Reading John Steinbeck in Eastern Europe explores the injustice toward Steinbeck’s works in Eastern European countries in the period of communist regimes. Assessed through an ideological lens, their value was in their usefulness to the oppressive social and political mindset, which they undoubtedly served-not only The Grapes of Wrath, with its agenda of social solutions, but also works that clearly indicate that Steinbeck was venturing into new themes and forms. By taking up various avenues of approach and moving adroitly between the study of Steinbeck criticism, translations, literary influences, textual analyses of specific works and various theoretical questions-while illuminating that the most compelling rationale for reading Steinbeck’s works is their universal relevance, not the presence or lack of ideological structures in them-Reading John Steinbeck in Eastern Europe is an interesting record of past perceptions, stereotypes and myths, and a testament to a new era.
