The Work of John Steinbeck John Steinbeck was a leading literary figure of the 20th century and continues to be widely read into the 21st century. Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 (on John Steinbeck) in the Salinas Valley of California. (Laskov) “His father, John Steinbeck, Sr. was the county treasurer and his mother, Olive Hamilton Steinbeck, was a former school teacher. As a young man, he worked as a ranch hand and fruit picker. (John Steinbeck [2] )". “He attended the local high school and studied marine biology at Stanford University between 1920 and 1926, but did not earn a degree” (John Steinbeck [1]). Steinbeck's fascination with science and biology is evident in most of his works, as in this quote from Grapes of Wrath: "Man, unlike anything else organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, climbs the stairs of his concepts, emerges before his realizations." (Steinbeck 165) When Steinbeck began his writing career, he took many other jobs to support himself. For a short time, he worked at American in New York City, then returned to California where he worked at various jobs as a painter and fruit picker before taking a job as a caretaker for a Lake Tahoe estate. (John Steinbeck [1]) His job as a janitor left him time to write and by the time he left the job in 1930 he had already published his first book, Cup of Gold (1929) and had married his first wife Carol Henning (John Steinbeck [2]). After marriage he moved to Pacific Grove, California, where, in the early 1930s, Steinbeck met Edward Ricketts, a marine biologist, whose views on the interdependence of all life profoundly influenced Steinbeck's novel To a God Unknown (1933). (John Steinbeck [2])Tortilla Flat (1935) was Steinbeck's first successful novel. (John Steinbeck [2]) "Of Mice and Men (1937), a story of broken dreams, became Steinbeck's first major success. The Red Pony also appeared that same year." (John Steinbeck [2]) With his feet firmly planted as a successful American author, Steinbeck had many more pieces published over the next twenty years, including The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). The Grapes of Wrath was extremely popular and was later made into an equally popular film. (John Steinbeck [2]) John Steinbeck continued to write for the rest of his life, but many believe that his writing career ended before he received the Nobel Prize.