ROBERT MURRAY DAVIS
Steinbeck critics have either ignored "The Murder," refusing it even the attention of condemnation, or treated it very gingerly because on the surface it is an enormously disturbing story with a theme and action seemingly allied to the John Wayne mystique that only a dominated woman and a dominant man will be happy together.
Quite short, the story can be summarized still more briefly. After the death of his parents, Jim Moore marries and brings to his California valley ranch Jelka Sepic, repudiating her immigrant father's advice to beat her...
Source: Contemporary Literary Criticism, ©1982 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
(The entire page is 2096 words.)
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