The Long Valley (from Monday 7/15/13)

The title of a very early Steinbeck short story, “The Kittens and the Curtain” (not published until 2002 by McIntosh and Otis, Inc. and Stanford University Special Collections), sounded fun to me.  A story about kittens!  How cute!  Don’t be fooled.  Steinbeck crafted this short story of complicated, seemingly transparent characters and a story as disturbing as anything.  There are flaws in the writing as Steinbeck developed his particular style.  This undiscerning reader didn’t notice until we discussed it in our first class at the Hopkins Marine Center, our Steinbeck Institute base of operations.

We began with this story and moved to a discussion of The Long Valley, Steinbeck’s collection of short stories, written primarily between 1933 and 1934 while caring for his mother who was in declining health.  The book is a wealth of wonderful, thought-provoking prose that at times made me cry (“The Red Pony”), jump to anger (“The Vigilante”) and had me asking ‘What?’ (“Saint Katy the Virgin”).  The stories are sensual, they present characters that have dreams realized (or lost) at such cost and who grow from their losses.  A fellow participant described the stories as having been written ‘…in a minor key’ (Tracy M.), softer and different from his novels which tend to be loud and crowded.  If East of Eden is likened to a blockbuster at the movies, these short stories are the independent, quieter art-house films you would see at The Esquire (an art-house theatre in Cincinnati).

Our first class at Hopkins was spent with Dr. Chris Fink of Beloit College in Wisconsin.  He discussed elements of the short story (this is where I tried to keep my mouth closed…had we been talking about mitosis, things would have been different) and applied those elements to the stories in The Long Valley.  Honestly, before I received my reading list, I didn’t know Steinbeck had written short stories.  Oh, I had read his short novels (The Red Pony, which was published in The Long Valley, The Pearl and Of Mice and Men) but skipped over the short stories.  It was fun for me to have something completely fresh and new to read and I was drawn into the lives of Elisa (“The Chrysanthemums”) and Mary Teller (“The White Quail”) and Peter Randal (“The Harness”), Jody (“The Red Pony”) and Johnny Bear (“Johnny Bear”).  If you haven’t picked up The Long Valley, you should.  I already have creative ways to implement them in my Biology classes (yes, you read that correctly…biology).

The sandstone cliffs at Corral de Tierra that served as the backdrop of "The Murder"

The Pastures of Heaven

Our evening class was directed by Dr. Matt Spangler (www.matthewspangler.org) an associate professor of Performance Studies at San Jose State University.  After a very long day of discussion, I was afraid I would lack the energy for what Matt asked of us.  We employed one of six techniques for adapting narrative fiction to live performance.  Matt has a slew of experience and awards.  He adapted The Kite Runner for live performance!  I would love to see that.  He and a fellow actor performed “The Chrysanthemums” for us Sunday night.

My ‘cast’ of three decided to adapt and perform a section of “The Red Pony”.  Jody is anxiously awaiting the birth of his colt from Nellie and Billy Buck has had enough of Jody’s impatience.  

We chose choral scripting for our piece, mimicking the sound of ‘A little misting rain fell’ and repeating the line ‘The night was black and thick.’  We ‘screeeeeeched open the barn door and comforted poor Nellie with soft repetitious ‘So, Nellie’.  

At Red Pony Ranch

It was actually invigorating and quite fun!  Matt’s intent with this exercise was to develop a deeper, more personal understanding of the literature.  The performances were rich with laughter and insight and I was exhausted after.  No late night cavorting for me…straight home and to bed!

On a more travelogue note, I spent my lunchtime sitting on the beach at Hopkins, watching the seals watching me.