John Steinbeck, �Cup of Gold�
I have to admit I have no idea how the writing process works, particularly for authors that have a sizable body of work. Most authors seem to have a great first novel, like Chuck Palahniuk, whose other novels haven�t come close to being as good. Others get better over time, like Bukowski, who probably should have moved straight to fiction instead of doing all this poetry crap. And a very few, like Vonnegut, have done consistently well over a long period of time.
But Steinbeck is an anomaly of sorts. His early books falter from borderline pretentiousness, which he eventually reigned in and did some truly great work like Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. And then he got cranky instead of angry, and his work suffered to the point of no return.
But throughout all the novels, there is a general thread of common themes, usually involving a small group of outsiders trying to make do while trapped by their station in life. So it�s very weird to read this novel, his first published work. Cup of Gold is a swashbuckling tale, a fictionalized biography of the pirate Henry Morgan.
Pirates? In a Steinbeck novel? Yes, it sounds weird, and it reads weird as well. There are moments reminiscent of what would eventually come from John, such as the lengthy philosophical discussions, but as a whole, the book feels like imitation of a hundred other dime-store adventure tales. I say �feels like� because I haven�t actually read any dime-store adventure tales, but you know what I mean.
After Mystery Science Theater 3000 became a semi-hit in its third season, the cast and crew made an agreement that Comedy Central would not air any of the programs from the first year. Their explanation was the show had improved so much that they hated to have the reminder of what they felt was essentially a practice run. When I was collecting these episodes, I started trying to find these missing episodes, but stopped after obtaining three of them. They were right, the shows weren�t very good, and season one is probably the year that I have the most gaps in my collection.
Steinbeck has the same problem, particularly as he�s become such an icon. My fiction instructor just gave me a copy of a Steinbeck short story that he discovered, a story that was never published. �It�s not very good,� he warned me.
So why print it, I wondered.
But I guess I know the reason for that. It�s for obsessive fans like me that want to read every goddamn thing he ever wrote. And so I really have nobody but myself to blame for reading this, as I�m one of those people that prevent this from fading into obscurity, where it belongs.
