Jan 3, 2010

The Chrysanthemums | Author Biography

John Ernst Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California, the setting for many of his early stories, including ‘‘The Chrysanthemums.’’ The Salinas Valley was then, as it is now, largely rural and agricultural, a place of small towns and small farms. As a boy Steinbeck was a devoted reader. He wrote for his high school newspaper and attended college as an English major. Summers, he worked along the Salinas River harvesting beets. In 1925 he left home for New York City and took a job with a newspaper.

Though Steinbeck found reporting unsatisfying, he was...