East of Eden [VINTAGE 2002] [STEINBECK CENTENNIAL EDITION]

Steinbeck, John

Edité par Penguin Books, New York, 2002

A propos de cet article

Fine condition illustrated softcover wraps. Includes About the Author and John Steinbeck letter to Pascal Covici. A small former owner address label neatly affixed to the lower left edge of the first free front endpaper. "The Salinas Valley is in Northern California. It is a long narrow swale between two ranges of mountains, and the Salinas River winds and twists up the center until it fall at last into Montery Bay." - from the rear outer cover. "In his journal, John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book" and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations helplessly reenact the full of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new, rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives, nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness, enveloped by a mysterious darkness. First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis." - from the inner front cover flap. "A novel planned on the grandest possible scale.One of those occasions when a writer has aimed high and then summoned every ounce of energy, talent, seriousness, and passion of which he was capable.It is an entirely interesting and impressive book." - The New York Herald Tribune. "A fantasia and myth.a strange and original work of art." - The New York Times Book Review. "A moving, crying pageant with wilderness strengths." - Carl Sandburg. AUTHOR LETTER TO PASCAL COVICI (at beginning of the volume): "Dear Pat, You came upon me carving some kind of little figure out of wood and you said, Why don't you make something for me?" I asked you what you wanted, and you said, "A box." What for?" "To put things in." "What things?" "Whatever you have," you said. Well, here's your box. Nearly everything I have is in it, and it is not full. Pain and excitement are in it, and feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts - the pleasure of design and some despair and the indescribable joy of creation. And on top of these are all the gratitude and love I have for you. And still the box is not full." - John.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: East of Eden [VINTAGE 2002] [STEINBECK CENTENNIAL EDITION]
• Éditeur: Penguin Books, New York
• Date de parution: 2002
• Langue: anglais
• Reliure: Soft cover
• Illustrateur: Buckley, Paul (cover design); Davidson, Andrew (cover art); Halsman, Philippe (rear cover author photograph)
• Impression: 8th Printing
• État de l'article: Fine