From Subversion To Reconstruction: A Spatial Interpretation Of John Steinbeck’s Labor Trilogy

John Steinbeck(1902-1968),who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962,is one of the most influential American writers of the 20 th century.In the 1930 s,Steinbeck successively created the novels In Dubious Battle,Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.The three novels are collectively known as the labor trilogy,as they focus on the laborers’ survival,which are also regarded as the representative works of his highest literary achievement.The trilogy presents the plight of laborers at the bottom of economic scale under the influence of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl,which represents Steinbeck’s creative philosophy and literary values in the1930 s.The author’s keen insight into spaces such as Oklahoma,California,ranches and Highway 66 contributes to the novel’s unique spatial implications.The "spatial turn" in the 1960 s enriched Steinbeck’s literary criticism and provided a new perspective for the study of his works.Steinbeck insisted on literary experimentation,which led to the study of his works mostly concentrated on the "case studies",and lacked systematic studies of works from the same period.Based on close reading,this thesis combined with Henri Lefebvre’s Critical Theory of Space attempts to interpret the crisis of laborers’ living space and the oppression of laborers presented by Steinbeck in multiple literary spaces in his labor trilogy,thus to deeply grasp John Steinbeck’s exploration of laborers’ survival and his sense of humanistic concern as a writer.Firstly,the main part of this thesis discusses the spatial crisis that exists in multiple spaces.The trilogy presents the social production relations and laborers’ spatial practices in the context of industrialization.The development of industrialization promotes the rise of the city,forming an urban space centered on commercialization,while laborers live on the edge of the city and in poor and crowded living conditions.Meanwhile,under the influence of industrialized production relations,laborers who depend on labor to survive are forced to find seasonal jobs,creating an unstable and mobile life,which triggers the instability of laborers’ mental space.The economic system and production relations in the social space devalue the laborers’ labor force.Based on the analysis of the roots of the spatial crisis in the labor trilogy,this thesis continues to explore the oppression and suffering suffered by the laborers in the trilogy.Laborers’ living space is compressed and they are also deprived of their land ownership rights.Under the contradictions and conflicts,the implied antagonistic thinking alienates the laborers’ mental space.And the social space erodes the laborers’ culture by means of marginalization,depriving them of their discourse.Steinbeck presents the power of laborers’ group in the trilogy,and through commitment,mutual understanding makes the close connection of laborers’ group relations,and the combined power of laborers’ group also provides the possibility for laborers’ group to escape from the existential dilemma.Finally,this thesis holds that the transformation and juxtaposition of multiple literary spaces present Steinbeck’s philosophical thinking on the laborers’ group,reveal the subversive power of the laborers,and construct a reasonable path to reconstruct laborers’ subjectivity.The analysis of Steinbeck’s labor trilogy from the perspective of space is of great significance to the analysis of both Steinbeck’s spatial imagination and his exploration of the literary writer’s responsibility.