Sir Brendan Barber on John Steinbeck
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 September 2013
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Trade unionist Sir Brendan Barber nominates American author, John Steinbeck as his Great Life.
The author of The Grapes of Wrath aimed to fight the cause of the common man, was derided by the right as a Communist and by the left as a sell-out for supporting the Vietnam war.
Brendan picks through the politics and explains how Steinbeck influenced him as a teenager to look towards joining the trade union movement. After early success, describing the catastrophic effects of the Great Depression and the Dustbowl in Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck became war correspondent, Nobel Laureate, presidential speechwriter, Hollywood scriptwriter, and environmentalist.
Presented by Matthew Parris.
Professor Christopher Bigsby from the University of East Anglia helps guide us through the life of a man described as 'America's Charles Dickens'. Producer: Melvin Rickarby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2013.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Once you've wrapped up this podcast, how about trying a very British cult? |
| 0:06.0 | What happens if the person you trust with your future isn't what you think they are? |
| 0:10.0 | I did feel the whole time he was watching me Yeti. I saw a footprint and that really gave me gusmas. |
| 0:16.4 | Or people who knew me. Emme, I remember every secret, every lie. I'm the only one who knows the truth. |
| 0:23.0 | Discover more of our biggest podcast from 2003. |
| 0:27.0 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.0 | Great Lives is a download from Radio 4. |
| 0:32.0 | We hope you enjoy what you're about to hear. |
| 0:36.0 | Today's Hero battled for the underdog. |
| 0:39.2 | Despite a Hollywood career, a Nobel Prize, friendships with American presidents and great wealth. It is John Steinbeck's |
| 0:46.4 | fight for the common man which is most celebrated, a fight conducted through his writing, |
| 0:52.1 | his literary works which brought an indelible |
| 0:54.5 | impression of the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, and a sense of injustice to |
| 0:59.2 | millions of readers across the world. |
| 1:01.8 | All I know is I got my orders. |
| 1:03.0 | They told me to tell you to get off and that's what I'm telling you. |
| 1:06.0 | You mean get off my own land? |
| 1:08.0 | No, don't go to blame on me. |
| 1:09.0 | It ain't my fault. |
| 1:10.0 | Whose fault is it? |
| 1:11.0 | You know who owns the land, the shee, Land, and Cattle Company. |
| 1:14.4 | And who's the Shaw Neely and Cattle Company? |
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