Join us for West Branch's monthly book dis cussion group! We read a variety of diverse contemporary and classic ficti on and meet once a month for a thought-provoking conversation. Register fo r in-person or virtual. Copies are reserved and available for pickup for a ll attendees. \;
\nContact discussion facilitator Dani Linn at&n bsp\;dtlinn@aurorapublicli brary.org \;with questions\, concerns\, or suggestions.
\nPublished in September 1952\, the work is regarded by ma ny to be Steinbeck's most ambitious novel and by Steinbeck himself to be h is \;magnum opus. Steinbeck stated about \;East of Eden: "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profe ssion in all these years\," and later said: "I think everything else I hav e written has been\, in a sense\, practice for this." The novel was origin ally addressed to Steinbeck's young sons\, Thom and John. Steinbeck wanted to describe the \;Salinas Valley \;for them in detail: the sights \, sounds\, smells and colors.
\nEast of Eden is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his m ost enduring themes: the mystery of identity\, the inexplicability of love \, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. \;
\nIn his journal\, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book\," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity o f myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley\, this spr awling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies and intric ate details of two families\, the Trasks and the Hamiltons. The Hamilton f amily in the novel is said to be based on the real-life family of Samuel H amilton\, Steinbeck's maternal grandfather. A young John Steinbeck also ap pears briefly in the novel as a minor character.
\nAdapted for the 1 955 film directed by Elia Kazan introducing James Dean\, and read by thous ands as the book that brought Oprah s Book Club back\, East of Eden has re mained vitally present in American culture for over half a century.
\nh ttps://aurora.libnet.info/event/7999116 URL;VALUE=URI:https://aurora.libnet.info/event/7999116 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/aurora/EoEJSteinbeck.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR