Ministry of higher education, science and

partially published in serial form in 1945–1946 and as a novel in 1951. It was an 
immediate popular success and has since then been consistently rated as one of the 
greatest novels of the 20th century. However, the success of “The Catcher” made 
Salinger reclusive due to the unwanted attention and scrutiny. He followed the novel 
with a collection of short stories titled Nine Stories (1953), which was critically 
acclaimed and helped shape writers like Philip Roth, John Updike and Harold 
Brodkey. The last work Salinger published during his lifetime was a novella 
titled Hapworth 16, 1924, which appeared in The New Yorker in 1965. 
FAMOUS NOVELS:- 
NOVEL 
YEAR 
The Catcher in the Rye 
1951 
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters 
1955 
Seymour: An Introduction 
1955 
 

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16 
JOHN STEINBECK 
Lifespan:
February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968 
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. studied English literature 
at Stanford University though he left without a degree in 
1925. He then traveled to New York City where he took 
odd jobs while trying to write. However, he failed to 
publish his work returning to California to work as a tour 
guide and caretaker at Lake Tahoe. The first novel of 
Steinbeck, Cup of Gold, was published in 1929. He first 
achieved critical success with Tortilla Flat in 1935. It was 
later adapted as a 1942 film of the same name. Steinbeck 
wrote 33 books in his career including 16 novels, 6 non-fiction books and 2 
collections of short stories. His masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath was published 
in 1939 and went on to win the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction. 
In 1962, John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his “realistic and 
imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social 
perception.” John Steinbeck is regarded as one of the greatest American authors of 
the 20th century. Several of his works are considered classics of Western 
literature and are required reading in American high schools. 
FAMOUS NOVELS:-