 1928, loans that allowed him to write without looking for work. During the Great Depression , Steinbeck bought a small boat, and later claimed that he

1995-437: A social truth-teller [and is an] authentic realist fully equal to his predecessors Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway." Although modest about his own talent as a writer, Steinbeck talked openly of his own admiration of certain writers. In 1953, he wrote that he considered cartoonist Al Capp , creator of the satirical Li'l Abner , "possibly the best writer in the world today". At his own first Nobel Prize press conference he

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2090-442: A statute and remained autonomous until January 1861, when a Navy contingent recovered the island. The island has been uninhabited since the closure of the prison, except for tourists that visit by boat during the day. The island has had several names, such as Partenope, Palmosa, Dommo Stephane and Borca since Roman times. The island, which is partly privately owned, was put up for sale in 2012 for €20,000,000. This did not include

2185-411: A type of giant sky lantern up to 10 m in height, are constructed by the island's youth during the summer and on the 19th there is a balloon competition as part of “The Games” that take place in the Roman port all afternoon. The festival culminates in a day-long feast and religious procession on the 20th, when a statue of Saint Candida, placed on a flower adorned boat, exits the church, and is carried around

2280-464: A valley near Monterey, which was discovered by a Spanish corporal while chasing runaway Indian slaves. In 1933 Steinbeck published The Red Pony , a 100-page, four-chapter story weaving in memories of Steinbeck's childhood. To a God Unknown , named after a Vedic hymn, follows the life of a homesteader and his family in California, depicting a character with a primal and pagan worship of

2375-538: A wreath at the tomb of Altiero Spinelli and review European Union policy in the light of the then-impending British withdrawal from the EU . Ventotene and Santo Stefano are both part of a nature reserve created in 1999 in order to preserve the ecological, geomorphological and naturalistic-environmental characteristics and to promote activities compatible with the conservation of the reserve's natural resources. This means that new buildings cannot be erected, and reconstruction

2470-402: A writer. He wrote a daily letter to his editor while writing the book. Through them, Steinbeck explored himself, his creative process, his love for writing, and his family life, for he had just married his third wife, Elaine Scott, the year prior. Steinbeck, according to Elaine Scott, considered East of Eden his magnum opus , his greatest novel. As the book was released, he wrote to John Beskow,

2565-466: A year later. In 1942, after his divorce from Carol, Steinbeck married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger. With his second wife Steinbeck had two sons, Thomas ("Thom") Myles Steinbeck (1944–2016) and John Steinbeck IV (1946–1991). In May 1948, Steinbeck returned to California on an emergency trip to be with his friend Ed Ricketts, who had been seriously injured when a train struck his car. Ricketts died hours before Steinbeck arrived. Upon returning home, Steinbeck

2660-475: Is limited. The marine reserve, which covers a 10 km long coastal area, is divided into three zones with varying degrees of protection and permitted activities. Ventotene is a popular destination for scuba divers due to its clear, warm waters and variety of marine life. Several diving centres take divers of all levels of competency to nearby destinations to see caves filled with prawns, or swim among fish which have become rather unafraid of people since fishing

2755-456: Is located 2 kilometres ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles) east of the nearby island of Ventotene . Like the rest of the archipelago, the island was created by volcanic activity. It is dominated by an old prison built by the Bourbons who owned the island, completed in 1797 and in use until 1965. It originally had 99 cells, 4 metres by 4 metres, to house 4 inmates, which were later halved to double

2850-666: Is located on the ground floor of the Bourbon castle, seat of the Town Council. It contains finds from the island, the seabed and the wreckages of Roman ships around the island, as well as a large model of the island during the Augustan age with the Imperial residence and connected structures, such as the port and other villas. Unfortunately, all statues from Villa Giulia have disappeared or been sold in indiscriminate plundering over

2945-590: Is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multigeneration epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize –winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon . By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies. Much of Steinbeck's work employs settings in his native central California , particularly in

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3040-549: The American Booksellers Association . Later that year, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was adapted as a film directed by John Ford , starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad; Fonda was nominated for the best actor Academy Award. Grapes was controversial. Steinbeck's New Deal political views, negative portrayal of aspects of capitalism, and sympathy for the plight of workers, led to

3135-442: The Bourbons and restructured under Benito Mussolini on the nearby island of Santo Stefano. There, up to 700 opponents, including 400 communists, were incarcerated between 1939 and 1943. One of them was Altiero Spinelli who wrote there a text now known as the " Ventotene Manifesto ", promoting the idea of a federal Europe after the war. During World War II , the island served as home to a 114-man German garrison, which defended

3230-527: The Knights of the Round Table . Glastonbury Tor was visible from the cottage, and Steinbeck also visited the nearby hillfort of Cadbury Castle , the supposed site of King Arthur's court of Camelot . The unfinished manuscript was published after his death in 1976, as The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights . Steinbeck grew up enthralled by the stories of King Arthur, and the Steinbecks recounted

3325-863: The Post Ranch in Big Sur . He later labored with migrant workers on Spreckels sugar beet farms. There he learned of the harsher aspects of the migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which supplied him with material expressed in Of Mice and Men . He explored his surroundings, walking across local forests, fields, and farms. While working at Spreckels Sugar Company, he sometimes worked in their laboratory, which gave him time to write. He had considerable mechanical aptitude and fondness for repairing things he owned. Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and went on to study English literature at Stanford University near Palo Alto , leaving without

3420-609: The Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists . Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California . He was of German, English, and Irish descent. Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck (1828–1913), Steinbeck's paternal grandfather, was a founder of Mount Hope ,

3515-532: The main coronary arteries . In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated, and interred on March 4, 1969 at the Hamilton family gravesite in Salinas, with those of his parents and maternal grandparents. His third wife, Elaine, was buried in the plot in 2004. He had written to his doctor that he felt deeply "in his flesh" that he would not survive his physical death, and that the biological end of his life

3610-416: The "Cup of Gold", and on the women, brighter than the sun, who were said to be found there. In 1930, Steinbeck wrote a werewolf murder mystery, Murder at Full Moon , that has never been published because Steinbeck considered it unworthy of publication. Between 1930 and 1933, Steinbeck produced three shorter works. The Pastures of Heaven , published in 1932, consists of twelve interconnected stories about

3705-540: The Academy's biggest mistakes" in one Swedish newspaper. The reaction of American literary critics was also harsh. The New York Times asked why the Nobel committee gave the award to an author whose "limited talent is, in his best books, watered down by tenth-rate philosophising", noting that "[T]he international character of the award and the weight attached to it raise questions about the mechanics of selection and how close

3800-516: The CIA). It was at that time he became friends with Will Lang Jr. of Time / Life magazine. During the war, Steinbeck accompanied the commando raids of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. 's Beach Jumpers program, which launched small-unit diversion operations against German-held islands in the Mediterranean . At one point, he accompanied Fairbanks on an invasion of an island off the coast of Italy and used

3895-409: The Elder's youngest daughter, Julia Livilla , was exiled to Pandateria twice: the first time by her brother Caligula for plotting to depose him, and the second time by her uncle, the emperor Claudius , at the instigation of his wife, Messalina , in 41 AD. Sometime later, Julia Livilla was discreetly starved to death and her remains were probably brought back to Rome when her older sister Agrippina

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3990-535: The Fascist regime, other prisoners were the future President of Italy Sandro Pertini , Umberto Terracini , Giorgio Amendola , Lelio Basso , Mauro Scoccimarro , Giuseppe Romita , Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi . In October 1860, part of the Bourbon troops left the island for the siege of Gaeta . During a revolt , some Camorra prisoners proclaimed the Republic of Santo Stefano . The prisoners legislated

4085-581: The March 1955 premiere, wrote "Beautifully acted, and superbly directed by Elia Kazan, it is bound to be one of the year’s important contributions to screen literature." From March to October 1959, Steinbeck and his third wife Elaine rented a cottage in the hamlet of Discove, Redlynch , near Bruton in Somerset , England, while Steinbeck researched his retelling of the Arthurian legend of King Arthur and

4180-627: The Mediterranean since 1988 at 46 sites in seven countries. The results of these studies led to the creation of the Ventotene Bird Migration Museum in 2006. In the early part of his reign, emperor Augustus had a summer palace built on the island, which at the time was private property. The remnants of the huge complex of over 3,000 m (32,000 sq ft), which included thermae , terraces, gardens, an exedra and aqueducts , can be seen at Punto Eolo. Over

4275-423: The Nobel committee is to the main currents of American writing. ... [W]e think it interesting that the laurel was not awarded to a writer ... whose significance, influence and sheer body of work had already made a more profound impression on the literature of our age". Steinbeck, when asked on the day of the announcement if he deserved the Nobel, replied: "Frankly, no." Biographer Jackson Benson notes, "[T]his honor

4370-530: The Younger became influential as Claudius' wife. Another distinguished lady of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudia Octavia , who was the first wife of the emperor Nero , was banished to Pandateria in 62 AD and then executed on the orders of her husband. This is also the island to which St. Flavia Domitilla , the granddaughter of the emperor Vespasian , was banished. A prison camp was created under

4465-574: The adventures of a group of classless and usually homeless young men in Monterey after World War I , just before U.S. prohibition . They are portrayed in ironic comparison to mythic knights on a quest and reject nearly all the standard mores of American society in enjoyment of a dissolute life devoted to wine, lust, camaraderie and petty theft. In presenting the 1962 Nobel Prize to Steinbeck, the Swedish Academy cited "spicy and comic tales about

4560-516: The book down or even skip a page." After visiting California labor camps in 1940, a reporter asked her if she believed that The Grapes of Wrath was exaggerated. Roosevelt responded, "I have never believed that The Grapes of Wrath was exaggerated". In the 1930s and 1940s, Ed Ricketts strongly influenced Steinbeck's writing. Steinbeck frequently took small trips with Ricketts along the California coast to give himself time off from his writing and to collect biological specimens, which Ricketts sold for

4655-505: The by then empty reservoir. The walls of the galleries are covered with graffiti, inscriptions and drawings from various centuries, but particularly from the convicts who drew images of houses and nature to remember places they were never to see again. The prison on the island of Santo Stefano was completed in 1797 with a design based on the theories of Jeremy Bentham , the English philosopher, jurist and social reformer, and his concept of

4750-455: The central parts of the island. They were excavated in the rock to a depth of approximately 10 m and consist of a system of vaulted roof tunnels, galleries, basins and corridors. One of these, known as the Carcerati (prisoners), can be visited on guided tours. The name derives from the convicts who were sent to the island in the late 18th century to build the present village and were housed in

4845-423: The centuries, and all that remains is a marble head bust of emperor Tiberius , on display in the museum. In July 2009, archaeologists announced the discovery of a "graveyard" of five ancient Roman ships in the deep waters off Ventotene, with their pristine cargoes of olive oil, garum and metal ingots. One ship carried a full load of a kind of dish called a mortarium , in which foods were ground or mashed. Some of

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4940-405: The centuries, the villa has been subject to systematic plundering and senseless excavations. However, excavations have revealed thermal baths, servants’ quarters, courtyards, water reservoirs and passages to the sea. The imperial summer residence has become known as Villa Giulia as it became the place of exile of Augustus's daughter Julia the Elder in 2 BC. The Roman port, which is still in use,

5035-498: The controversy, Steinbeck wrote, "The vilification of me out here from the large landowners and bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hate me and have threatened to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing. It is completely out of hand; I mean a kind of hysteria about the book is growing that is not healthy." The then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, already

5130-438: The country one last time. Steinbeck's last novel, The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), examines moral decline in the United States. The protagonist Ethan grows discontented with his own moral decline and that of those around him. The book has a very different tone from Steinbeck's amoral and ecological stance in earlier works such as Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row . It was not a critical success. Many reviewers recognized

5225-470: The credits of Lifeboat, because he believed the final version of the film had racist undertones. In 1944, bruised, battered, and homesick, Steinbeck wrote Cannery Row (1945), a love letter to the city of Monterey. In 1958, Ocean View Avenue in Monterey , the setting of the book, was renamed Cannery Row in his honor. After the war, he wrote The Pearl (1947), knowing it would be filmed eventually. Steinbeck's relationship with Hollywood had solidified to

5320-494: The critical reception of this novel, and the critical outcry when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, Steinbeck published no more fiction in the remaining six years before his death. In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his "realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception". The selection was heavily criticized, and described as "one of

5415-561: The endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature. Fifty years later, in 2012, the Nobel Prize opened its archives and it was revealed that Steinbeck was a "compromise choice" among a shortlist consisting of Steinbeck, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Durrell , French dramatist Jean Anouilh and Danish author Karen Blixen . The declassified documents showed that he

5510-553: The first Americans to visit many parts of the USSR since the communist revolution . Steinbeck's 1948 book about their experiences, A Russian Journal , was illustrated with Capa's photos. In 1948, the year the book was published, Steinbeck was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters . Over the course of 276 days in 1952, Steinbeck wrote the first draft of East of Eden , a book he considered his ultimate test as

5605-489: The ideal prison he named Panopticon . This involved the architecture of institutional buildings to allow all prison cells to be observed by a single unseen security guard, who may or may not be present, giving them the sensation of being constantly watched. The prison is an attractive large three-story building with 99 cells in the shape of a horseshoe and a watchtower at the centre of the courtyard. Many famous political prisoners have spent time here, such as Carmine Crocco ,

5700-509: The importance of the novel but were disappointed that it was not another Grapes of Wrath . In the Nobel Prize presentation speech the next year, however, the Swedish Academy cited it most favorably: "Here he attained the same standard which he set in The Grapes of Wrath. Again he holds his position as an independent expounder of the truth with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or bad." Apparently taken aback by

5795-553: The island but Julia was probably sent to the Villa Giulia located on the Punta d'Eolo on the north of the island, with all the facilities of an imperial retreat. In 29 AD, emperor Tiberius banished Augustus' granddaughter Agrippina the Elder , who perished, probably of malnutrition, on 18 October 33 AD. After Agrippina the Elder's son Gaius, (better known as Caligula ), became emperor in 37 AD, he went to Pandataria to collect her remains and reverently brought them back to Rome. Agrippina

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5890-456: The island serves as an essential stopover point for large numbers of migratory birds. The bird observatory, which was founded in 1988, rings approximately 20,000 birds a year. During the height of the spring migration in April and May, thousands of birds arrive daily from North Africa's coasts after having flown 400 – 500 km non-stop. The Pontian Archipelago offers the first chance to stop after

5985-407: The island's narrow streets on the shoulders of eight men. As with all events during the festival, the band plays and firecrackers and fireworks are set off continuously. The celebrations end with two fireworks displays. The island is connected by a daily ferry and hydrofoil service to Formia provided by the ferry company Laziomar. This is supplemented by summer services to Anzio and Terracina on

6080-504: The lab as secretary-bookkeeper. Steinbeck helped on an informal basis. They formed a common bond based on their love of music and art, and John learned biology and Ricketts's ecological philosophy. When Steinbeck became emotionally upset, Ricketts sometimes played music for him. Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold , published in 1929, is loosely based on the life and death of privateer Henry Morgan . It centers on Morgan's assault and sacking of Panamá Viejo , sometimes referred to as

6175-504: The land he works. Before his novel Tortilla Flat (1935), Steinbeck was an obscure writer "with little success". Although he had not achieved the status of a well-known writer, he never doubted that he would achieve greatness. Steinbeck achieved his first critical success with Tortilla Flat , a novel set in post-war Monterey, California, that won the California Commonwealth Club 's Gold Medal. It portrays

6270-423: The legendary writer O. Henry . About the same time, Steinbeck recorded readings of several of his short stories for Columbia Records ; the recordings provide a record of Steinbeck's deep, resonant voice. Following the success of Viva Zapata ! , Steinbeck collaborated with Kazan on the 1955 film East of Eden , James Dean 's movie debut. Jack Moffitt of The Hollywood Reporter , in a review that appeared after

6365-568: The mainland, and the nearby island Ponza . During the summer months, SNAV also operates routes between Ventotene and Naples , as well as the island of Ischia . Santo Stefano Island Santo Stefano ( Italian : Isola di Santo Stefano ) is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy , and part of the Pontine Islands . It is roughly circular, with a diameter of less than 400 metres (1,300 feet), and it

6460-399: The marine biologist Ed Ricketts , who became a close friend and mentor to Steinbeck during the following decade, teaching him a great deal about philosophy and biology. Ricketts, usually very quiet, yet likable, with an inner self-sufficiency and an encyclopedic knowledge of diverse subjects, became a focus of Steinbeck's attention. Ricketts had taken a college class from Warder Clyde Allee ,

6555-477: The most important brigand during the Italian unification , and Gaetano Bresci , the anarchist who killed King Umberto I in 1900 and was imprisoned there for a year before being hanged in his cell by his jailers. During the Fascist regime, many antifascists were locked up at Santo Stefano, including the future President of Italy, Sandro Pertini . The prison was closed in 1965. The Archaeological Museum of Ventotene

6650-450: The number of cells. The tower in the middle is not a watchtower, but a chapel, where inmates watched the celebration of mass. Built for 600 inmates, it had 800 in 1817 (and 400 on Ventotene). People imprisoned included Carmine Crocco , the most important brigand during the Italian unification , and the anarchist Gaetano Bresci , who killed King Umberto I in 1900. He was imprisoned there for a year before being found hanged in his cell. During

6745-566: The period. Steinbeck's close relations with Ricketts ended in 1941 when Steinbeck moved away from Pacific Grove and divorced his wife Carol. Ricketts's biographer Eric Enno Tamm opined that, except for East of Eden (1952), Steinbeck's writing declined after Ricketts's untimely death in 1948. Steinbeck's novel The Moon Is Down (1942), about the Socrates -inspired spirit of resistance in an occupied village in Northern Europe ,

6840-711: The point where his books were being green-lit as movies as they released. The story first appeared in the December 1945 issue of Woman's Home Companion magazine as "The Pearl of the World". It was illustrated by John Alan Maxwell . The novel is an imaginative telling of a story which Steinbeck had heard in La Paz in 1940, as related in The Log From the Sea of Cortez , which he described in Chapter 11 as being "so much like

6935-594: The prison, which belongs to the Italian state. On 26 July 2021, the European Observer reported that a €70 million refurbishment project was to be announced to turn the island into a high-level European think-tank, academy and open-air museum as part of a European integration project. This island once harbored an endemic lizard, the Santo Stefano lizard ( Podarcis sicula sanctistephani ). It became extinct in 1965, probably due to feral cats and

7030-560: The proceeds, he built a summer ranch-home in Los Gatos . Steinbeck began to write a series of "California novels" and Dust Bowl fiction, set among common people during the Great Depression . These included In Dubious Battle , Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath . He also wrote an article series called The Harvest Gypsies for the San Francisco News about the plight of the migrant worker. Of Mice and Men

7125-466: The prolonged flight and, due to the tiny size of Ventotene, the concentration of birds of numerous species is extremely high. The exhausted birds rest and feed frenetically quite indifferent to human presence, allowing birdwatchers to observe and photograph them as in few other places in Italy. The bird observatory is part of PPI (Progetto Piccole Isole), a project which has studied the bird migration across

7220-422: The recovered objects were immediately placed on view at Ventotene. Italy's only bird migration museum can be found at the high, southern end of the island in a building called Il Semaforo . The information at the museum is based on 20 years of the observatory's research and monitoring, and explains how, where and why birds migrate as they do and the importance of bird ringing. There are real-sized models of many of

7315-441: The rock, nowadays converted to bars, restaurants, shops and diving centres. At the foot of the lighthouse are the remnants of the Roman fishery excavated in the rock, consisting of three pools, one outside and two in rooms with arched roofs where fragments of decorated plaster and stuccoes remain. A sophisticated system of canals and shutters, devised for water exchange and the transfer of fish from one compartment to another, ensured

7410-581: The site of Mount Hope , a farm community established by his grandfather, whose brother, Friedrich Großsteinbeck, had been murdered by Arab marauders in 1858 during the Outrages at Jaffa . John Steinbeck died in New York City, where his writing career had begun, on December 20, 1968, during the 1968 flu pandemic of heart disease and congestive heart failure . He was 66, and had been a lifelong smoker. An autopsy showed nearly complete occlusion of

7505-583: The slums that hugged the highways across the Central Valley, he was harrowed by what he saw. He talked with multiple families and vowed to make a book depicting their struggles. It is commonly considered his greatest work. According to The New York Times , it was the best-selling book of 1939 and 430,000 copies had been printed by February 1940. In that month, it won the National Book Award , favorite fiction book of 1939, voted by members of

7600-409: The species which use Ventotene as a stopover. During the spring and autumn migration, visitors can go along and watch while birds are weighed, measured and ringed. The celebration of the island's patron saint, Saint Candida, takes place on 20 September, but the festivities start ten days beforehand with the daily launch of a hot air balloon accompanied by a marching band. The decorated paper balloons,

7695-459: The time spent in Somerset as the happiest of their life together. Travels with Charley: In Search of America is a travelogue of his 1960 road trip with his poodle Charley. Steinbeck bemoans his lost youth and roots, while dispensing both criticism and praise for the United States. According to Steinbeck's son Thom, Steinbeck made the journey because he knew he was dying and wanted to see

7790-740: The trip, their marriage was beginning to suffer, and ended a year later, in 1941, even as Steinbeck worked on the manuscript for the book. In 1942, after his divorce from Carol he married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger. Ricketts was Steinbeck's model for the character of "Doc" in Cannery Row (1945) and Sweet Thursday (1954), "Friend Ed" in Burning Bright , and characters in In Dubious Battle (1936) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Ecological themes recur in Steinbeck's novels of

7885-575: The west. Ventotene has a typical Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters that tend to be very windy. Vento , as in the island's name, meaning wind in Italian, is apt to describe the prominent weather condition for this small island far out at sea. The temperature never drops below 0 °C (32 °F). Ventotene, like all the Pontine Islands, was owned by the Emperor Augustus (r. 31 BC - 14 AD) who had

7980-425: Was a drama about the dreams of two migrant agricultural laborers in California. Steinbeck, on vacations to Mexico, witnessed sold-out theater troupes with often poor and illiterate workers consisting of the audience. As such, Steinbeck chose to write Of Mice and Men with a stage play in mind. It was critically acclaimed and Steinbeck's 1962 Nobel Prize citation called it a "little masterpiece". Its stage production

8075-432: Was a hit, starring Wallace Ford as George and Broderick Crawford as George's companion, the mentally childlike, but physically powerful itinerant farmhand Lennie. Steinbeck refused to travel from his home in California to attend any performance of the play during its New York run, telling director George S. Kaufman that the play as it existed in his own mind was "perfect" and that anything presented on stage would only be

8170-418: Was able to live on the fish and crabs that he gathered from the sea, and fresh vegetables from his garden and local farms. When those sources failed, Steinbeck and his wife accepted welfare, and on rare occasions, stole bacon from the local produce market. Whatever food they had, they shared with their friends. Carol became the model for Mary Talbot in Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row . In 1930, Steinbeck met

8265-735: Was an acquaintance of modernist poet Robinson Jeffers , a Californian neighbor. In a letter to Elizabeth Otis, Steinbeck wrote: "Robinson Jeffers and his wife came in to call the other day. He looks a little older but that is all. And she is just the same." In 1962, Steinbeck began acting as friend and mentor to the young writer and naturalist Jack Rudloe , who was trying to establish his own biological supply company, now Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in Florida. Their correspondence continued until Steinbeck's death. In February 1966, Steinbeck and his wife traveled to Israel . He visited in Tel Aviv

8360-529: Was asked his favorite authors and works and replied: " Hemingway 's short stories and nearly everything Faulkner wrote." In September 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Steinbeck the Presidential Medal of Freedom . In 1967, at the behest of Newsday magazine, Steinbeck went to Vietnam to report on the war. He thought of the Vietnam War as a heroic venture and was considered

8455-431: Was banned in 1997. There are also guided tours to see Roman amphorae from ships sunk 2000 years ago and the large steamer Santa Lucia, which was sunk during World War II, resulting in nearly 100 dead. It lies at a depth of about40 m (130 ft). There is also a lot to be seen with the use of snorkeling gear at only a few meters depth around the island and its beaches. Ventotene is a well-known birdwatching location as

8550-440: Was built to support emperor Augustus’ summer residence, as there was no natural harbour on the island. It was entirely excavated in the rock banks and about 60,000 m (2,100,000 cu ft) were removed to create a port with a narrow, protected inlet. It is approximately180 m (590 ft) long by85 m (279 ft) at its widest and3 m (9.8 ft) deep. The quayside was lined by storerooms and depots hewn from

8645-475: Was chosen as the best of a bad lot. "There aren't any obvious candidates for the Nobel prize and the prize committee is in an unenviable situation," wrote committee member Henry Olsson . Although the committee believed Steinbeck's best work was behind him by 1962, committee member Anders Österling believed the release of his novel The Winter of Our Discontent showed that "after some signs of slowing down in recent years, [Steinbeck has] regained his position as

8740-603: Was confronted by Gwyn, who asked for a divorce, which became final in October. Steinbeck spent the year after Ricketts's death in deep depression. In June 1949, Steinbeck met stage manager Elaine Scott at a restaurant in Carmel, California . Steinbeck and Scott eventually began a relationship, and in December 1950 they married, within a week of Scott's finalizing her own divorce from actor Zachary Scott . This third marriage for Steinbeck lasted until his death in 1968. Steinbeck

8835-643: Was made in 1992 starring Gary Sinise as George and John Malkovich as Lennie. Steinbeck followed this wave of success with The Grapes of Wrath (1939), based on newspaper articles about migrant agricultural workers that he had written in San Francisco. In August 1936, the San Francisco News asked Steinbeck to personally interview multiple families in the impoverished Hoovervilles of the San Joaquin Valley . As Steinbeck visited

8930-763: Was made into a film almost immediately. It was presumed that the unnamed country of the novel was Norway and the occupiers the Germans. In 1945, Steinbeck received the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross for his literary contributions to the Norwegian resistance movement . In 1943, Steinbeck served as a World War II war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune and worked with the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of

9025-600: Was one of the few in the world that one could not buy nor gain by political maneuver. It was precisely because the committee made its judgment ... on its own criteria, rather than plugging into 'the main currents of American writing' as defined by the critical establishment, that the award had value." In his acceptance speech later in the year in Stockholm, he said: the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In

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