The Movie Comes In Cinemascope

If we live in an age that will witness the death of literature, then we will experience the extinguishing of our creative life force. Literature is a record of all that makes us human, an attentive and thorough chronicling of the human condition. Without literature, we have spectacle and entertainment. We have, as Socrates says in Gorgias, pandering.

Steinback’s East of Eden is a serious novel. It traces the history of two families in his childhood home of Salinas, California. With the biblical story of Cain and Abel as its centerpiece, the novel posits on the nature of good and evil, and our fascination with sin and redemption.

Steinback writes: “And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.”

The novel is so good, I can pretend to overlook its misogyny. Steinback wrote it after his second divorce, and his animosity and venom get directed into the monstrous character of Cathy. She is pure evil, beyond redemption. Steinback referred to her as a representative as Satan. Regrettable, but not unforgivable.

East of Eden is a novel for people that love literature, and literature for people who love life.

Please note this blog post was purchased on eBay for seven dollars and fifty seven cents.

Check out Decater's new novel, available now at Amazon. Plus, don't forget his earlier books: Ahab's Adventures in Wonderland and Picasso Painted Dinosaurs.