The Long Valley (Twentieth-Century Classics) [ペーパーバック]

The first two stories are the kind of works that English teachers love to assign; they involve women trying to break out of social roles. In the first story, Steinbeck starts his tale with: "The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot." Obviously, someone is trapped. I don't care for these two stories because I've read so many like them over the years, usually at the threatening point of a grading pen.

But as the book progresses, I quickly discovered that Steinbeck is an excellent writer. My favorite stories were "The Harness," "Johnny Bear," "Saint Katy the Virgin," and "The Red Pony." In "Johnny Bear," Steinbeck writes a freaky tale about an idiot savant that has an odd talent, much to the chagrin of the community. I figured out how it was going to end ahead of time, but it was still great fun. "Saint Katy the Virgin" is a strange tale, set in the Middle Ages, about a pig who converts to Christianity. This story does seem to be a criticism of the Catholic Church, but there is enough ambiguity in it to make me wonder if the story is actually pro-religion.

"The Red Pony," which is actually a cycle of four stories, has to be the best of the lot. I seriously believe Steinbeck could have made a comfortable living by turning this into a series. The stories focus on Jody, a boy living on a ranch in California. What impressed me most about these stories is the emphasis placed on discipline, hard work, and clean living. Along the way, Jody learns valuable lessons about death, old age, and respect for his elders. While reading about Jody, it is impossible not to draw comparisons with the pampered youth of our era. Almost no child living in this country today could maintain the patience Jody shows while waiting for the birth of his colt.

I thought Steinbeck would be stodgy reading; I was quite worried when I pulled this off the shelf and made a go of it. I can't say I'm going to dive right into his other works right away, but if his other stuff matches up to some of the stories here, they will be good reading.

The most famous is, of course, "The Red Pony"; all four "parts" appear here and comprise a third of the volume. Some readers mistakenly identify these four tales as a novella, but the stories, while interrelated, are self-contained. (Only the first part is about a red pony; it is also the best of the lot. The fourth part, "The Leader of the People," was added to "The Red Pony" years later, when the four stories were collected into a separate edition.) While often taught in schools, these stories were never meant for very young children--in spite of the title and the subject matter. Concerning a young boy and his relationship with his parents and a wise ranch hand, they are about aging and dying, growing up and growing old, and learning that one's elders are not invincible.

But there are other treasures in "The Long Valley" as well; what is unique about a few of the stories is that, for once, Steinbeck creates distinctive female characters. My favorites are "The Chrysanthemums," about a young woman's dashed dreams; "The White Quail," about a husband's betrayal of his wife's trust; "Flight," about a hunted fugitive; and "The Vigilante," about a lynching--told from the point of view of one of the perpetrators. Far less impressive are "The Snake," which aspires to Poe but is mostly unpleasant, and "The Raid," one of Steinbeck's many (and least inspiring) narratives concerning labor conflict.

The odd story in this collection is "Saint Katy the Virgin," a satirical fable set in the Middle Ages about a demonic pig that converts to Catholicism. It's a hoot.