Iarna vrajbei noastre a fost primul roman al lui Steinbeck pe care l-am citit - mai exact, la finalul anului 2004. Am recitit-o nouăsprezece ani mai târziu și mi s-a părut mai puțin convingătoare decât la prima lectură.
Romanul este parțial narat la persoana întâi de către Ethan Allen Hawley, ajuns băiat de prăvălie, după ce a reușit să desăvârșească munca tatălui său și anume să risipească averea familiei; singurul lucru care i-a rămas este casa, unde locuiește alături de soția sa, Mary și de cei doi copii. Locuitorii orașului New Baytown îl apreciază însă pe Ethan, în ciuda greșelilor făcute de acesta, și își fac cumpărăturile la magazinul unde acesta este vânzător. În plus, toți se așteaptă ca Ethan cumva să reușească să întoarcă roata norocului în favoarea sa.
Ethan însuși are un plan în acest sens, însă, cu toate acestea, refuză mita oferită de către un reprezentant al unei firme distribuitoare de diverse produse pentru a-l convinge pe patronul său, italianul Alfio Marullo, să încheie un contract. Dar asta nu-l va împiedica să-l denunțe pe patronul său la Serviciul Imigrației și Naturalizării și nici să plănuiască să jefuiască banca aflată în apropierea prăvăliei, unde este casier Joseph Patrick Morphy, Joey Morphy, zis Joey-Băiatul, sau pur şi simplu „Morph”, un personaj destul de straniu, ce îi împărtășește lui Ethan o sumedenie de informații aparent nevinovate despre cum poate fi jefuită banca în care lucrează. De parcă l-ar îndemna să facă acest lucru. Și nu numai atât. Joey are o teorie și despre ce anume să faci pentru a nu fi prins ulterior: să nu ai cazier și nici complici care te pot trăda, să ignori complet ispita reprezentată de femei și să nu cheltui banii furați, ci, la mult timp după ce săvârșești jaful, să îi investești. Regulile lui Joey se vor dovedi însă inutile, dar numai datorită intervenției hazardului.
Maxima care îl descrie cel mai bine pe Ethan este, așa cum el însuși sugerează, Ars est celare artem (tradus drept "Măiestria constă în a-ți ascunde măiestria"). Însă nu doar pe eroul principal, ci și pe misterioasa Margie Young-Hunt, al cărei comportament oscilează între seducerea lui Ethan și prietenia pentru soția acestuia.
Pe de altă parte, Iarna vrajbei noastre este și un roman despre bani, despre relevanța socială a banilor ("Banii devin în mod automat demni de respect, dacă reuşeşti să-i păstrezi un timp mai îndelungat"), despre obsesia legată de bani ("Îţi aduci aminte de miliardarul din Texas, care a murit de curând? Locuia la hotel, într-o singură cameră, şi n-avea decât o valiză. N-a lăsat nici testament, nici moştenitori, dar el socotea că nu are bani îndeajuns. Cu cât ai mai mulţi, cu atât îţi ajung mai puţin"), despre bani ca subiect de conversație ("Banii constituie un subiect grosolan şi lipsit de eleganţă numai atunci când îi ai. Cei săraci consideră că acest subiect este fascinant"), sau despre schimbările înfricoșătoare pe care banii le produc în sufletul oamenilor ("Mă tem de altceva: de nefericirea ucigătoare, de panica pe care o aduce cu sine posesia banilor, de aparenţa de putere şi de invidiile pe care le naşte") etc. Este reluată, de asemenea, o idee care apare de mai multe ori în opera lui Steinbeck: banii produc alți bani. Ethan încă nu are bani, dar strategia sa pare să dea roade, va avea din nou mulți bani în foarte scurt timp. Numai că hazardul intervine din nou în familia sa și de unde el se așteaptă cel mai puțin - din partea copiilor săi - arătând faptul că nicio strategie nu este infailibilă. Lectură plăcută!

Bontà passiva

Che bel libro, che piacere il pensiero che sarebbe stato lì, appena avessi avuto il tempo di dedicarmi a lui. Siete in quel periodo della vita in cui gli enta sfumano negli anta? Come va con il bilancio di ciò che è stato? Mi sono riconosciuto nell'inquietudine di Ethan Hawley, non mi era successo con quella di Bernardo Soares.
".. Ossia dico un uomo si batte contro le cose grosse. Ma quel che l'uccide è l'erosione; a furia di colpetti finisce al tappeto." A poco a poco s'impaurisce.
"C'è tanta bontà passiva, nel non voler grane, confusione, fatica."
"Non te la prenderesti di quel che pensa la gente di te, sapessi quanto poco ci pensano"
Steinbeck è molto bravo a raccontare della borghesia, del vile denaro, è monumentale quando descrive la natura. Ethan mi ha tenuto compagnia quando si confrontava con il passato della sua famiglia, quando si relazionava con i figli, quando usciva di notte perché incapace di dormire, quando maturava la bizzarra idea di dare una piega pericolosa alla propria esistenza.

(Il miglior Steinbeck. So bene che questa opinione non è sostenuta a Furor di popolo)

n  Evanescence of Moralityn

Maybe it's my age where I find myself amidst a thousand questions because I like to think that I am understanding a little of what goes around. And as it goes with books, the count of unanswered questions is on an exponential run. Anyway, the most prominent and adamant question I find myself wrestle with these days is 'Morality'. The realms of it, the undefined criss cross intersecting patterns of it, the lawlessness and sometimes the hypocritical pride of it, and lastly the chameleon ethos of it.

History has tested us on our understanding and ever changing definitions of this time designed morality and we have shown some bizarre reactions to it. This last novel by the master is one such peephole into the American society of mid 20th century where morals were having a t(r)ough time (not that we are on any high these days). Corruption and greed had laid its wrath on an aristocratic family from a small east coast town, as a result the last standing member has nothing but his name to remind him constantly of things his family had lost, of things he would probably have been a heir to if not for the lecherous times.

Ethan Allen Hawley finds himself being a clerk of a grocery store with disillusionment looming over every single minute of his life until on one insomniac night he strolls towards the port where his grandfather's ship used to anchor, and something sets itself in motion because he realized that things can't remain the way they are forever.

When a man is discontent about something that is too important to him, he changes one fine day into a different man, looks at things differently, says new words. The cosmic equation modifies itself and subconscious mind takes over the reins of future.

This is a unique book by Steinbeck. He has power packed the prose with many of the life's learnings as he usually does, but this time the reader is at the edge of his seat questioning and nodding at every move Ethan makes, stretching the flimsy cloth of morality at the turn of every chapter, finding redemption, anguish, empathy, and a cacophony of emotions at the end(which was Dostoevskysk in many ways). For many more reasons that I'm finding difficult to incorporate here, this book is an absolute shiner.

Brilliant. What a writer Steinbeck is! The story of good man, Ethan Hawley and his discontent that leads him to swindle and trick and betray people around him(just like everyone else in the town is already doing) is a depressing and sad portrait of a society built on every man for himself. Murillo knew it, “It was quite a while before he understood the American way, but he learned - he learned. ‘A guy got to make a buck! Look out for number one!’ But he learned. He’s not dumb. He took care of number one.” I was drawn into the story and particularly during the second half found it hard to put down.

Η ματαιοδοξία του μικροαστισμου στην Αμερική λίγο πριν τα 60s κ ο σαρκασμός για το πόσο εφικτό μπορεί να είναι το μεγάλο όνειρο

Oct 16, 1045am ~~ Review asap.

Oct 19, 2pm ~~ Although John Steinbeck wrote more non-fiction titles after finishing this book, The Winter Of Our Discontent was his final novel. It is also the final title in the Steinbeck project I have been participating in during 2021.

I need to just quote from the back cover because I have taken too long to try and come up with some intelligent comments about what I think of this book. Here is the basic plot outline:
"Ethan Hawley works as a clerk in a grocery store once owned by his prominent family. Without status in the town, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan takes a holiday from his own scrupulous standards."

Another title I had heard of but never read, this is a book I would not have really appreciated in my youth. How can a young person, even one with a vivid imagination, really understand the trauma of a mature person who feels that certain basic standards in society are being lowered or ignored? I think this is something we all face as we get older. The Good Old Days were never THAT good, but the current days seem to be so full of anger and disrespect that a person has to wonder where did the good times go? How could we possibly have allowed ourselves to get so caught up in foolishness that we have lost our basic decency? We did have it once.....didn't we? Or are human beings simply flawed creations who really do only care about amassing and spending money, putting it above everything else in life?

Sigh.

Well, anyway, enough old lady ranting. I don't have much else to say except that if you read this particular edition of this book, SAVE THE INTRODUCTION UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED THE BOOK ITSELF. As I found out when I read it after the final page of the book, there are plot spoilers swarming through the thirty pages of this introduction, but they do help expand your understanding of Steinbeck's thinking as he wrote. I just hate knowing ahead of time what the main character will do in the final chapter, so I am issuing the warning for other readers like me who prefer to let the book itself tell its story, and then go find out what the 'experts' say about it.

There are excellent notes for each chapter, grouped at the back of the book. These notes help explain many of the phrases and quotations Steinbeck uses, they don't comment on the plot.

The other comment I would like to make is that even though this book was written in 1960 and dealt with the then-current emotional state of the country, it seems to correspond to 2021 as if Steinbeck had just given it to us yesterday. This is, for me, another sad sign of the times. So little change in all these years. We just never seem to be learning anything.

رواية مملة.. اه
حبكة مش موجودة.. اه
ترجمة سيئة.. اه نوعا ما
لكن في النهاية اكتشفت ان الملل والرغي كان ضروري عشان نحس برتابة حياة ايثان هولي المملة المعتادة الروتينية

ايثان من عائلة عريقة كان ليها دور مهم في تاريخ بلدتهم وتاريخ امريكا لكن بينتهي بيه المطاف مجرد عامل في محل بقالة

حياة فقيرة مملة اعتيادية جدا لدرجة انها دفعت كل اللي حواليه انهم يضغطوا على شخصيته عشان تتغير

حب المال والسلطة والشهرة دمروا الجو الهادئ تماما
كذب وخداع وسرقة وقتل وتدمير وانتحار كلها نتائج طبيعية لتمني الوصول بطرق شيطانية ملتوية للأحلام البشرية المميتة للضمير

النهاية على قدر ما هي مخطوفة وسريعة على قدر ما هي مناسبة جدااا للأحداث ولشخصية ايثان الانقيادية تماما لرغبات وشهوات الناس اللي حواليه

تركيبة الشخصيات كانت مميزة.. مع توليفة الملل والرغي والترجمة الركيكة بس ما قدرتش اقيمها بأقل من اربع نجوم بما ان كل خنقة القراءة المملة كان ليها لازمة في النهاية

شكرا لصديقاتي العزيزات داليا نور الدين وباكينام محمود على المشاركة في قر��ءة السوبر سونيك اللي عملناها دي

Главный герой, Итен Аллен Хоули, несмотря на неоднократно подчеркиваемые добродетели, как то: простодушная честность, супружеская верность, помощь другу-алкоголику, гордость своей страной, активное участие в воспитании детей, не кажется мне положительным персонажем. В нем есть лукавая хитроумие, двоедушие, его не просто обнаружить, но оно есть. Это какое-то подленькое лицемерие, свойственное мелкому человеку, строящему свой уютный мирок, свое счастье под солнцем с красивой личиной и словами, но на деле совершающему подлости. Это называется "хорошая мина при плохой игре". Хоули считает, что его хозяин Марулло несправедливо владеет лавкой. У него, Хоули, больше прав, чем у пришельца, так его предки основали этот город и приехали сюда 200 лет назад. Марулло преподносит ему урок, его предки жили ещё в Древнем Риме 2000 лет назад. Итен, говорящий и делающий правильные вещи, доносит на своего хозяина. Потрясло то, как американские власти, власти иммигрантской страны, чье население почти полностью состоит из иммигрантов, обошлись с Марулло. Да, он нарушил иммиграционное законодательство, но он отдал этой стране сорок лет своей жизни. Он не просил у этой страны пособия, но он, говоря языком финансистов, создавал стоимость, он создавал рабочие места. И его выслали. Марулло описывается, как нечестный человек, чьи принципы основываются на том, что торговля основана на обмане, и что нужно думать только о себе. Но даже с такой циничной жизненной позицией, он мне кажется более простым и более достойным гражданином, чем Итен Аллен Хоули. Он фактически подарил ему лавку, продав за символическую стоимость только за то, что тот показался ему честным малым. Он оказался способным оценить труд и честность. Между тем, Хоули морально был готов к ограблению, и только случайным образом всё в последний момент переигралось. Помощь алкоголику Дэнни тоже какая-то хитрая, какое-то двурушничество. Дэнни погибает, и в результате он получает права на его земли. Жена Итена, Мэри, создаёт впечатление инфантильной, незрелой женщины. Она верит в набор штампов, которая ее "подруга" Марджи, желающая отбить ее мужа, нагадывает ей. Она не задаётся вопросом, как за короткий период ее муж чудесным образом становится владельцем лавки и земель под аэропорт с перспективой стать в одночасье мэром. Дети повторяют и даже превосходят своих родителей в подлости. Аллен ворует идеи у великих американцев, нашпиговав ими свое сочинение без упоминания авторства, возгордясь и возомнив себя звездой, а его сестрёнка Эллен, завидуя, анонимно донесла на него, предварительно узнав у отца, какие последствия грозят за плагиат. Аллен не считает свой поступок заслуживающим порицания, поскольку "все так делают".
Эта отвратительная семейка, для которой главной ценностью является богатство и материальные блага, является чем-то нормальным в своем желании преуспеть. Они готовы шагать по головам. Они выглядят хорошими или, по крайней мере, неплохими людьми, но за этой личиной скрываются подлые людишки.
Финал мне кажется неудачным. Якобы Хоули мучаясь угрызениями совести, берет пачку бритв и уходит в укромное место, но там обнаруживает в кармане вместо них талисман. Моментально его угрызения совести сменяются желанием, чтобы "огонек не погас" для его подленькой, завистливой и суеверной дочурки, любящей этот талисман.

At this age, I am no longer acquisitive. I wander my house and wonder at all the things I have bought in the first half of my life, as it filling up my house would somehow validate my worth. Today, all these things that I don’t use in my daily life just seem like dust gatherers. Even the books that I read, I either give away or sell for some negligible coinage.

Not this book. I will keep this book because someday I will want to read it again.

The novel is about an unsuccessful man grappling with moral questions in his attempt to become successful, to please and provide for his family. Saying much more about the plot may be saying too much. For a while I was confused about what he was planning to do, didn’t comprehend what was happening, or why. And then when I thought I understood, I was wrong or thought so, but it was more complex than I had understood. In this sense, it was like a well written mystery with its mandatory twists and turns.

This is not a book for a young person. I would save it for middle age at least.

It is not an easy read. Although I was amused by the main character’s wit, it was slow moving in the first half. It was sometimes difficult to follow. Even the main character’s wife didn’t understand him much of the time. And, if you are ready to tackle it, you might want to have your mobile device in hand to look up words or phrases or what must be quotes, because you may not otherwise get all of the references. Or, just decide that you want to breeze past them on a first reading and then go back. Be prepared for introspection.

For the pure love of words, I defy anyone too write more beautiful prose than what I found between the first three to four pages of Chapter Fourteen. The first three sentences are, “July first. It parts the the year like the part in a head of hair. I had foreseen it as a boundary marker for me — yesterday one kind of me, tomorrow a different kind.” There were too many sentences to transcribe here, but if you find yourself curious, pick up a copy and read the third paragraph on the third page of that Chapter where Steinbeck writes about the contrasts of June and July. That is as close to a perfect paragraph as one might ever write.

So I am going to put this book on the special shelf I have for the keepers. And some time in the future, even if I have to pack it away for a cross country move, I will reread this book, more slowly, the way it deserves to be read the second time.

This is the last one of John Steinbeck's novels, published the year before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. I have now read all of his novels in order of publication from The Grapes of Wrath, 1939, forward. Someday I will go back and read his earlier novels but for the purposes of My Big Fat Reading Project I am done with Steinbeck.

With the exception of The Pearl, I have quite liked and sometimes loved these novels. Steinbeck, during his lifetime, was plagued by dismissive if not downright hostile reviews from the East Coast literary establishment. Yet his books sold well and often appeared on bestseller lists. This one was the #10 bestseller of 1961.

I find him unpretentious and even humorous at times. He is the Woody Guthrie of American literature, taking up for the common man and the struggles with virtue faced in lives of under privilege.

Steinbeck was largely self-educated, brought up by his father on Shakespeare. The title of The Winter of Our Discontent is a quotation from the first line of Shakespeare's Richard III. The novel's protagonist, Ethan Allen Hawley, is the descendant of a prosperous family whose fortunes were made in the days of seafaring and whale oil.

But the last of that fortune was squandered by Ethan's father in one ill-advised investment. All that is left is the family home where Ethan lives in genteel poverty with his beloved wife and two children. He works as a clerk in Bay Hampton's grocery store, owned by an Italian immigrant.

Though Ethan knows his wife would like a higher standard of living so she could hold her head up more proudly in the town, that his kids would like to keep up with other kids at school, he is not himself ambitious. One Good Friday morning he undergoes a sudden change of heart and determines to redirect his economic future by engaging in the dubious practices that currently pass as "getting ahead" in late 1950s American life.

He is not unintelligent nor is he a coward. By availing himself of the political and economic facts from his banker, he betrays his best friend and cooks up a foolproof scheme to restore his rightful place in Bay Hampton.

The 1950s and 1960s were littered with novels about the soul-crushing effects of working for money and status, e.g. the bestselling The Man With the Gray Flannel Suit; the literary Revolutionary Road. Steinbeck comes at the theme as only he could with his gimlet eye of truth, the sensibility of a man who truly loved his wife, the empathy earned by having himself acquired fame and fortune but not happiness.

As he said in a letter to his agent in 1957, "I think it is true that any man, novelist or not, when he comes to maturity has a very deep sense that he will not win the quest. He knows his failings, his shortcomings and particularly his memories of sins, sins of cruelty, of thoughtlessness, of disloyalty, of adultery, and these will not permit him to win..."

In this mood, he wrote The Winter of Our Discontent.

I have a crush on John Steinbeck. But even if I met him somewhere -- a cocktail party, a barbeque, even my own bookstore -- I don't think I'd talk to him. Maybe make eye contact in a brave and silent way. Sometimes I get the feeling that he is friendly and easy-going, compassionate and kind, and really interested in people in general and persons in particular ... but I know that he is deeply brilliant, and I would say something ridiculous that I would turn over and over in my head (mentally, to myself) for years. Like I did with A.M. Homes, and she's nowhere near as brilliant, and gives off nary an aroma of friendliness.

When I finished this book the other day, I went through my favorite ritual of writing my name and the month and year on the first page of the book, and went to shelve it alphabetically among its fictional brothers. While I was there, I pulled out the other Steinbeck novels to find out when I first read them; most of them are dated 1993. I had forgotten that I owe my discovery of Steinbeck to my friend who read East of Eden in 8th grade when I was still churning through Mary Higgins Clark and V.C. Andrews. I was inspired and intimidated ... she was reading Kerouac and Ginsberg when she was 13. Maybe before. I picked up Of Mice & Men/Cannery Row, then The Wayward Bus, and Burning Bright, and Sweet Thursday, and loved them all. It wasn't until this year that I picked up the big ones -- Grapes of Wrath, good God! And The Winter of Our Discontent ... here's my favorite sentence, from the beginning of Chapter 15:

"It was a day as different from other days as dogs are from cats and both of them from chrysanthemums or tidal waves or scarlet fever."

Yay. Today I’ll start East of Eden.

REREAD: November 2024

The title of John Steinbeck’s last novel comes from the first two lines of Shakespeare’s “Richard III”:

“Now is the winter of our discontent/
Made glorious summer by the son of York.”
******

It is the only one of his sixteen novels to be set entirely on the east coast. The fictional town of New Baytown, located on Long Island, is based on Sag Harbor, NY.

The story’s protagonist, Ethan Allen Hawley, is a clerk in a grocery store once owned by his family. The Hawleys were once one of the area’s aristocratic families, but because of unwise investments, Ethan’s father lost the wealth that he had inherited, including the grocery store that Ethan clerks in. Ethan also was no shakes when it came to business sense. He purchased the store after his father lost it and he failed and now works for an Italian immigrant who owns the store.

Ethan’s wife and two teen-aged children resent their economic and social standing in the community. The book was published in 1961 and is set in 1960, but the Hawleys cannot afford an automobile and even at this late date do not own a television set.

******
“Failure is a state of mind. It is like one of those sand traps an ant lion digs. You keep sliding back. Takes one hell of a jump to get out of it.”
******

Ethan is pressured, not only by his family, but by acquaintances who encourage him to accept bribes and who worship the almighty dollar.

******
“There is no such thing as just enough money. Only two measures: No Money and Not Enough Money.”
******

He attempts to resist temptation by maintaining his sense of integrity and honesty. Whether he succeeds or fails is the heart and soul of Steinbeck’s story. Will Ethan’s integrity and honesty win out or will he abandon both in an effort to reclaim the status that his ancestors had once enjoyed, and in doing so, transform his family’s winter of discontent into a glorious summer?

******
“All men are moral. Only their neighbors are not.”
******

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If you finished reading my ramblings you now owe it to yourself to read a review of the book written by my friend Sara, who is one of the very best writers on Goodreads. Here is the link:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...