Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Photography major - A forgotten sandstorm novel is comparable to The Grapes of Wrath.

A forgotten sandstorm novel is comparable to The Grapes of Wrath.

When The Grapes of Wrath came out 77 years ago, it was an instant blow. The story of a poor family escaping from a sandstorm sold 430,000 copies in one year, making john steinbeck a great man in literature. But it also prevented the publication of another novel, because she was an Oklahoma immigrant herself, so she silenced the voice of a writer who was more closely related to her.

/kloc-A storm of 0/000 miles shows the horror of life in a sandstorm. The name written by Sanora Babu is unknown, and the Grapes of Wrath written by Steinbeck uses many of the same research materials. Although these two novels are about displaced farmers going to California, they are completely different books. Babu's novel is a careful observation of several families who have borrowed money since her childhood in Oklahoma. Steinbeck's works are regarded as his masterpieces by many people, which are full of metaphors and images. In many ways, these books are written around the same theme: one is redundant and detailed, and the other is grand and ambitious. One stayed in Oklahoma for longer, and the other stayed in California for longer. One focuses on personal characters, and the other tries to tell a broader American story. It is an interesting question to prefer one novel to another; Sanora Babu naturally prefers her own works.

"I think I am a better writer," Babu told the Chicago Tribune in 2004. His book is not as realistic as mine.

1938, Babu, an editor and writer aged 3/kloc-0, volunteered to join the Farm Safety Administration (FSA) to help immigrant farmers flood into California. As an assistant to Tom Collins, manager of Libei Jiankang Camp (the basis of a week's waiting in the grapes of wrath), Babu traveled in the central valley and worked with immigrants to create better living conditions. She was moved by the perseverance of the workers she met. She wrote to her sister and said, "How brave they are. I didn't hear a sigh! They are not broken or docile, but they are not dull.

Sanolaba, the cloth flower, spent a long time researching and writing reports on migrant farmers. Part of Broadstreetonline.org's job is to write on-the-spot notes about workers' situation, recording activities, diet, entertainment, speeches, beliefs and other observations in detail, which are the natural materials of the novel. Soon, Babu began to write articles. She told her story based on what she saw and heard in the refugee camp and her personal experience. She is the daughter of a restless gambler. 1907 was born in Oklahoma. When the family moved to Kansas and Colorado and then returned to Oklahoma, Babu was already in high school. Although The Gambler's Daughter was forbidden to give a speech at the graduation ceremony, Babu was the farewell speaker in the class. When she visited her mother on 1934, she witnessed a sandstorm and heard the impact of the crisis on the farmers she knew as a child.

She also understands the taste of poverty. From 65438 to 0929, she moved to Los Angeles as a reporter, only to find that her job was dried up because of the stock market crash. For a time, she was homeless and forced to sleep in the park until she was hired as the secretary of Warner Brothers. Later, she got a job as a screenwriter in a radio station.

All this, plus the notes she made during her visit to the concentration camp, is unknown. 1939, a letter from Babu to Bennett, editor of Random House. Bennett Cerf wrote four chapters, and the latter acknowledged her talent and proposed publishing the book. Babu was ecstatic. What she didn't know, however, was that Collins gave her notes to Steinbeck who was busy studying The Grapes of Wrath.

The two met in 1936, when Steinbeck was employed by the San Francisco News Agency and wrote a series of articles about immigrants entitled "Harvest Gypsies". These articles were later reprinted in a booklet by Simon J. Lupin Association, along with the iconic photos of dorothea Langer to help the public understand the seriousness of the crisis.

Tom Collins, the source of most of Steinbeck's research materials, stood in front of a tent and worked as an American film photographer, studying thin people, the old man and the sea, funny girls and so on. They had to postpone marriage until 1948 when California lifted the ban on intermarriage; They stayed together until 1976, when Howe died. Babu went on to write several other books, including every article in the memoir Owl, but the title is unknown. This book can consolidate her position as a writer during the Great Depression like Steinbeck or upton sinclair, but it has been kept in the drawer. Finally, in 2004, the University of Oklahoma Press published this novel. Babu is 97 years old.

All this raises a question: did Steinbeck know that he had a writer's note? Probably not.

"We have no evidence that Steinbeck used her notes," Durkopp said. "We know that her notes are addressed to him, but we don't know whether they are in the form of financial services authority reports. If so, he wouldn't know that they came from her on purpose. So we don't know to what extent he used her notes, or not, but in the end, she worked with immigrants in this field. She did it.

Shillinglaw strongly supports Steinbeck's team, and he disagrees. She said: "Steinbeck's idea of using Babu's notes weakens the fact that since 1936, he has completed his own research through field trips and using Tom Collins's research." . "Babu can add anything to this? I don't know.

Although the stories and tone of the two books are different, their common background leads to strange similarities. For example, both novels have stillbirths. Babu's baby is described as "curled up, wrinkled and strange", while Steinbeck's baby is a "blue shriveled little mummy". They all described the corruption of company farms, the high prices of Panyu shops, women giving birth in tents, and small animals struggling in the landscape, Babu insects and Steinbeck turtles. Both writers are based on Tom Collins. Steinbeck's Diary of the Grapes of Wrath shows that a person is absorbed in creating a work of art, which is both driving and threatening to him. He wrote: "If I can do this book well, it will be a really excellent book, a real American book." . "But I am distressed by my ignorance and incompetence."

With this idea haunting him, Babu may not be in his mind at all, although she later said that he had seen her twice while studying novels. Her condition is caused by gender discrimination in time and age. The important works of this famous male writer shattered the efforts of this unknown female writer.

Babu died a year later, knowing that her first novel would eventually be read. 65 years later, she wrote it.

Name unknown.