Fascinating little industry

Also: I am thoroughly enjoying "The East of Eden Letters", the letters John Steinbeck wrote to his editor (but did not send) as he wrote "East of Eden":

The letters are all carpentry - pencil sharpening and so-and-so many pages, the logistics of writing a novel as much as anything, along with a good dollop of the emotional experience. It's fascinating, far more interesting than most books of writing advice It's also giving me a new appreciation for Salinas!

It's also made me reflect a lot more on Cain and Abel. Steinbeck seems to be writing the book in part so people will truly experience that story. He knows, of course, that we all experience it, but he wants to render it very vividly

It has me pondering what other biblical (and other mythical traditions) stories have the most depth. The story of the fall certainly does. And of the Crucifixion

It's also striking to see Steinbeck so obsessed by timshel, a Hebrew word he seems to have introduced a typo into (?), which he regards as akin to something like the tech-fashionable "agency"

Finished it. Mini-review: