East of Eden
California generational epic
East of Eden is a 1952 novel by John Steinbeck, retelling the Cain and Abel story across generations of two California families.
The title comes from Genesis, where Cain is exiled to a land east of Eden after killing his brother.
The phrase evokes banishment from innocence or paradise: After the scandal, he found himself living east of Eden.
James Dean starred in the 1955 film adaptation.
- Nobel PrizeHighest academic honor
- American classicEnduring cultural work from US
- CainBiblical first killer
- AbelHebrew name meaning breath
- CaliforniaWest coast megastate
Steinbeck · Salinas · biblical · original sin · brothers · sibling rivalry · rivalry · jealousy · good and evil · sin · redemption · father · rejection · love · guilt · farmland · generations · Dean
- 20th Century Books1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Catch-22, Grapes of Wrath
- Classic BooksPride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, Moby-Dick, Great Expectations
- 1950sEisenhower, poodle skirt, Elvis Presley, Rosa Parks, baby boom
- American LiteratureThe Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Moby Dick
- 1950s literatureLord of the Flies, Lolita, On the Road, Charlotte's Web, Invisible Man
- California WritersJohn Steinbeck, Jack London, Joan Didion, Raymond Chandler, Philip K. Dick
East of Edenshort story
Brief prose fiction
flash fiction · vignette · novella · sketch · microfiction
East of EdenAmerican Psycho
Satirical slasher about materialism
The Stranger · Less Than Zero · Naked Lunch · Lolita · The Road