The Voice at 3 AM

I'm about a quarter of the way through the novel, and I wanted to take a moment to reflect. The novel hasn't really begun to tie anything together, so I have reactions more than analyses, and in the case of this novel I think they're valuable. They're valuable not for what they say about Steinbeck but for what they say about the times. The novel was initially published in 1933 and is set about 30 years before that.

Particularly as a soon-to-be English teacher, I feel a certain pressure to extol the eternal relevance of literature. I don't, however, really believe that. We hit a point at which we begin to abstract and empathize with rather than identify with characters. It's a 70 year old novel that takes place a century ago, so it seems acceptable to place it in the category of literature with which we cannot instantly identify. But, the setting isn't the problem. Nor, necessarily, is the age of the text.

It's the theme and the style. Joseph Wayne, the protagonist, is defined by an unapologetic lust. His lust isn't simply a desire for gratification. He wants to reproduce. He wants everything to grow. He wants to connect with and rule the land. The narrative and the dialogue as well as a character who is so concerned are all completely out of fashion from a modern standpoint. Today, literature must either mirror or stand in opposition to Hollywood. To a God Unknown isn't part of the game. I can't instantly cast an actor in the role of Elizabeth or Juanito. The novel simply seems to operate on a level and about a topic that feels alien.

It's not that any of the elements are peculiar. It's the way that they are presented. It's rather akin to watching an old movie, one where good guys still smoke. The novel seems to find virtue in possessing a land that I grew up being taught to apologize for having taken. Wayne is obsessed with procreation. My culture reproduces everything so zealously and unconsciously and emptily, that the idea of a natural ceaseless lust which hopes to reproduce seems deviant. What makes all of this feel alien isn't the position that Steinbeck seems to be taking, but rather that it's quite clear the work predates the popularization of the issues. It underscores a certain level of affectation in more recent work that deals with these topics as issues. I look forward to finding out what Wayne's fate is and what Steinbeck's comment seems to be.