Working Days: The Journals Of The Grapes Of Wrath (1990) - Plot & Excerpts
I found this a very interesting read. I think that all authors, would-be-authors, and readers wondering about the process of creating a novel, would agree with me. Note: Some parts of Steinbeck’s journal entries are slightly repetitious, but each entry is short enough that I found it easy, and not at all distracting, to skim through such passages. The book begins with a 57 page “Introduction” – lengthy, but with some interesting points to make:- The Grapes of Wrath has been less judged as a novel than as a sociological event, a celebrated political cause, or a factual case study. If the past fifty years have seen little consensus about the exact nature of the novel’s achievement, there has been plenty of proof that elicits widely divergent responses from its audience.- As she did with all her husband’s manuscripts, Carol typed and edited The Grapes of Wrath, served in the early stages as a rigorous critical commentator… and, in a brilliant stroke, chose the novel’s title from Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic”….- Contrary to popular belief, Steinbeck never traveled with a migrant family all the way from Oklahoma to California.- Although he published prolifically after The Grapes of Wrath, it would be twelve years before Steinbeck summoned the resources to attempt, in East of Eden, another “big” book with a similarly exalted conception and theme…. A prophetic post-modernist, Steinbeck’s real subject in Cannery Row, East of Eden, Sweet Thursday, The Winter of Our Discontent, and the Journal of a Novel was the creative process itself. PART II: THE DIARY OF A BOOK (May-October 1938):The following are a few snippets to give you an idea of what these (100+) journal entries are like. (I have omitted the actual dates and time of each entry: for the most part, Steinbeck wrote daily, usually beginning at around 11:00 a.m.)-tEntry #10: …. Now to the day’s work and now Muley comes in and the reason for the desertion becomes apparent. Also, the night comes in with sleeping in the darkening plain and stars [ed. – Chapter 6:]. And after that I think a small inter chapter or maybe a large one dealing with the equipment of migration. Well here goes for Muley. Well that is done. I like Muley. He is a fine hater. Must write a few letters now. -tEntry #12: …. Today Tommy Joad tells about prison and I don’t know whether the chapter will finish or not. That’s not the problem. Rob and Mary write they want to come down. They can’t. I am well into this now and nothing is going to be allowed to interfere. When I am all done I shall relax but not until then. My life isn’t very long and I must get one good book written before it ends….-tEntry #13 …. The failure of will even for one day has a devastating effect on the whole, far more important than just the loss of time and wordage. The whole physical basis of the novel is discipline of the writer, of his material, of the language. And sadly enough, if any of the discipline is gone, all of it suffers….-tEntry #14 …. Yesterday was a bust. I could have forced the work out but I’d lost the flow of the book and it would have been a weak spot….-tEntry #15 …. Not an early start today but it doesn’t matter at all because the unity feeling is back. That is the fine thing. That makes it fun and easy to work…-tEntry #16 …. Yesterday the used car lot and today Tom and Casy go home to the family, if they get there [Ed.—beginning of Chapter 8:]. Must go slowly and introduce these people fully and carefully for I will be with them for a long time… -tEntry #18 …. This is a huge job. Mustn’t think of its largeness but only of the little picture while I am working. Leave the large picture for planning time…But I am assailed with my own ignorance and inability…Honesty. If I can keep an honesty it is all I can expect of my poor brain…If I can do that it will be all my lack of genius can produce. For no one else knows my lack of ability the way I do…-tEntry # 40 … I wonder if I will ever finish this book. And of course I’ll finish it. Just work a certain length of time and it will get done poco o poco. Just do the day’s work. Some days I think I am getting sour but I don’t know. Some days I think I am getting sour but I don’t know. Then comes a good day and I am lifted again. And I can’t tell from the opening. Often in writing these beginning lines I think it is going to be all right and then it isn’t. Just have to see…-tEntry #42 …. Only 8 days to finish half. And today I cut out another section. In Part III: AFTERMATH (1939-1941), twenty-three more irregular entries follow a short commentary. “Following its official publication date on April 14, 1939, The Grapes of Wrath remained atop the best-seller lists for most of the year, selling roughly 428,900 copies in hard cover at $2.95 apiece. (In 1941, when The Sun Dial Press issued a hard-back reprint selling for $1.00, the publisher announced that over 543,000 copies of Steinbeck’s novel had already been sold.)”The last section, NOTES AND ANNOTATIONS a Bibliographical Preface, includes interesting clarifications of many of the entries in the two parts that comprise John Steinbeck’s journal entries. Steinbeck’s diary entries actually total only one hundred pages. The rest of the book contains background information by the editor, Robert Demott. To say that the book should be dismissed because of this would be a mistake. At the same time, I expected to discover more insights into the day-to-day working mind of the author who wrote The Grapes of Wrath. If I were to read this the novel again, I would definitely have Working Days at my side as I read. At the same time, I can say that I recommended this book as a compelling read on its own merits.
Some how I missed reading this novel during my school days, but the wait was well worth it. I loved the structure of alternating chapters of "General" and "Particular" of his writing. The "General" chapters laid the scene, using dialogue, description and exposition from various, mostly unnamed sources. These short general chapters described the mood of a place, the struggle of activity, or difficulty that would soon befall the Joads. The "Particular" story of Joads family was detailed, and the main narrative of the book, in the longer "particular" chapters. Ma, Pa, Uncle John, Tom and Casy the ex-preacher form the backbone of the family.The migration and break up of the Joads family, the strife they endure in traveling and the lack of welcome they receive in California are enduring images. The fact Steinbeck took many images and stories from the field in his research and from his friend, Tom Collins, who worked a migrant, government-sponsored, camp, makes this book all the more chilling in its effect. What dark secrets is America hiding in this Great Recession?I fell upon Steinbeck's "Journal: Working Days," which he kept (fairly) diligently during the 4-5 months he wrote "Grapes" and sporadically thereafter for about another year, and read "Working Days" in conjuction and at pace with the novel.Steinbeck revealed in the journal his many doubts about the novel, his writing ability and his self-worth. The journal also details his thoughts on the social/political climate (WWII was on the horizon), the many intrusions on his personal life, dealings with friends, families and letter correspondence, his business relationships with eidtors and publishers, his relationship with Carol (his wife), and the sell of the Los Gateos home and purchase of the Biddle Ranch. Steinbeck relied on a detailed outline, he had laid out in his head, for the nove. Only his will to persist in his writing habit, against the daily distractions, and his goal to achieve a daily word count, allowed for this "big" book to be completed in such a short time frame (an early novella nearly took him five years to complete). He wanted to spill the previous few years of research and knowledge on to the page at an intense, frenetic pace. I felt this energy, and its momentum, carry me to the final image and its open ending.
What do You think about Working Days: The Journals Of The Grapes Of Wrath (1990)?
Again, Steinbeck's daily record of his struggles to sit down and write his novel is a gift to all writers. Obviously, he worked from a plan he'd previously spent a great deal of time and energy forming, and obviously his manuscript later went through editorial development with his editor and close friend Pat Covici. But the day-to-day professional attitude toward his job, toward the process of his craft---that's something no aspiring writer can ever hear enough about.It takes a long time to become a writer. It takes years and years to write a single good book. And life interferes.We need to know this in our bones.Plus, it turns out Steinbeck referenced my hometown in The Grapes of Wrath. Who knew?
—Victoria Mixon
This is the journal that Steinbeck kept while wring The Grapes of Wrath. He began each writing day by clearing his mind of other concerns and his feelings of not being up to the task and by getting the juices to flow by writing a journal entry. He had the novel all mapped out in his mind, however apparently not outlined, so you follow his development of the details as he slogs his way through, day-by-day. The editor, Robert DeMott gives background and explanations that make it come alive. Anyone who has struggled with writing, will identify with this.
—Paul L'Herrou
Anyone who doesn’t think writing is hard work should read this collection, taken from Steinbeck’s daily writing notes. The poor man sweats bullets the whole time and pours blood, sweat, and tears into his manuscript. Even though Steinbeck had quite a few published works by this point, he angsts constantly about how he’s not a real writer, and soon everybody is going to find it out. He alternates between thinking his work is crap and hoping that it’s brilliant. He has to psych himself up to write each day and most of the time ends up bullying himself into cranking out a page even though he doesn’t feel like it. In short, he expresses the rollercoaster of emotions that every writer seems to go through during the writing process, and I felt tremendously encouraged by that. His excitement when his wife came up with the perfect title for the manuscript he’d been slaving over for months was touching and so…relatable. Hey, I know that feeling! This is a great read for fans of Steinbeck, or for any writer, regardless of whether they enjoy Steinbeck’s works.
—Stephanie Ricker
