The Monkey King's Used Primate Emporium and Book Reviews

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John Steinbeck, "Burning Bright"

Started March 9 � Finished March 9, 2002; 130 pages. Posted 9 March 2002

The first class I picked when I started at San Jose State University concentrated on John Steinbeck. We read eight of his books over the semester, and had to write papers on all the novels as well as six other papers on things that pertained to Steinbeck.

I had written about the films �The Grapes of Wrath� and �East of Eden,� as well as a book that dealt with the criticisms and legislation that came out of �The Grapes of Wrath.� And then I was stuck. SJSU has a little Steinbeck museum, so I wandered around looking for ideas.

Then I noticed that the college had started a Steinbeck Fellowship Award for people �who embodied the spirit of Steinbeck.� They awarded it to three people thus far: playwright Arthur Miller and filmmaker John Sayles. But the most recent prize went to...

Bruce Springsteen.

Fucking Bruce Springsteen?!? The So-Called �Boss?� What the fuck?

I wrote a three-page diatribe about how Springsteen sucks and was totally undeserving of the award. When I got the paper back, I read the remarks scratched hastily at the bottom in red pen.

�I disagree � no credit.�

The next day in class she played a Springsteen song in class entitled �The Ballad of Tom Joad� and while she didn�t single me out in class, I knew who she was trying to make her point with: me.

So I expanded the paper to say sure, he wrote a song and ripped off the symbolism, but one song does not justify an award. Does one song about so-called common folk negate album after album of trite, vacuous bubblegum tunes like �Dancin� in the Dark?� Hardly. The three pages had now grown to six. She returned the paper, still missing a grade, and said that while she didn�t want to argue, I was wrong. No credit. Any normal person would have given up and moved on.

You calling me normal? The paper extended to nine pages, talking about musicians who actually stuck to the ideals they sang about like Propagandhi, Crass and Dead Kennedys (this was pre-lawsuit and all the crap that�s going on now). It soon became apparent that Springsteen was her favorite artist and she also happened to be on the selecting committee for nominees. She also talked with visible excitement over being able to meet him in person.

So that was the reason for the award: fan worship, something Steinbeck hated. Still I refused to back down from my assertion that Springsteen was a peace of shit. And still I got no credit, despite the fact that I had now written over 17 pages of material providing evidence on why he sucked.

When the semester finished I was given a �B-�, my lowest grade ever since I started at SJSU or since.

But I was right, goddamn it. Springsteen can eat a bag of dicks.

As for this book (which is really a play in short story form), this was Steinbeck�s biggest failure, despite the fact that I think it�s better than �The Long Valley� or �To a God Unknown.�

He does something strange with the acts, having the same characters dealing with the same problem over different settings. It starts with a group of circus performers, Act II moves the setting to a farm, and the final act has them all on a boat.

I suppose he was trying to suggest that the conflicts were universal and could happen to anybody, anywhere, at anytime. If that�s true, you think he would have picked common names like "John," "Mary" and "Mark," rather than "Friend Ed," "Mordeen" and "Joe Saul.�

It�s not a bad story, though it is a little overwrought. I can�t imagine the play was terribly exciting, either.


Rating: Work in a used bookstore and get it for super cheap.

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