vague-humanoid:
“The Grapes of Wrath was written because Steinbeck stole the notes of a hardworking Dust Bowl-era journalist named Sanora Babb, who was trying to write her own book. When she finally had a chance to pitch it, she found that the market was overpowered by a successful book—based entirely on her notes. When Steinbeck saw the things in person that he later wrote about, he couldn’t stand to look at it for more than a day. Babb spent much of her career working with and chronicling impoverished farmers. Her book wasn’t published until the year before she died. In 2004. She would be a household name if not for the theft.”
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Fuck you, Steinbeck. (via theangelofbucephalon)
Steinbeck based his book on reports made by Sanora Babb (leaked to him by her boss, Tom Collins, to whom Grapes of Wrath is dedicated). Sanora Babb was planning to write her own book, but Steinbeck published before she did. Babb was told that the market could not bear another on the same subject. Her book, ‘Whose Names are Unknown’, was finally published in 2004. I haven’t read either book yet, but am now definitely going to be reading ‘Whose Names are Unknown’ soon.
Babb’s novel is described as showing how by re-creating rudimentary democratic practices the refugees restructure their lives as a unified community, resisting violent discrimination. In ‘Whose Names are Unknown’, we hear the whole powerful story from the point of view of a woman who had actual experience with both the origin and the destination of the migrants.
Sanora Babb was a member of the US Communist Party in the 1930s and 40s, dropped out of the party due to the authoritarian structure and in-fighting.
(via jinerviet)
here are some sources, in case you were looking for them
(via corvus-cornix)
(via afronerdism)
