日本人も苦労したけど，アメリカ人もずいぶん苦労したんだなあ，としみじみ感じさせてくれる一冊。

　舞台は二次大戦前のアメリカ。
　大資本による大規模農場経営の台頭によって零細農家の生活が圧迫されつつあった時期，それに追い討ちをかけるように大規模な砂塵嵐が発生して農作物が壊滅的打撃をうけるという事態が起こった。
　流民と化した農民は職を求めてカリフォルニアへと大移動を始める。
　しかし，希望の新天地カリフォルニアで実際に彼らを待っていたのは，さらなる貧困と差別であった。　流民の多くがオクラホマ州からやってきたことから，彼らは　『オーキー』　という蔑称で呼ばれたりした。　ひとつの人間集団が他の人間集団に対して抱く偏見や侮蔑感情というものは，いつの時代でもどこの国でも変わらない。

　怪物のような時代の波にのまれてしまった人々の辛苦と，人間社会における差別とは何かということを題材にして，人間がもつ醜さと残酷さを，これでもか，これでもか，とばかりに読者にえげつなく突きつけつつも，その中に永劫不変の人間の営みの美しさと逞しさを垣間見せてくれる。
　７０年も前に書かれた作品だが，斧で叩き割ったような切り口の文体は現代にも通ずる斬新さであった。

Telling the story of the Joad family who, evicted from their Oklahoma land, travel to California along the now legendary Route 66. Steinbeck keeps the reader tense and nervous throughout, and it is impossible to predict what will happen next. Every character of the Joad family is well-developed, and the various elements of the story tie together to produce a novel which is difficult to put down. I was sorry when I reached the last page, and found myself wanting to know how their lives continued after the period of the story! Also, if you missed reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates, go and read it.

"The Grapes of Wrath" a true American Classic is one of the most outstanding books that I have ever read. It does not fail to leaves its mark on a reader. This serious master-piece has its setting during the "Great Depression" and gives a general view of the 1930's. John Steinbeck who may be the greatest chronicler of this cataclysm wrote this THE GRAPES OF WRATH which is about the struggles of the poor during this time. In the story, the Joad family endures many struggles on their way to find work in California and their lives are a microcosm of struggles of the poor during this time. Like thousands of other families, they encounter hunger, violence, betrayals, setbacks and despair. Yet the Joads maintained dignity, courage, and hope to recover. America was fortunate in that the poor did maintain these virtues which kept their hopes alive and made them not to rebel and throw the nation into anarchy. The nation was also lucky with the ascension to power of Roosevelt. THE GRAPES OF WRATH shows how a people with hope and a leadership committed to its people can overcome disaster to become strong again.

Also recommended: DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, OF MICE AND MEN, WAR AND PEACE, THE USURPER AND OTHER STORIES, THE UNION MOUJIK

Some Japanese college students who major in American Literature must read this novel in class. This edition is good for such students because it includes an excellent introduction by Robert Demott. Why do we read this novel, and why has this novel been read by such many people? What is "inter-chapter?" And of course, it includes the intelligible information about J. Steinbeck.
The main characters, the Jords, in this novel had lived in Oklahoma. Their home town had been attacked by “Dust Bowl.” They could not survive any more with agriculture, so they decided to go to the California to find jobs. However, the huge capitalists had exploited the immigrant workers. Could they find a happy life there? The inscrutable ending waits you.

高校生の時に読みました。なんと最後に思わず涙がでてきてしまいました。Steinbeckは数々の名作を残しており、Of Mice and MenやEast of Edenなど超大作ばかりでありますが、このThe Grapes of Wrathもほかにひけを一歩もとらない超大作であります。

舞台は開拓自体のアメリカ。ある一家族が必死に生きていく様を見事に描ききっています。人が本を読むときに、人それぞれ感じ方や、その本のテーマが何であるのかなど、定義の仕方は違うとは思いますが、やはり、この本の最後の1文を読んだ人は皆同じテーマに行き着くのではないでしょうか。わたしはもちろんそれがなにであるかはここではいいません。どうかこの本をいますぐにでも読んで、それが何であるのかを知ってください。本当に本当に素晴らしい本です。