On The Aesthetic Values Of John Steinbeck's Novels

John Steinbeck remains one of America's most significant realistic writers in the 20th century. As a Nobel Prize winner of 1962, his works are globally popular with readers of different cultural backgrounds. However, he has not yet been fully accepted as a first-rate writer by the critics. From the very beginning, the research on Steinbeck's novels has been focused on sociological criticisms and less attention has been paid to the aesthetic research. While among the few aesthetic researches on his novels, there are two extremities of absolute affirmation and negation. This thesis tries to develop a fairly overall, systematic and creative research on Steinbeck's novels from the point of aesthetics, with its focus on the aesthetic values of Steinbeck's novels.It seems that Steinbeck's being famous is incredible. But, if we study further, we'll find that it is not accidental for Steinbeck to acquire such splendid accomplishments. It has its inevitable subjective and objective factors. Therefore, firstly, this thesis tries to trace the aesthetic origins of Steinbeck's novels from five aspects, i.e. good family literary edification, rich life experiences, great humanistic care, profound local complex and strong innovative consciousness. To convert all those conditions and bases into successful works, the writer must have made various hard efforts and explorations in aesthetic pursuits. Secondly, this thesis tries to explore Steinbeck's aesthetic pursuits throughout his whole creation career from the aspects of epic-styled themes, imperishable beliefs, Non-teleological methods and typical characters. As one of the famous writers in the literary world, Steinbeck's novels have distinct individual characteristics and his aesthetic techniques are displayed all around. At last this thesis discusses Steinbeck's aesthetic techniques used in his novels from the aspects of thought-provoking symbols, effective contrasts, poetic languages and implicit endings.Through the preliminary explorations of Steinbeck's novels, this thesis tries to expose the peculiar charms of Steinbeck's novels from techniques to connotations, give a fairly objective annotation and criticism to their aesthetic values.