'The greatest of the arts'

 

“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” – John Steinbeck

 

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Steinbeck, who was born on this date in 1902, has been referred to as “The embodiment of 20^th Century American writing,” cemented by his masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath.  Author of 27 books – 16 novels, 5 collections of creative short stories, and 6 wonderful books of non-fiction including one of my favorites, Travels With Charley – Steinbeck’s works can be found around the globe, published in virtually every language.

 His writings have sold in excess of 200 million copies and a remarkable 17 of them have been adapted into movies.

 

A native Californian who set many of his works there, he also did more to document the ravages of The Great Depression than any other writer.  Those stories, though, took their toll.  “In utter loneliness,” he wrote, “a writer tries to explain the inexplicable.”

 

Despite his many awards, he often questioned his own achievements.  “The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world,” he once said.   “And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”