Burning Bright: A Play in Story Form

by John Steinbeck

Book Overview

This is the story of a husband who yearns for a son, ignorant of his own sterility; a wife who commits adultery to fulfill her husband's wishes; the father of the child; and the outsider whose actions affect them all.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140187421
• ISBN13: 9780140187427
• Release Date: May 1994
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Into the Darkness

John Steinbeck is one of the great American writers of the twentieth century. His was the ability to paint vivid and stark portraits of America and its people in a minimal amount of words. "Burning Bright" is written in a style Steinbeck referred to as 'play-novelette', a short novel that reads like a play and one that could easily be adapted as such. The story is necessarily compact to fit this format, but Steinbeck explores emotions and actions that reach far beyond the page. Joe Saul is a man who is eager to pass on his knowledge and his blood to a son. His first wife died childless, while his second wife, Mordeen, has yet to conceive after three years of marriage. Joe Saul is beginning to wonder if the problem lies with him. Mordeen, while younger than Joe Saul by many years, is deeply in love with him and would do anything because of that love. She knows of his desperation for a child and takes matters into her own hands, using a fellow worker as the surrogate father, letting Joe believe that he has finally conceived a son. Yet as the story progresses towards its climax, Joe discovers Mordeen's secret action and must come to terms with what this child means to him. "Burning Bright" is a fast-paced, dialogue-driven exploration of what people will do for those they love. It is a question that readers can identify with, and Steinbeck offers answers that are truthful and just. The universal storyline shines with intensity and focus, putting it in excellent company with other short Steinbeck works such as "Cannery Row" and "Of Mice and Men".

Steinbeck's most cliché work

Burning Bright is, no doubt, a beautiful story that captures raw human emotion under particularly trying circumstances. It is an easy read, and perhaps were it any other author I would have rated the book with 5 stars, but this is not Steinbeck's most creative writing. For a beautiful story about life's struggles and the battle of a man against his own conscience, read Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent. For a story that truly captures the human ability to overcome life's disappointments, read Steinbeck's The Red Pony. To witness true literary art and Steinbeck's ability to describe interesting people, their tiny quirks and interesting antics, read Steinbeck's The Pastures of Heaven. This book is worth reading, but please don't draw any conclusions about Steinbeck's creative and artistic talents from this alone - he has far better work, even in the short story category, that will leave the reader enchanted and wishing the pages would never end.

Trapped in a Paradox

In reading almost all of John Steinbeck's work, this one has to be one of my favorites. Exploring a situation in which human emotions are pushed to the edge, the reader knows what is going to happen. Yet in much the same way drivers crane their necks to see an accident on the highway, the reader goes on in fascination. Joe Saul's first wife died without bearing him a child. His second wife Mordeen has yet to bear him a child. The strain of not having a child is wearing on Joe Saul's happiness, forcing his wife to take action. Most people believe Joe Saul is the reason his wives were never able to conceive. With the seedy Victor as a suitor, Mordeen becomes pregnant while Joe Saul assumes he is the father. Just as Joe Saul's world could not get any brighter, Mordeen's lie begins to unravel. The reader only discovers in the final pages if Joe Saul will accept "his child". John Steinbeck's ability to paint human emotions in detail is in peak form in "Burning Bright" While this work is not as noted as some of his other works, it certainly deserves to be ranked among his elite work.

A Small Precious Treasure

Do not be deceived. This book/play, though thin and small and light, has great presence and substance.Joe Saul is a man, he could be any man, an acrobat, a farmer, a sailor, who has a deep desire to have a child of his body - but can he? The story shimmers with violent energy, barely repressed. It truely 'burns bright' with emotion, clear and confused, painful yet tender, loving yet savage.Without giving the story away, the three act structure is incredibly important to the theme of the story/play - Steinbeck is perhaps one of the most intelligent writers in thinking a theme right through, and crafting his work to reflect the theme on more than one level.

A surprising twist makes the potentially dumb book, genius.

I love Steinbeck, and read as many of his books as I can. I had recently bought this book, and when I needed to read a book for school, took the chance to read this one. It is different in the fact that it is a "play-novelette," as Steinbeck calls it, and is divided not into chapters, but acts. This is a fine mixture of the good qualities of both a play, and a novel. Essentially, it is a novel that can be done as a play without losing any of the author's intentions. However, by the end of the first act, I almost started a new book, as Burning Bright seemed dissappointingly to be the type of book that I could pick up on a trashy romance novel clearance shelf. But I decided to start the next act, since I had little time to turn in my report. It was then that I saw Steinbeck work his magic, and show in a completely unique way that certain things in life are no respecter of class, status, circumstance, or geography. A very well written book, which, like most all of Stenbeck's books, deals with human struggle to lead not only a life, but a life with meaning. I highly reccommend this book to any Steinbeck fan, or anyone else that is looking for a book with peculiar twists, and good insights.