John Steinbeck, “The Murder”

Michael J. Meyer (DePaul University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1934

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United States (Country of Origin)

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Story

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Steinbeck’s short story “The Murder” first appeared in

The North American Review

in April 1934, and, despite its relatively obscure status today, it won the O. Henry award for best short fiction the same year. It was later included in the collection entitled

The Long Vaclley

in 1938. Like several other stories in this volume, including “The Chrysanthemums”, “The White Quail”, and “The Harness”, “The Murder” depicts a marriage that is unequal and restrictive and which eventually is broken by an act of violence. In short, it is a depressing tale of how divergent cultures and ethnic traditions impact gender roles and sexual expectations.

The setting is the Canon del Castillo in Monterey County, a locale close to the Corral del Tierra, the site of Steinbeck’s earlier

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Citation: Meyer, Michael J.. "“The Murder”". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 December 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=25829, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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John Steinbeck, “The Murder”

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