A new report entitled “’The Grapes of Wrath,’ coronavirus edition” cites John Steinbeck’s classic to predict possible effects of the COVID-19 crisis on life in America if the current pandemic results in a second Great Depression. Writing in the March 28 edition of City & State New York, Zach Williams says that “An economic downturn, state border checkpoints and increasing desperation among people across the country suggest that as time goes by the story of coronavirus will only become more like a John Steinbeck novel whose ending no one can yet know.” Comparing New Yorkers today to the migrants in Steinbeck’s masterpiece, the online magazine article—illustrated with this photograph by Dorothea Lange—reminds contemporary readers that California subjected the “bum brigade” streaming into the state from Oklahoma and elsewhere to a Great Depression version of border-crossing stop-and-frisk. “After the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal court,” writes one source quoted in the piece, “the ‘bum blockade’ ended. But the ‘anti-Okie’ sentiment continued.” Today, says Williams, “it is New Yorkers who are facing the wrath of their fellow Americans.”
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According to Nelson Valjean, “John Steinbeck, the Errant K night: An Intimate Biography of His California Years”. The influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 was “rampant in Salinas”. Dr Murphy diagnosed John Steinbeck with “pleural pneumonia”. “Drastic steps were taken, and they operated, removing a rib and inserting a tub to drain the pus. This operation was performed in the Steinbeck Home Although Steinbeck came close to death, through sheer determination and family support he survived.” I do not have a copy of Valjean’s biography. I do not recall if Steinbeck mentioned the epidemic. Benson does not
Although Jackson Benson was reared as a Christian Scientist, Nelson Valjean’s failure to mention the 1918 flu pandemic in connection with Steinbeck’s pneumonia (pp 44-45) probably reflects the attitude of denial and forgetting among those who lived through the 1918 epidemic, the worst global disease crisis of the 20th century.
On Sat. Feb 1, 1919, p. 8, The Californian (Salinas) newspaper published the following:
CADETS ATTEND MARTELLA FUNERAL
“A semi-military funeral was held this morning for William, Maetella,, a young high school lad who succumbed to influenza last Wednesday night. It was held from the home of the deceased parents Mr. and Mrs. George L. Martella in Graves District Being a member of the high school cadet company, the remains were clad in his uniform. The cadet pall bearers were Ralph Muller, Leslie Kellogg, David Storm, Julius Phillips, John Steinbeck and Dick Hughes
Although Steinbeck did some research using the Salinas newspaper, he does not mention (as far as I can recall) the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 in East of Eden. Not even casually. Does anyone know if any of the Steinbeck family was touched by the 1918-1919 pandemic? Here is where we need Carol Robles