In Dubious Battle

A Penguin Classic Written at a time of profound anxiety caused by the illness of his mother Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck draws on his memories of childhood in these stories about a boy who embodies both the rebellious spirit and the contradictory desire for acceptance of early adolescence. Unlike most comingofage stories the cycle does not end with a hero “matured” by circumstances. As John Seelye writes in his introduction reversing common interpretations The Red Pony is imbued with a sense of loss. Jody’s encounters with birth and death express a common theme in Steinbeck’s fiction They are parts of the ongoing process of life “resolving” nothing. The Red Pony was central not only to Steinbeck’s emergence as a major American novelist but to the shaping of a distinctly mid twentiethcentury genre opening up a new range of possibilities about the fictional presence of a child’s world. This edition contains an introduction by John Seelye. For more than seventy years Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the Englishspeaking world. With more than 1700 titles Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as uptodate translations by awardwinning translators.