READING THE GRAPES OF WRATH IN THE CONTEXT OF NEW HISTORICISM

II - INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON LITERATURE, CULTURE AND LANGUAGE, Ankara, Türkiye, 9 - 10 Haziran 2023, ss.257-258

John Steinbeck, a writer with a journalist background and journalist-turned-novelist,

witnessed the Great Depression, World Wars, and many other momentous events and

incorporated national and international events into his worldwide-known novels as a

journalist. Along with his contemporaries, Steinbeck occupies a prominent place among the

writers of the Lost Generation due to the environment and events he was exposed to. He was

frequently subjected to political epithets during his lifetime. His writings, which are often

characterized as dissident because they mainly deal with society and social issues, are not

only literary works but also literary works that allow us to read the period. Steinbeck's The

Grapes of Wrath, one of the most important works of the Great Depression period, is a work

that can be read in many different ways beyond being a tragic novel. In this respect, The

Grapes of Wrath is one of the novels that most clearly describes the Great Depression period

in which historical events are interspersed between the lines. This novel can be characterized

not only as a work of fiction but also as a historical record. It is a narrative that can be read

with the new historicist approach that opposes the old historical understanding and examines

historical narratives in literature. The fact that the work is a record of the period also allows it

to be analyzed and read in the context of New Historicism. In this study, this novel, which has

critical clues, especially at the point of comprehending the political environment of the period,

has been discussed from this aspect. The work has been tried to be read from a new historicist

perspective.