I just got a really nice edition of Tortilla Flat, which is one of my all-time favourite books by John Steinbeck. He's not for everyone, as he shakes sentences down and strips them of all flourish and ornament. It would have been interesting to see Proust and this guy go at it, at a party, or your local bar.
However, like Bob Dylan or Bach, the man's got a knack for turning even the most hard-rock of phrase and the most simplistic seeming line into absolute poetry.
Here's one just for proof, you unbelievers: "The afternoon came down as imperceptibly as age comes to a happy man." This starts off Chapter V, entitled, "How St. Francis turned the tide and put a gentle punishment on Pilon and Pablo and Jesus Maria".
Oh, Steinbeck! How you woo me with such straightforward clarity!
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