A New Reading of an Old Text in Eastern Europe: John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle
Abstract Although rich in artistry and depth, Steinbeck’s novel In Dubious Battle (1936) has been judged less as a novel and more as a sociological event or a propagandistic political tract. At least contemporary critics are inclined to treat the book as a legitimate work of art, to be approached from a variety of the usual aesthetic and theoretical angles. However, no matter which lens In Dubious Battle is viewed through, it is certainly a mistake to attribute the novel’s enduring appeal and value to its depiction of a migrant apple pickers’ strike typical of the 1930s. In its concern with the human dilemmas regarding the nature of power, personal freedom, and degree of responsibility and commitment, it is as powerful today as it was when it was written.
Major Steinbeck Publications, 2012-2013
Abbott, Scott, and Lyn Bennett. “Literary Barbed Wire: Reifying the Metaphor.” Steinbeck Review 10.1 (2013): 12–30. Print. Armengol, Josep M. “Gendering the Great Depression: Rethinking the Male Body in 1930s American Culture and Literature.” Journal of Gender Studies 23.1 (2014): 59–68. Print. Barden, Thomas E. “‘He was translated’: Euhemerism in Steinbeck’s Work and Worldview.” Steinbeck Review 11.1 (2014): 14–38. Print. Brinkman, Mark. “Looking Back to the Future in John Steinbeck’s America and Americans.” Steinbeck Review 11.2 (2014): 155–170. Print. Brown, Mary M. “‘To read a fine thing’: Three Poems Honoring Steinbeck.” Steinbeck Review 11.2 (2014): 185–188. Print. Čerče, Danica. “A New Reading of an Old Text in Eastern Europe: John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle.” Journal of Language Literature and Culture 60.3 (2013): 178–192. Print. DeLucia, Laura. “Positioning Steinbeck’s Automobiles: Class and Cars in The Grapes of Wrath.” Steinbeck Review 11.2 (2014): 138–154. Print. DeMott, Robert. “Of Fish and Men.” Steinbeck Review 11.2 (2014): 113–137. Print. Gaard, Greta. “Literary Milk: Breastfeeding across Race, Class, and Species in Contemporary U.S. Fiction.” Journal of Ecocriticism 5.1 (2013): 1–18. Print. Gladstein, Mimi Reisel. “Edenic Ironies: Steinbeck’s Conflicted Vision.” Steinbeck Review 11.1 (2014): 1–13. Print. Godfrey, Mollie. “‘They ain’t human’: John Steinbeck, Proletarian Fiction, and the Racial Politics of ‘The People.’” Modern Fiction Studies 59.1 (2013): 107–134. Print. m a j o r s t e i n b e c k p u b l i c a t i o n s , 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 3
Communist History: An Annual Bibliography (2005)
The subject of this bibliography is the scholarly literature of communist history. For the USA coverage is extensive. For the rest of the Anglophone world coverage is selective, while coverage for the rest of the world is more selective still. Coverage of the former and presently communist countries is largely limited to works dealing with the Communist parties of those countries. Anti-communism is covered selectively, with somewhat more emphasis on its interaction with communism than its nature as a movement/ideology per se. Coverage of related topics, i.e. the labor movement, Marxism, other strains of radicalism, etc., is highly selective and limited to items directly relevant to communism. For coverage of current reportage (newspapers, news weeklies, journals of opinion, Internet/WWW discussion lists, etc.) see the Newsletter of the Historians of American Communism and the Historians of American Communism Discussion List (h-hoac@h-net.msu.edu). The Bibliography is organized into seven sections, listed below. Sections 1–5 are form and genre based (monographs, serials, etc.), while sections 6 and 7 are format based (sound and visual, electronic). Entries are arranged alphabetically within each section. Where the number of entries warrants it, a section is divided into USA and Other. There is no index. Please be aware that most citations for items in electronic format are listed under their appropriate form/genre, i.e. articles in electronic serials are listed under serials. Section 7 (Internet, WWW, etc.) only contains citations for items in forms and genres irreducibly unique to the electronic environment, i.e. discussion lists (and postings and threads therein) and for those web sites and other electronic resources not subsumed under categories 1–7. Items cited are from the calendar year in the title of the Bibliography, with two exceptions, Internet/WWW items, where publication/creation date information is often unavailable or indeterminate, and older items not cited