Capt. Bill Jones & Steinbeck's East of Eden: Palimpsests of Two Pillars of the Salinas Valley

Please join Humboldt State University Library's celebration of author John Steinbeck's birthday by hearing a presentation by Tom Gage on Wednesday, February 27th from 4-5 pm in the Library Fishbowl.

Eleven years before the opening of Humboldt Normal School, John Steinbeck, California's only Nobel Laureate in Literature, was born in Salinas, which Steinbeck would immortalize in. Author of novels such as East of Eden, drama, poetry, short stories, as well as essays on ecology, like the Sea of Cortez. Steinbeck's screen play Viva Zapata was nominated for an Oscar in 1952. Tom Gage's presentation explains the connections between John Steinbeck and Captain Bill Jones, and Gage's family who lived in the Salinas Valley during World War I.  

Author Tom Gage, researching his HSU Press publication for American Prometheus, discovered a kinship with America's Nobel Laureate John Steinbeck. Steinbeck linked episodes of two patriarchies, across generations, to plot East of Eden, some of which are from Gage's story.