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anders_holbaek's review against another edition
January 29, 1951 [Monday]
"We come now to the book. It has been planned a long time. I planned it when I didn't know what it was about. I developed a language for it that I will never use. This seems such a waste of the few years a man has to write in. And still I do not think I could have written it before now. Of course it would have been a book - but not this book. [...]
All the experiment is over now. I either write the book or I do not. There can be no excuses. The form will not be startling, the writing will be spare and lean, the concepts hard, the philosophy old and yet new born. [...]
And so I will start my book addressed to my boys. I think perhaps it is the only book I have ever written. I think there is only one book to a man. It is true that a man may change or be so warped that he becomes another man and has another book but I do not think that is so with me."
Sådan skriver John Steinbeck i det første af mange breve addresseret til sin redaktør 'Pat'. Brevene blev en slags opvarmning til hans daglige process med at skrive sit hovedværk - og ét af de amerikanske hovedværker - Øst for paradis.
I brevene følger vi Steinbecks process, det daglige arbejde, hans overvejelser om figurer, temaer, etc. Jeg havde fornøjelsen af at læse Øst for Paradis i min bogklub hen over vinteren, et vidunder af en bog, og Journal of a Novel var en fantastisk følgesvend. Til de, der har læst romanen - the only book Steinbeck nogensinde har skrevet, som han skriver - vil det være som at kunne følge opførelsen af en mægtig katedral, fyldt med interessante og rørende passager som denne, der følger det sidste brev efter romanen er færdigskrevet og som originalt skulle have været dedikationen:
"Dear Pat [...]
The dedication is to you with all the admiration and affection that have been distilled from our singularly blessed association of many years. this book is inscribed to you because you have been part of its birth and growth.
As you know, a prologue is written last but placed first to explain the book's shortcomings and to ask the reader to be kind. But a prologue is also a note of farewell from the writer to his book. For years the writer and his book have been together - friends or bitter enemies but very close as only love and fighting can accomplish. [...]
Then suddenly the book is done. It is a kind of death. This is the requiem. [...]
A book is like a man - clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.
Well - then the book is done. It has no virtue any more. The writer wants to cry out - 'Bring it back! Let me rewrite it or better - Let me burn it. Don't let it out in the unfriendly cold in that condition.'"
Øst for paradis blev Steinbecks hovedværk, og det sidste 'store' værk han skrev, selvom han fortsatte med at skrive mange år efter. Et årti efter udgivelse blev han tildelt nobelprisen i litteratur "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception."
"We come now to the book. It has been planned a long time. I planned it when I didn't know what it was about. I developed a language for it that I will never use. This seems such a waste of the few years a man has to write in. And still I do not think I could have written it before now. Of course it would have been a book - but not this book. [...]
All the experiment is over now. I either write the book or I do not. There can be no excuses. The form will not be startling, the writing will be spare and lean, the concepts hard, the philosophy old and yet new born. [...]
And so I will start my book addressed to my boys. I think perhaps it is the only book I have ever written. I think there is only one book to a man. It is true that a man may change or be so warped that he becomes another man and has another book but I do not think that is so with me."
Sådan skriver John Steinbeck i det første af mange breve addresseret til sin redaktør 'Pat'. Brevene blev en slags opvarmning til hans daglige process med at skrive sit hovedværk - og ét af de amerikanske hovedværker - Øst for paradis.
I brevene følger vi Steinbecks process, det daglige arbejde, hans overvejelser om figurer, temaer, etc. Jeg havde fornøjelsen af at læse Øst for Paradis i min bogklub hen over vinteren, et vidunder af en bog, og Journal of a Novel var en fantastisk følgesvend. Til de, der har læst romanen - the only book Steinbeck nogensinde har skrevet, som han skriver - vil det være som at kunne følge opførelsen af en mægtig katedral, fyldt med interessante og rørende passager som denne, der følger det sidste brev efter romanen er færdigskrevet og som originalt skulle have været dedikationen:
"Dear Pat [...]
The dedication is to you with all the admiration and affection that have been distilled from our singularly blessed association of many years. this book is inscribed to you because you have been part of its birth and growth.
As you know, a prologue is written last but placed first to explain the book's shortcomings and to ask the reader to be kind. But a prologue is also a note of farewell from the writer to his book. For years the writer and his book have been together - friends or bitter enemies but very close as only love and fighting can accomplish. [...]
Then suddenly the book is done. It is a kind of death. This is the requiem. [...]
A book is like a man - clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.
Well - then the book is done. It has no virtue any more. The writer wants to cry out - 'Bring it back! Let me rewrite it or better - Let me burn it. Don't let it out in the unfriendly cold in that condition.'"
Øst for paradis blev Steinbecks hovedværk, og det sidste 'store' værk han skrev, selvom han fortsatte med at skrive mange år efter. Et årti efter udgivelse blev han tildelt nobelprisen i litteratur "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception."
soaudreyreads's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
ethan0lsen's review against another edition
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
3.0
A behind-the-scenes look into the creation of an art style that doesn’t typically get its story told.
Super cool for hardcore Steinbeck or East of Eden fans. Otherwise, the discussion may seem vague and disinteresting :/
Feeling super inspired to start journaling and become MUCH more productive, though!
Super cool for hardcore Steinbeck or East of Eden fans. Otherwise, the discussion may seem vague and disinteresting :/
Feeling super inspired to start journaling and become MUCH more productive, though!
littletaiko's review against another edition
4.0
Read this in tandem with a rereading of East of Eden. Quite enjoyed seeing behind the scenes.
• The man really loved his pencils. There were multiple mentions throughout the book about his pencils getting too short and how he preferred the long pencils. Also how they needed to be round. I just find it hard to believe that he wrote the whole book by pencil.
• Writers are normal people. He had things going on his personal life that disrupted his writing. He had doubts, procrastinated some days, got sick, etc...
• He put so much thought into writing this book and had very specific reasons for his choices.
• The Hamilton portion of the book is based on his family. He even makes a very brief appearance towards the end.
• The difficult parts of the book were hard for him to write and he had to sort of prepare himself to get through those sections.
• The man really loved his pencils. There were multiple mentions throughout the book about his pencils getting too short and how he preferred the long pencils. Also how they needed to be round. I just find it hard to believe that he wrote the whole book by pencil.
• Writers are normal people. He had things going on his personal life that disrupted his writing. He had doubts, procrastinated some days, got sick, etc...
• He put so much thought into writing this book and had very specific reasons for his choices.
• The Hamilton portion of the book is based on his family. He even makes a very brief appearance towards the end.
• The difficult parts of the book were hard for him to write and he had to sort of prepare himself to get through those sections.
kevinm56's review against another edition
3.0
If you are a writer you might like this book. Quite a bit of it is mundane; it is pretty repetitive. But, there is some insight into the mind of a great writer.
Page 115 – 116: “Not that it is necessary to be remembered but there is one purpose in writing that I can see, beyond simply doing it interestingly. It is the duty of the writer to lift up, to extend, to encourage. If the written word has contributed anything at all to our developing species and our half developed culture, it is this” Great writing has been a staff to lean on, a mother to consult, a wisdom to pick up stumbling folly, a strength in weakness and a courage to support sick cowardice.”
Page 124: “…novel has been falling before the onslaught of non-fiction.” This is on July 9, 1951. Even then the novel was thought to be dead. Look at it now.
Also, the man was seriously into his pencils! It's no different today. We are picky about our computers and software. He mentions on July 2, 1951 that he went through three dozen pencils since June 11th. That's about 2 pencils per working day! That's a lot of writing!
One other observation: unlike so many of today's writers, especially but not confined to self-published writers, there's no mention of cover design, book blurbs, marketing strategy, book giveaways to garner reviews... his sole focus during the 10 months of writing was on the story.
Page 115 – 116: “Not that it is necessary to be remembered but there is one purpose in writing that I can see, beyond simply doing it interestingly. It is the duty of the writer to lift up, to extend, to encourage. If the written word has contributed anything at all to our developing species and our half developed culture, it is this” Great writing has been a staff to lean on, a mother to consult, a wisdom to pick up stumbling folly, a strength in weakness and a courage to support sick cowardice.”
Page 124: “…novel has been falling before the onslaught of non-fiction.” This is on July 9, 1951. Even then the novel was thought to be dead. Look at it now.
Also, the man was seriously into his pencils! It's no different today. We are picky about our computers and software. He mentions on July 2, 1951 that he went through three dozen pencils since June 11th. That's about 2 pencils per working day! That's a lot of writing!
One other observation: unlike so many of today's writers, especially but not confined to self-published writers, there's no mention of cover design, book blurbs, marketing strategy, book giveaways to garner reviews... his sole focus during the 10 months of writing was on the story.