Guide Note

John Steinbeck's East of Eden is a modern reflection and parallel of the Biblical Cain and Abel story from the book of Genesis. It was featured as recommended reading from Oprah's Book Club.

Fast Facts

1. Author: John Steinbeck
2. Genre: Classic Novel
3. Publication Date: September, 1952
4. Setting: Salinas Valley, California, Post World War I
5. Steinbeck believed this to be his greatest work
6. Heavily criticized by his contemporaries
7. Publisher: The Viking Press
8. Pages: 601
9. ISBN 978-0142004234
10. Adaptations: Film, Television Mini Series, Opera

• "By the time Steinbeck published East of Eden in 1952, he was already one of the preeminent authors of his time. As a result the book was reviewed repeatedly in the week of its publication by numerous magazines of high repute. The New York Times, Time Magazine, the Saturday Review, and The New Yorker, to name a few. Although what aspects of Steinbeck’s writing individual reviewers did and did not like, the book was received with a universal tone of ambivalence." - University of Illinois

• "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years. I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this." - John Steinbeck