The Nile on eBay My Life With John Steinbeck by Gwyn Steinbeck
A memoir by Gwyn Steinbeck of her life, first as mistress of Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck, their affair, riotous marriage , numerous moves and times apart.She tells of his attitude to her and her two sons, before she divorced him in 1948, due to his boorish treatment of her and unreasonable behavior.
FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description
For the first time the story of John Steinbeck's forgotten second wife unmentioned in standard editions of his classics such as The Grapes of Wrath. Their 1943 war time marriage ended when she divorced him in 1948.Smart, adventurous and in love, she at first matched Steinbeck's zest for `on the road adventures,' but was then only too happy to settle down and make a home where he could write. Love and marriage were considered the appropriate vocation of women of her era. Gwyn paid a high price for her involvement with the restless, driven, genius John Steinbeck. This was a marriage which could not succeed despite her love for Steinbeck, the man and master storyteller.The book reveals the missing voice of Gwyn, during a six-year marriage which included the tumult of World War Two. When she met Steinbeck in 1939, Gwyn was a professional singer, working for CBS in Los Angeles. She was an independent young woman, lively and radiant in her love for the great man wooing her – fourteen years her senior. He was captivated by her beauty and magnetic presence. For women of her era, many of whom had to leave jobs after the war, marriage was considered a woman's true career – love was life. This journal is her story of that adventure, often `on the road' with a restless Steinbeck, criss-crossing continents and making homes.Full of insight My Life with John Steinbeck is funny and on target about people and places. A newlywed on 78th Street in New York, Gwyn was alone after John decided to go to war, just weeks after their marriage. But later they enjoyed snowstorms and high society, carousing with the Robert Benchleys and Burl Ives among others. They moved to Monterey for sojourns with Steinbeck crony ED Ricketts in his eccentric Lab. There were treks to Mexico, a story of an elegant party at a Russian embassy, and one about being pregnant and sick by the roadside.Gwyn says Steinbeck was `in love with love.' But for much of their time together, she was completely in love with both the great writer and the flawed man. She gave him complete quiet to work and, when needed, her full attention. The Moon is Down, Cannery Row, The Pearl and The Wayward Bus were written during their years together and much of the planning of East of Eden. Gwyn tried to be the `Amazon' Steinbeck expected; until their son's births, which she linked with the mysterious `death of their love.' When she asked for a divorce (finalised in 1949) she could no longer live with him. He may never have forgiven her.How often do we hear about the cost of being with a famous man? When is `trading up' self-abandonment? Gwyn's story is an enigmatic look at an `everywoman' of her time, who took marriage as her vocation and enabled a great man to pursue his work. Yet the ideology of giving `all' came at a steep price. 2018, the fiftieth anniversary of John Steinbeck's death in 1968, may be the year of the woman. How fitting for Gwyn Steinbeck's journal to be published.
Notes
Trade paperback. Following the recent discovery of an inherited script in which showbusiness correspondent Douglas Brown interviews Gwendoline 'Gwyn' Conger Steinbeck at length in 1972, this insight into the rarely covered period of Conger Steinbeck's marriage to the classic American author behind The Grapes Of Wrath and East Of Eden takes the script as its basis. Exposes the affection, tragedy and ultimate dissolution of the couple's marriage.
Table of Contents
Prologue by the Late Gwyn Conger SteinbeckPrologue by the Late Douglas BrownPreface by Jay Parini 1994 biographer of John Steinbeck22 ChaptersNotes and SourcesDramatis Personae of Principal Characters
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Details ISBN1999675207 Year 2018 ISBN-10 1999675207 ISBN-13 9781999675202 Media Book Publication Date 2018-09-06 Format Paperback Pages 292 Publisher Lawson Publishing Limited Short Title My Life with John Steinbeck Language English UK Release Date 2018-09-06 Imprint Lawson Publishing Limited Place of Publication Montgomerybib Country of Publication United Kingdom Illustrations Cover only AU Release Date 2018-09-06 NZ Release Date 2018-09-06 Author Gwyn Steinbeck Subtitle The story of John Steinbeck's forgotten wife DEWEY 813.52 Audience General We've got this
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