Critical evaluation - John Steinbeck-Of Mice and Men and Robert Ludlum-The Bourne Identity.

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CRITICAL EVALUATION

John Steinbeck—Of Mice and Men

Robert Ludlum—The Bourne Identity

Through the history of man; mathematicians, philosophers, teachers, and scientists have molded and shaped our world.  These men and women, young and old, are responsible for the continually growing knowledge in today’s youth.  Upon studying the most influential educators, it was proven that writers and authors sustain every element of the society we live; love, passion, romance, adventure, drama, science fiction, and non-fiction.  All of these categories exist for only one purpose, to entertain the minds who absorb the material.  Entertaining authors make an exceptional story and none other than Robert Ludlum and John Steinbeck accomplish this feat better.  

In order to further understand these authors thirst to provide edge-of-the-seat entertainment, their past and present must be explored.  Although these authors lived in two diverse locations, their driving desire for knowledge appears the same.  Ludlum and Steinbeck attended college after high school, majoring in English.  After graduating from Salinas High School in 1919, Steinbeck attended Stanford University from 1920-1925.  Two years after Steinbeck left to pursue his writing career in New York, Robert Ludlum was born on May 25, 1927.  Ludlum was educated privately and at the Chesire Academy, Connecticut.  After appearing is school theatricals, he acted in the comedy Junior Miss on Broadway at the age of sixteen.  His degree includes:  B.A., Wesleyan University, Middletown, 1951. 

Having never graduated from Stanford University, Steinbeck’s life for the most part was low profile even after the publishing of his first books, “Cup of Gold” (1929), The Pastures of Heaven” and “To a God Unknown”, which were all inadequately acknowledged by the literary world.  Tortilla Flat” (1935) was the noticeable turning point in Steinbeck’s literary career receiving the California Commonwealth Club’s Gold Medal for best novel.  Steinbeck continued writing, and The Grapes of Wrath (1939) won him the Pulitzer Prize.  The Nobel Prize was awarded to John Steinbeck for Literature in 1962 “...for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humor and a keen social perception.” 1 Twenty-nine Academy Award nominations and four Academy Awards were given for revision of John Steinbeck’s stories.  Literature lost one of its most accomplished and distinguished writers on December 20, 1968, in New York City; John Steinbeck died at the age of 66.  However, on a more positive note, New York City was also the place where literature bore Robert Ludlum.  Ludlum can be described as a modern day author.  He is a well-known author writing twenty-one novels and selling over 290 million books in thirty-two different languages.  Ludlum started his literary career relatively late because he was working in ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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1.  Mobel Lectures; literature 1901-4967

the theatre as an actor and producer.  One of the primary reasons Ludlum is such a suspenseful writer is due to the fact that he was born in an age where movies grabbed the attention of the public eye.  In the 1950s, Ludlum worked as a stage and television actor.  After producing 300 stage productions for New York and regional theatre, Ludlum wrote his first novel, “The Scarlatti Inheritance” (1971).  Few writers are able to grasp global attention using unbelievable plots that spin into engrossing tales.

John Steinbeck and Robert Ludlum are comparable writers.  These ...

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