Parallel Expeditions: Charles Darwin and the Art of John Steinbeck

This first study of Darwin's influence on one of America's most popular authors covers the entire range of John Steinbeck's works from Cup of Gold (1929) to America and Americans (1966). Examining both the fiction and non-fiction works from a Darwinian viewpoint, Dr. Railsback demonstrates Steinbeck's careful dramatization of the human as animal - the signature conception of a Nobel Prize-winning author. Parallel Expeditions explores how Darwin and Steinbeck defined what it is to be human. Dr. Railsback clarifies the most profound current running through Steinbeck's art by providing an analysis that credits the novelist with a thorough, sometimes painful, understanding of the human's place in the ecosystem. Darwin's revolution in science became Steinbeck's revolution in literature. The resulting holistic perspective is still very relevant, even critical, today.

Brian E. Railsback is Director of Professional Writing at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.