John Steinbeckâ??s most famous works are infused with the landscape of Californiaâ??s Salinas Valleyâ??the authorâ??s birthplace and home for many years. Works such as The Red Pony and East of Eden are set in the town, Of Mice and Men takes place in nearby Soledad and both Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row occur in Monterey. The Grapes of Wrath is also partially set in California, where the Joad family arrives in search of a new life.
 
Despite his frequent use of the area as backdrops in his writing, Steinbeckâ??s relationship with the Salinas Valley imitated a tumultuous love affair. He established a quiet home in the area with his first wife, Carol, and remained for several years, writing the classics Tortilla Flat (1935) and Of Mice and Men (1936). Things changed, however, with the publication of The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Steinbeckâ??s controversial descriptions of the plight of migrant workers led to book-burnings in Salinas. Locals, who resented his fame and outspokenness, started to harass the author.
 
In 1941, Steinbeck set out for New York, a city he had visited as a young man. He divorced Carol, married his second wife, Gwendolyn, and had two sons. He lived in the city for several years, working as a war correspondent while writing Cannery Row (1945). Homesick for California, he returned with his family in 1945, only to discover that he was still unwelcome in his home state. He continued to make trips back and forth between the east and west coasts, including one to Salinas in 1948 to research material for East of Eden (1952).
 
The year 1949 saw his 2nd divorce and 3rd marriage to Elaine. Steinbeck established his residence in Sag Harbor, Long Island, where the family lived sporadically until his death in 1968. By the end of his life, Steinbeck had been awarded both the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath in 1940, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. After he died, the country honored his intimate connection with his home state and his ashes were buried in the family plot in Salinas.

Articles About Steinbeck, John

Teaching John Steinbeck	November 27, 2007
The novels of John Steinbeck inhabit many bookshelves in classrooms across the United States. High school English classes spend weeks exploring the details of Steinbeck's novels; the complex relationships, the labyrinthine conflicts, and the characters and their ghosts, amid his strong, yet luxuriant language.
John Steinbeck's New York A Home in Sag Harbor	November 27, 2007
Though Steinbeck is generally known as a California writer, he lived nearly half his life in New York - keeping homes in New York City, and later in Sag Harbor, Long Island. In June of 1925 Steinbeck left Stanford University without taking a degree. He questioned where he might go next: China, Mexico, Chicago, San Francisco?
John Steinbeck's California Connections	November 26, 2007
"I think I would like to write the story of this whole valley, of all the little towns and all the farms and the ranches in the wilder hills. I can see how I would like to do it so that it would be the valley of the world. Steinbeck's letter to George Albee, Salinas, 1933