What do You think about To A God Unknown (2011)?
Its ambiguity, a novel written in ode to an unknown god, is what originally drew me to the book. Seeing that Steinbeck's latter works tended to be pretty biographical, I got the book, curious to see whether it gave any insight into how Steinbeck viewed religion or his faith. It was surprising to realize that the book is not so much intended to be a coherent story that spawns reader admiration, but rather, as Steinbeck himself put it, a complex mesh of his ideas and musings about life, death, and destiny that doesn't quite get resolved or answered through the course of the story.There is an inherent quest for a supreme being--a crutch to rely on when things fall through--and the divergent beliefs of the characters portrayed in the novel show this, from vapid and stolid Christianity to a webbing of pantheistic nature worship, tribal superstition and Catholicism. Unlike Steinbeck's later works, the story is heavily surrealistic and relies on the mystical; it attempts to fluidly coexist with reality but fails to do so, and thus, the dichotomy fails and leaves the whole story hanging in some sort of uncomfortable limbo. An interesting read nonetheless.Without giving everything away, a cryptic anthropomorphism (in my opinion never explained or developed) was central to the plot, of man inhabiting the spirit of nature. In a somewhat puzzling but satisfying ending, the clock ticks backwards, and drawing from paganism (the symbolic rock) and ritual ceremony (blood), man proves that he is indeed nature itself. Or does he?Here, I think, is up to the interpretation of the reader. One could view the final sacrifice as enough to undo all wrongs, but the finals words of the priest hint otherwise. While drawing admiration from the townsfolk for his wisdom, the text shows that he is still as confused and emotionally inexperienced as any child. I believe that Steinbeck hints at a more cynical and darker interpretation of man's destiny. As much as men wish, pray, and search, he ultimately has no control over the course of nature. The humans cry, but the sun laughs on. And when the "spirits" of nature crumble to ash, the unknown god that governs all still refuses to reveal itself.
—Hosanna
Steinbeck wrote a number of California novels. The early ones feature lyrical descriptive prose of the land, whether of the Salinas Valley or the Pacific Coast. Clearly Steinbeck loved the area, had a real passion for the valleys, the vegetation, the animals and the people who lived there. But while almost all of his other California novels that focused on the land and the people who lived on it were gently affectionate, To A God Unknown is a very different bird. The title is taken from an adaptation of a hymn to the god Prajapati from the Hindu Rig-Veda. And while the hymn is innocuous enough, it really is a foreshadowing of what is to come.[return][return]Steinbeck used his initial chapters and prefaces to set the emotional mood of his works. In To A God Unknown, practically from the first chapter, the mood is one of a foreboding, as Joseph Wayne takes leave of his father who blesses him in a vaguely described but clearly unusual way, deliberately meant, I m sure, to evoke Hebrew Testament patriarchs. From there on, the mood just intensifies, as Wayne finds land that is his so much so that there is a passage that can easily be interpreted as his copulation with the earth.[return][return]From old-timers, Indian/Hispanic residents of the valley, Joseph learns of years when there was a terrible drought when the land died and the cattle died and the people left. But Wayne is convinced that it will never happen again to his land. There is an old oak on the land, underneath which Wayne builds his house. One day, he feels a presence in the oak, and is convinced that somehow his father is there. He receives a letter from his brothers telling of the passing of the old man and how at the end there was nothing more the father wanted than to see John s new land. The brothers, two of whom are married, come out to join Joseph in California, buy adjacent land, and jointly farm. One brother, Burton, is a fundamentalist Christian, and in his religious fanaticism lie the seeds of the outcome of this story.[return][return]The years pass Joseph takes a wife, Elizabeth the farms prosper but still there is no relief from the absolute certainty that disaster is ahead, that some appalling calamity awaits. Partially, Steinbeck achieves this in his dialogue, which seems perfectly natural to the characters but is off somehow not right, strange. [return][return]The tension becomes practically unbearable; the catastrophe strikes. And the resolution is both inevitable, satisfying, and unsettling at the same time.[return][return]I did not find To A God Unknown an easy read on the contrary, I had to put it down for a while because I just could not bear what I knew was coming. This is one of Steinbeck s most powerful and disturbing works, and will throw off those who are used to his more affectionate books such as Tortilla Flat. Yet it is an outstanding example of how mood can be determined and sustained by great writing.
—Joyce Lagow
John Steinbeck leaves such a legacy of literature inclding his classics "Grapes of Wrath", "Of Mice of Men" and "Cain and Abel" that it seems impossible that I missed one of his books. And, yet, I did. This third novel is a strong, early work of a man whose talent would only become stronger. Along with fellow Nobel Prize winners, Faulkner and Hemingway, he valued the creative process of literary writing.Although, I am quite familiar with the Salinas area, this book has special meaning for me. The basis of this story happened in Mendocino County where I live and he reset into the Central Valley of Calif. This is a love story of the land. Joseph Wayne loves his land above all else. He is aware of everything that happens on his land and it matters to him. He has an old Oak tree on his property that he starts to believe holds his father's spirit. He practices a form of paganism that creates barriers between him and others. One of his brother's, in order to save Joseph's soul, kills the tree and the land turns against him. It's a very thoughtful book on beliefs and a search for a soul.
—Susan Johnson
