The Pastures of Heaven (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)

A Penguin ClassicIn Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck’s beautifully rendered depictions of small yet fateful moments that transform ordinary lives, these twelve early stories introduce both the subject and style of artistic expression that recur in the most important works of his career. Each of these self-contained stories is linked to the others by the presence of the Munroes, a family whose misguided behavior and lack of sensitivity precipitate disasters and tragedies. As the individual dramas unfold, Steinbeck reveals the self-deceptions, intellectual limitations, and emotional vulnerabilities that shape the characters’ reactions and gradually erode the harmony and dreams that once formed the foundation of the community. This edition includes an introduction and notes by James Nagel.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents 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.

Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as blackspine Penguin Classics featuring eye-catching, newly commissioned art. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and Tortilla Flat. Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers-and to the many who revisit them again and again."

A series of short stories connected by a moral, hardworking, compassionate family that moves into a rural California valley and, while meaning well, pretty much destroys the lives of the characters in each story. Fascinating read that pits eccentric, creative diversity against the American ”moral" ideal. These interconnected tales are devoted to a family living in a fertile valley in California, and the effects that one particular family has on them all. Two traditions are present: American naturalism (natural instincts versus conforming to society's norms) and the short story cycle The insensitivity between neighbors leads to the gradual disintegration of a small California farm community