Missing homework
Here Steinbeck suffers a bout of exam nerves before being bombarded with highly intellectual questions from his counterparts in the...
Of centuries and cows
These quirky comments by Steinbeck charmed me - first his reaction to the first room he chose to work in,...
Pencil and paper
Steinbeck wrote with pencil on the ubiquitous American yellow pad. Computers and word-processing came too late for him, and so...
The translation of thinking
Steinbeck seeks to understand the difficulties his interpreters faced when supporting him on his trip to the Soviet Union with...
Writing on wheels
Another in a series of accounts by John Steinbeck's wife, Elaine, of his perpetual search for the perfect writing space....
All you need is love
Another description by Steinbeck's widow of yet another of his writing spaces, which comprised mostly rooms but some other curious...
All languages, all accents
Steinbeck sums up the polyglot strengths and quirks of his friend Robert Capa with whom he spent a month in...
The perfect spot, finally
From the multiple versions described by his wife, it seems it took many years and experiments for John Steinbeck to...
Nervous as horses before a thunderstorm
Steinbeck's alarming simile launches a powerful, gripping overview of societal and economic malaise, which resonates uncomfortably with much current public...
War in all its gory
Steinbeck met a number of people in the Soviet Union who had survived the worst depredations of the Second World...
A Greek showed up
Listening time: under 5 minutes. From Steinbeck's masterful and lively account of travelling in the Soviet Union with...
The claptrap of monarchy
According to the photographer Robert Capa, museums were the churches of the Soviet Union, where he spent a month in...
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