Zusatztext By the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature A novel planned on the grandest possible scale . . . One of those occasions when a writer has aimed high and then summoned every ounce of energy! talent! seriousness! and passion of which he was capable. . . . It is an entirely interesting and impressive book. The New York Herald Tribune A fantasia and myth . . . A strange and original work of art. The New York Times Book Review A moving! crying pageant with wilderness strengths. Carl Sandburg When the book club ended a year ago! I said I would bring it back when I found the book that was moving . . . and this is a great one. I read it for myself for the first time and then I had some friends read it. And we think it might be the best novel we've ever read! Oprah Winfrey Informationen zum Autor John Steinbeck (19021968) was born in Salinas, California. He worked as a laborer and a journalist, and in 1935, when he published Tortilla Flat , he achieved popular success and financial security. Steinbeck wrote more than twenty-five novels and won the Nobel Prize in 1962. Klappentext The masterpiece of Steinbeck's later yearsat once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis Part of the Penguin Orange Collection, Winner of the 2016 AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition and a limited-run series of American classics designed with a modern take on the iconic Penguin paperback. A Penguin Classic In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden the first book, and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two familiesthe Trasks and the Hamiltonswhose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Here is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. Adapted for the 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan introducing James Dean and read by thousands as the book that brought Oprah's Book Club back, East of Eden has remained a touchstone of American literature for over half a century. Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Chapter 1 [1] THE SALINAS VALLEY is in Northern California. It is a long narrow swale between two ranges of mountains, and the Salinas River winds and twists up the center until it falls at last into Monterey Bay. I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summerand what trees and seasons smelled likehow people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich. I remember that the Gabilan Mountains to the east of the valley were light gay mountains full of sun and loveliness and a kind of invitation, so that you wanted to climb into their warm foothills almost as you want to climb into the lap of a beloved mother. They were beckoning mountains with a brown grass love. The Santa Lucias stood up against the sky to the west and kept the valley from the open sea, and they were dark and broodingunfriendly and dangerous. I always found in myself a dread of west and a love of east. Where I ever got such an idea I cannot say, unless ...

By the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

“A novel planned on the grandest possible scale . . . One of those occasions when a writer has aimed high and then summoned every ounce of energy, talent, seriousness, and passion of which he was capable. . . . It is an entirely interesting and impressive book.” —The New York Herald Tribune

“A fantasia and myth . . . A strange and original work of art.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A moving, crying pageant with wilderness strengths.” —Carl Sandburg “When the book club ended a year ago, I said I would bring it back when I found the book that was moving . . . and this is a great one. I read it for myself for the first time and then I had some friends read it. And we think it might be the best novel we've ever read!” —Oprah Winfrey

Autorentext

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) was born in Salinas, California. He worked as a laborer and a journalist, and in 1935, when he published Tortilla Flat, he achieved popular success and financial security. Steinbeck wrote more than twenty-five novels and won the Nobel Prize in 1962.

Klappentext

**The masterpiece of Steinbeck’s later years—at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis

Part of the Penguin Orange Collection, Winner of the 2016 AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition and a limited-run series of American classics designed with a modern take on the iconic Penguin paperback.

A Penguin Classic
**
In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Here is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love’s absence. Adapted for the 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan introducing James Dean and read by thousands as the book that brought Oprah’s Book Club back, East of Eden has remained a touchstone of American literature for over half a century.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Leseprobe

Chapter 1

[1]

THE SALINAS VALLEY is in Northern California. It is a long narrow swale between two ranges of mountains, and the Salinas River winds and twists up the center until it falls at last into Monterey Bay.

I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer—and what trees and seasons smelled like—how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.

I remember that the Gabilan Mountains to the east of the valley were light gay mountains full of sun and loveliness and a kind of invitation, so that you wanted to climb into their warm foothills almost as you want to climb into the lap of a beloved mother. They were beckoning mountains with a brown grass love. The Santa Lucias stood up against the sky to the west and kept the valley from the open sea, and they were dark and brooding—unfriendly and dangerous. I always found in myself a dread of west and a love of east. Where I ever got such an idea I cannot say, unless it could be that the morning came over the peaks of the Gabilans and the night drifted back from the ridges of the Santa Lucias. It may be…