Tortilla Flat

Steinbeck's the American writer who stands up best to our socio-political time (our need for perspective and solace), taller and less bent than his contemporaries (Faulkner, Hemingway), and more durable than the major experimentalist's, with the possible exception of Beckett, who communicates what it was like to be a 20th century human being but whose heritage is European.

Steinbeck's a deeply accessible writer in the way the Bible or Cervantes is accessible, so that when I read him I'm tempted to think that what I'm reading I have read before and need to read again to get the full meaning.

"Tortilla Flat" (1935) is early Steinbeck, and the first chapter contains virtually all the social themes of our time--the tension between races, addiction, homelessness. Chapter 2 examines the debits and benefits of capitalism and socialism in the age of secular humanism; Chapter 3 makes the case for organized religion, and so on. The style is hardworking; his homeless characters, for instance, do the kind of work one does when one isn't working.

"Tortilla Flat" is a beautiful book, almost as beautiful as Huck Finn. I only just now finished reading it and now I'm reading it again.