Sweet Thursday »

Chronicling American dreams destroyed by either injustice or the simple difficulty of the world, John Steinbeck left lasting testaments to the struggles of working people in The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row. His refusal to water down his realistic work got some of his books banned and earned him a Nobel Prize.

In Monterey, on the California coast, Sweet Thursday is what they call the day after Lousy Wednesday, which is one of those days that are just naturally bad. Returning to the scene of Cannery Row—the weedy lots and junk heaps and flophouses of Monterey, John Steinbeck once more brings to life the denizens of a netherworld of laughter and tears—from Fauna, new headmistress of the local brothel, to Hazel, a bum whose mother must have wanted a daughter.

New Republic

An emphatic and clear-cut statement of Steinbeck's greatest theme: the common bonds of humanity and love which make goodness and happiness possible.

Introduction   Robert Demott     ix
Suggestions for Further Reading     xxvii
Prologue     xxxv
What Happened In Between     1
The Troubled Life of Joseph and Mary     8
Hooptedoodle (1)     14
There Would Be No Game     24
Enter Suzy     26
The Creative Cross     33
Tinder Is as Tinder Does     37
The Great Roque War     44
Whom the Gods Love They Drive Nuts     47
There's a Hole in Reality through which We Can Look if We Wish     53
Hazel's Brooding     60
Flower in a Crannied Wall     66
Parallels Must Be Related     68
Lousy Wednesday     70
The Playing Fields of Harrow     74
The Little Flowers of Saint Mack     80
Suzy Binds the Cheese     86
A Pause in the Day's Occupation     91
Sweet Thursday (1)     101
Sweet Thursday (2)     107
Sweet Thursday Was One Hell of a Day     112
The Arming     117
One Night of Love     123
Waiting Friday     129
Old Jingleballicks     134
The Developing Storm     143
O Frabjous Day!     146
Where Alfred the Sacred River Ran     156
Oh, Woe, Woe, Woe!     165
A President Is Born     174
The Thorny Path of Greatness     179
Hazel's Quest     181
The Distant Drum     194
The Deep-Dish Set-Down     198
Il n'y a pas de mouches sur la grandmere     200
Lama Sabachthani?     209
Little Chapter     212
Hooptedoodle (2), or The Pacific Grove Butterfly Festival     213
Sweet Thursday Revisited     216
I'm Sure We Should All Be as Happy as Kings     223
Notes     227