57 - John Steinbeck's East of Eden Examined

Hey you there, you listener of substance! All full of the choice whether to listen to this podcast and/or the choice to do good or evil. We get you. John Steinbeck gets you too, as proven in his 1952 masterwork East of Eden. One part character epic, one part soap opera, and one part philosophical tract on the merits and challenges of individual agency, this book undeniably occupies a special place in American fiction. But are the characters maybe a little too one dimensional? Is it a little too loaded down by side story after side story? And did the B.O.S.S. team really do any research when theorizing that he wrote a rough caricature of an evil female after his divorce? (Answer: No, we didn't. Sorry about that, investigatory podcast fans.) Also making a guest appearance is Diana, Nathan's vocal coach, as she lends her expert guidance on just how to nail a snappy introduction. It's proof that, with enough 1950s gumption and elbow grease, we all just might be able to choose our own destinies. Maybe.