Tag Archives: Grapes of Wrath

Life Lessons from Russian Masters

By Robin Bates | Published: September 20, 2023

Acc. to George Saunders, much of what we need to know about life can be learned from Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged George Saunders, Humanities, John Steinbeck, Russian writers | Comments closed

Michelle Obama’s Favorite Books

By Robin Bates | Published: December 11, 2018

Tuesday The indispensable “By the Book” column in the New YorkTimes recently interviewed Michelle Obama about her favorite books, and her answers are fascinating. I’ll list them and then discuss the patterns I see: Novels she’s currently reading –Zadie Smith, White Teeth, which Malia also loves –Tayari Jones, American Marriage –Mohsid Hamid, Exit West –Anne Patchett, […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged A Snowy Day, American Marriage, Anne Patchett, Astrid Lindgren, Commonwealth, Exit West, Ezra Jack Keats, John Steinbeck, Life of Pi, Michelle Obama, Mohsid Hamid, Pippi Longstocking, Tayari Jones, White Teeth, Yann Martel, Zadie Smith | Comments closed

Can Art Thwart Trump? A Debate

By Robin Bates | Published: December 28, 2016

In which I argue with a writer who claims that art and artists have an inflated sense of their power and that they are irrelevant in the battle against Donald Trump.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Donald Trump, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Invisible Man, John Steinbeck, propaganda, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, social realism, socialist realism, Uncle Tom's Cabin, W. H. Auden | Comments closed

The Joads & Steinbeck’s Lenten Message

By Robin Bates | Published: February 27, 2016

“The Grapes of Wrath” has a Lenten message with the Joad family lost in the wilderness, led by the Moses/Jesus figure Jim Casy. After Casy is killed, Tom Joad becomes the apostle who takes his vision of a transcendent humankind to the wider world.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bible, burning bush, Exodus, John Steinbeck, Moses | Comments closed