John Steinbeck, George Orwell and Russell Brand

On the plane I read an old book I've had on my shelf for a long time: "The Moon Is Down" by John Steinbeck. This book has the simplest grammar and vocabulary of any book I have read that wasn't a graded reader for learners of English, or children learning to read. I admire John Steinbeck because he compromised between his talent and his desire to be read by the people - the people who were the ordinary Joes who fought in the war, and the marginalised people he gave a voice to in "Cannery Row".Previous entry on Cannery Row . well, perhaps he didn't compromise, perhaps he just adapted his talent, so that anyone could read his books, and when Pan sucked the readers in by giving the cheap paperbacks sexy covers, he probably didn't mind.

anyway,this short novel is on the theme of the bravery of citizens when their land is invaded by the Germans - not the   French but the Norwegians - how each individual makes up his/her mind about collusion and how the   invaders feel about their position as unwelcome strangers - Steinbeck treats them quite sympathetically : he knew folks are just folks.

Another writer who adapted his style to write for a mass readership was George Orwell. "Animal Farm" and "1984" are books designed to teach you something, without the writer giving you a sermon. He gives you a parable or analogy instead, something you can understand. In his journalism Orwell disciplined himself to write in words that anyone could understand. If you are reading this and you have not read any books by George Orwell I urge you to read "Animal Farm" as an example. His vocation was to communicate with people who did not have the benefit of a good education - Orwell went to Eton and that is generally recognised as a "good" education- (the teaching is excellent but there are no girls - is that a problem?)

Orwell came into my mind because I was reading "Revolution" by Russell Brand, and he quotes from "Homage to Catalonia" which is Orwell's account of his involvement in the Spanish Civil War. He quotes several passages so you get the flavour of Orwell's absolutely plain prose.

In outward appearance it was a town in which the wealthy classes had ceased to exist. Except for a small number of women and foreigners there were no "well-dressed" people at all. Practically everyone wore rough working-class clothes or some variant of militia uniform. All this was queer and moving.

Russell Brand cannot do this. He cannot let go of his desire to show off all that he knows, all the polysyllabic code that allows him to move amongst the intellectuals, but neither can he let slip all the buffoonery and the obscenity that marks his status as a top streetwise guy. The mixture should be fun and interesting, and to a certain extent it is, but there were many jarring notes in this work, the sort of discordant lack of taste that makes something abhorrent to me. Of course this is my opinion only. For readers of English as a foreign language this book is completely incomprehensible as it is written in a mixture of codes which are all sophisticated ones.

Cannery Row - John Steinbeck

I read this book a long time ago, maybe when I was a student or when I was on my travels, so I was glad when I came upon it in the bookshop last week because I had never owned it, and it was time for a re-read. It used to be a gaudy looking Pan book and now it is a Penguin Modern Classic - so much classier!

It's set in Monterey - pronounced Monneray. Such a lovely word, and sounds so much more beautiful than this rain-drenched, crowded, hemmed- in island.

I remember it was comforting to read because there is a lot of love in it. There are lovable bums and kind whores and eccentric outsider artists, and Doc, who leaves his door unlocked and accepts gracefully all the life that comes his way: anyone whom the tide brings in... He looks into the rock pools at low tide and finds marvelous sea creatures, and to make his bread and butter he sells them to museums. At dusk the canneries go quiet (which is like the tide going out), and the life of the street returns to Cannery Row. The heroes here are those who live on the margins, like the sea creatures do on the shore. But of course sometimes they don't live - there are some deaths in the book. There is sadness but no tragedy, because life goes on. Also, there is food and drink - so much drink! - and sex and fun.

John Steinbeck varies his narrative by bringing in other characters, and a short telling snapshot of their lives, in between the chapters on Doc and the bums. So the book's structure is rather like weaving a rug in different stripes of colour, or making music with soloists and groups, like a Mass, ending with a big chorus in unison and then a short, sad, coda. The author is aware that he is mythologising his friends, and repeatedly refers to other myths. He knows that myth-making is what words do, and that this is what his art does.

The main business of the place was scooping sardines out of the sea, canning them and selling them for a few cents. This was the thirties and the people were poor. But the canneries were greedy, they over- fished until there were no more shoals of sardines. Then they all went bust.

This is one thing Doc says, and it's certain Steinbeck agrees with him.

"it has always seemed strange to me," said Doc. "The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest: sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second."

Now Jesus also said this. I read the Gospels and I really thought this is what Jesus was trying to say. He did start a political movement - they were called religious orders. Men and women shared the work and helped the poor, and amassed nothing as individuals, but for the community. I really believe that monasteries were the political manifestation of Christianity.

I loved this book. It was written by Steinbeck at the end of the war, when he was looking back across 15 years, and I think he wrote it to comfort himself with a philosophy which can be shown in the telling of these stories, but can't easily be explained.