Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
Steinbeck’s East of Eden utilizes mythical and Biblical stories to create an allegorical bridge to understanding what he considered the fundamental story of mankind - man's conscious mastery of himself. Joseph Campbell, a literary theorist and contemporary with Steinbeck elaborated on this same concept in 1949 in his work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, wherein he posited that, universally, the story at the heart of mythology is an awareness of the human ability to consciously act. Steinbeck’s East of Eden acts as a contemporary myth through which Steinbeck communicates the eternal myth he considered the “one story in the world”– the journey of man to reach apotheosis and attain self-mastery over his individual and universal identities.
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Location
B132 JFSB
Start Date
20-3-2015 8:30 AM
End Date
20-3-2015 10:00 AM
Included in
Timshel: The Monomyth in East of Eden
B132 JFSB
Steinbeck’s East of Eden utilizes mythical and Biblical stories to create an allegorical bridge to understanding what he considered the fundamental story of mankind - man's conscious mastery of himself. Joseph Campbell, a literary theorist and contemporary with Steinbeck elaborated on this same concept in 1949 in his work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, wherein he posited that, universally, the story at the heart of mythology is an awareness of the human ability to consciously act. Steinbeck’s East of Eden acts as a contemporary myth through which Steinbeck communicates the eternal myth he considered the “one story in the world”– the journey of man to reach apotheosis and attain self-mastery over his individual and universal identities.