Steinbeck, Guthrie and Zanuck: a Dust Bowl Triptych. The Intertextual Life of "The Grapes of Wrath" on Paper, Celluloid and Vinyl

Abstract

In a world where the arts have become one more target for multimedia corporations it is worth remembering the more authentic intertextuality of works which appeared around 1940, i.e. John Steinbeck’s "The Grapes of Wrath", Darryl F. Zanuck and John Ford’s film of the same name, and the songs of Woody Guthrie. Never before had literature,cinema and song been so intimately and powerfully linked, and nothing since has come near to replicating this unique symbiosis.