For Steinbeck, Whose Light Burns Clear

I want to go . . . where the lights are given. (357)

—Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

Under "Submission Information" in this issue of Steinbeck Review, the guidelines for essays have been expanded to read as follows: "Essays should show an awareness of the most recent developments in Steinbeck criticism and should be written with an intent to delight, to instruct, and to illuminate." The infinitive phrase "to illuminate" is a new addition to this description, one that reflects Steinbeck's intent in writing his final novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, as it is delineated in a letter to Pascal Covici dated July 1, 1960: "It's not a novel like any I have seen or read or heard of, but as far as I know a novel is a long piece of fiction having form, direction and rhythm as well as intent. At worst it should amuse, at half-staff move to emotion and at best it should illuminate" (LL 676, emphasis added).¹ By intimation, in Winter Steinbeck will take a stance like that of the eighteenth-century British satirists, holding the mirror for readers—in this case, representative of all Americans—illuminating their vices so they may see them clearly, but always with the hope for correction. In this novel's opening address to the reader, Steinbeck further articulates his intention to enlighten his readers by acknowledging his didactic purpose and taking on his role as the people's bard: "Readers seeking to identify the fictional people and places here described would do better to inspect their own communities and search their own hearts, for this book is about a large part of America today" (Winter n.p.). Speaking as America's poet, bard, and prophet, Steinbeck holds up a cautionary sign warning against an encroaching moral demise—inspect the world around you, he urges, and search your own heart so as to guard against this threat. Underlying this address to his readers is an implied urgency: we must all become light givers and pass along a nation's penchant for magnanimity and greatness of spirit to offset the darkness of these times.²

The title of The Winter of Our Discontent is taken from the opening line of Shakespeare's dramatic history of the Machiavellian King Richard III: "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York." Steinbeck's title, therefore, suggests a parallel between the dark moral morass depicted in Shakespeare's play, with its misplaced hope in a villain, and our own times when America's moral moorings are slipping, with "alternative facts," "fake news," and "post-truth" becoming a part of the popular vocabulary. There is no doubt where Steinbeck would stand as his beloved country is so endangered. With the environmentalists, with the immigrants, with the disenfranchised "other," with our international community, and with our media who speak truth in face of "alternative facts" and lies—with all of this multitude of souls, Steinbeck would stand side by side, speaking truth to power, illuminating falsehood, and hoping for betterment. He was concerned with environmental matters, as informed by Ricketts. He commented extensively on American politics. He was a reporter. He defended immigrants. Steinbeck can easily be stripped of his political opinions in contemporary discourse because he is a famous and canonical literary figure. But then he isn't actually Steinbeck. He's just another bust in a museum, just another name to drop at dinner parties. Taking the argument for social change out of literature does not preserve the literary establishment as much as distance it from practical application and continued relevance. Hence, discussing Steinbeck and today's political climate is worthwhile. Just so, the essays in this issue of Steinbeck Review shed light on our own times as well as his. The first three essays in this issue speak clearly to these issues, illuminating concerns pertinent to our own times, with John Steinbeck's light still burning clear.

In "To a God Unknown: Drought, Climate, and Race in the West," Gavin Jones explores the intersection of natural phenomena and interpersonal...