Steinbeck John : Red Pony (C20) (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)

A Penguin Classic
Written at a time of profound anxiety caused by the illness of his mother, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck draws on his memories of childhood in these stories about a boy who embodies both the rebellious spirit and the contradictory desire for acceptance of early adolescence. Unlike most coming-of-age stories, the cycle does not end with a hero ÒmaturedÓ by circumstances. As John Seelye writes in his introduction, reversing common interpretations, The Red Ponyis imbued with a sense of loss. JodyÕs encounters with birth and death express a common theme in SteinbeckÕs fiction: They are parts of the ongoing process of life, ÒresolvingÓ nothing. The Red Pony was central not only to SteinbeckÕs emergence as a major American novelist but to the shaping of a distinctly mid twentieth-century genre, opening up a new range of possibilities about the fictional presence of a childÕs world. This edition contains an introduction by John Seelye.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.