Pourquoi John Steinbeck n'a pas fini ses études à l'université de Stanford ?
Early life

Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. He was of German, English, and Irish descent. Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck (1828–1913), Steinbeck's paternal grandfather, was a founder of Mount Hope, a short-lived messianic farming colony in Palestine that disbanded after Arab attackers killed his brother and raped his brother's wife and mother-in-law. He arrived in the United States in 1858, shortening the family name to Steinbeck. The family farm in Heiligenhaus, Mettmann, Germany, is still named "Großsteinbeck".

His father, John Ernst Steinbeck (1862–1935), served as Monterey County treasurer. John's mother, Olive Hamilton (1867–1934), a former school teacher, shared Steinbeck's passion for reading and writing. The Steinbecks were members of the Episcopal Church, although Steinbeck later became agnostic. Steinbeck lived in a small rural valley (no more than a frontier settlement) set in fertile soil, about 25 miles from the Pacific Coast. Both valley and coast would serve as settings for some of his best fiction. He spent his summers working on nearby ranches including the Post Ranch in Big Sur. He later labored with migrant workers on Spreckels sugar beet farms. There he learned of the harsher aspects of the migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which supplied him with material expressed in Of Mice and Men. He explored his surroundings, walking across local forests, fields, and farms. While working at Spreckels Sugar Company, he sometimes worked in their laboratory, which gave him time to write. He had considerable mechanical aptitude and fondness for repairing things he owned.

Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and went on to study English literature at Stanford University near Palo Alto, leaving without a degree in 1925. He traveled to New York City where he took odd jobs while trying to write. When he failed to publish his work, he returned to California and worked in 1928 as a tour guide and caretaker at Lake Tahoe, where he met Carol Henning, his first wife. They married in January 1930 in Los Angeles, where, with friends, he attempted to make money by manufacturing plaster mannequins.

When their money ran out six months later due to a slow market, Steinbeck and Carol moved back to Pacific Grove, California, to a cottage owned by his father, on the Monterey Peninsula a few blocks outside the Monterey city limits. The elder Steinbecks gave John free housing, paper for his manuscripts, and from 1928, loans that allowed him to write without looking for work. During the Great Depression, Steinbeck bought a small boat, and later claimed that he was able to live on the fish and crabs that he gathered from the sea, and fresh vegetables from his garden and local farms. When those sources failed, Steinbeck and his wife accepted welfare, and on rare occasions, stole bacon from the local produce market. Whatever food they had, they shared with their friends. Carol became the model for Mary Talbot in Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row.

In 1930, Steinbeck met the marine biologist Ed Ricketts, who became a close friend and mentor to Steinbeck during the following decade, teaching him a great deal about philosophy and biology. Ricketts, usually very quiet, yet likable, with an inner self-sufficiency and an encyclopedic knowledge of diverse subjects, became a focus of Steinbeck's attention. Ricketts had taken a college class from Warder Clyde Allee, a biologist and ecological theorist, who would go on to write a classic early textbook on ecology. Ricketts became a proponent of ecological thinking, in which man was only one part of a great chain of being, caught in a web of life too large for him to control or understand. Meanwhile, Ricketts operated a biological lab on the coast of Monterey, selling biological samples of small animals, fish, rays, starfish, turtles, and other marine forms to schools and colleges.

Between 1930 and 1936, Steinbeck and Ricketts became close friends. Steinbeck's wife began working at the lab as secretary-bookkeeper. Steinbeck helped on an informal basis. They formed a common bond based on their love of music and art, and John learned biology and Ricketts's ecological philosophy. When Steinbeck became emotionally upset, Ricketts sometimes played music for him.
La mort et l'héritage

John Steinbeck est décédé à New York, là où sa carrière d'écrivain avait débuté, le 20 décembre 1968, pendant la pandémie de grippe de 1968, due à une maladie cardiaque et à une insuffisance cardiaque congestive. Il avait 66 ans et était fumeur toute sa vie. L'autopsie a révélé une occlusion presque complète des artères coronaires principales.

Conformément à ses souhaits, son corps a été incinéré et inhumé le 4 mars 1969 au cimetière familial Hamilton à Salinas, aux côtés de ses parents et de ses grands-parents maternels. Sa troisième épouse, Elaine, a été enterrée dans ce terrain en 2004. Il avait écrit à son médecin qu'il sentait profondément, « dans sa chair », qu'il ne survivrait pas à sa mort physique, et que la fin biologique de sa vie était la fin définitive.

Le roman inachevé de Steinbeck, basé sur les légendes arthuriennes de Malory et d'autres, *Les Actes du roi Arthur et de ses nobles chevaliers*, a été publié en 1976.

De nombreuses œuvres de Steinbeck sont des lectures obligatoires dans les lycées américains. En Angleterre, *Nos Petits Passagers* était l'un des textes clés utilisés par l'organisme d'examen AQA pour le GCSE de littérature anglaise jusqu'à son exclusion du programme révisé, examiné pour la première fois en juin 2018. Le texte est encore largement étudié par les élèves de GCSE au Pays de Galles et en Irlande du Nord, bien que des appels à son retrait aient été lancés en Irlande du Nord en raison de préoccupations concernant l'utilisation de propos racistes dans le texte. Une étude du Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature aux États-Unis a révélé que *Nos Petits Passagers* était l'un des dix livres les plus fréquemment lus dans les lycées publics. Les œuvres de Steinbeck ont également été interdites. *La colère de Grapes* a été interdit en août 1939 par le conseil des superviseurs du comté de Kern dans les écoles et bibliothèques financées par le fonds public du comté. Il a été brûlé à Salinas à deux reprises. En 2003, un conseil scolaire du Mississippi l'a interdit au motif de vulgarité. Selon l'American Library Association, Steinbeck était l'un des dix auteurs les plus fréquemment interdits de 1990 à 2004, *Nos Petits Passagers* se classant sixième parmi 100 livres de ce type aux États-Unis.
### Query ###
Pourquoi John Steinbeck n'a pas fini ses études à l'université de Stanford ?

### Main Text ###
Early life

Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. He was of German, English, and Irish descent. Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck (1828–1913), Steinbeck's paternal grandfather, was a founder of Mount Hope, a short-lived messianic farming colony in Palestine that disbanded after Arab attackers killed his brother and raped his brother's wife and mother-in-law. He arrived in the United States in 1858, shortening the family name to Steinbeck. The family farm in Heiligenhaus, Mettmann, Germany, is still named "Großsteinbeck".

His father, John Ernst Steinbeck (1862–1935), served as Monterey County treasurer. John's mother, Olive Hamilton (1867–1934), a former school teacher, shared Steinbeck's passion for reading and writing. The Steinbecks were members of the Episcopal Church, although Steinbeck later became agnostic. Steinbeck lived in a small rural valley (no more than a frontier settlement) set in fertile soil, about 25 miles from the Pacific Coast. Both valley and coast would serve as settings for some of his best fiction. He spent his summers working on nearby ranches including the Post Ranch in Big Sur. He later labored with migrant workers on Spreckels sugar beet farms. There he learned of the harsher aspects of the migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which supplied him with material expressed in Of Mice and Men. He explored his surroundings, walking across local forests, fields, and farms. While working at Spreckels Sugar Company, he sometimes worked in their laboratory, which gave him time to write. He had considerable mechanical aptitude and fondness for repairing things he owned.

Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and went on to study English literature at Stanford University near Palo Alto, leaving without a degree in 1925. He traveled to New York City where he took odd jobs while trying to write. When he failed to publish his work, he returned to California and worked in 1928 as a tour guide and caretaker at Lake Tahoe, where he met Carol Henning, his first wife. They married in January 1930 in Los Angeles, where, with friends, he attempted to make money by manufacturing plaster mannequins.

When their money ran out six months later due to a slow market, Steinbeck and Carol moved back to Pacific Grove, California, to a cottage owned by his father, on the Monterey Peninsula a few blocks outside the Monterey city limits. The elder Steinbecks gave John free housing, paper for his manuscripts, and from 1928, loans that allowed him to write without looking for work. During the Great Depression, Steinbeck bought a small boat, and later claimed that he was able to live on the fish and crabs that he gathered from the sea, and fresh vegetables from his garden and local farms. When those sources failed, Steinbeck and his wife accepted welfare, and on rare occasions, stole bacon from the local produce market. Whatever food they had, they shared with their friends. Carol became the model for Mary Talbot in Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row.

In 1930, Steinbeck met the marine biologist Ed Ricketts, who became a close friend and mentor to Steinbeck during the following decade, teaching him a great deal about philosophy and biology. Ricketts, usually very quiet, yet likable, with an inner self-sufficiency and an encyclopedic knowledge of diverse subjects, became a focus of Steinbeck's attention. Ricketts had taken a college class from Warder Clyde Allee, a biologist and ecological theorist, who would go on to write a classic early textbook on ecology. Ricketts became a proponent of ecological thinking, in which man was only one part of a great chain of being, caught in a web of life too large for him to control or understand. Meanwhile, Ricketts operated a biological lab on the coast of Monterey, selling biological samples of small animals, fish, rays, starfish, turtles, and other marine forms to schools and colleges.

Between 1930 and 1936, Steinbeck and Ricketts became close friends. Steinbeck's wife began working at the lab as secretary-bookkeeper. Steinbeck helped on an informal basis. They formed a common bond based on their love of music and art, and John learned biology and Ricketts's ecological philosophy. When Steinbeck became emotionally upset, Ricketts sometimes played music for him.

### Supplementary Text ###
La mort et l'héritage

John Steinbeck est décédé à New York, là où sa carrière d'écrivain avait débuté, le 20 décembre 1968, pendant la pandémie de grippe de 1968, due à une maladie cardiaque et à une insuffisance cardiaque congestive. Il avait 66 ans et était fumeur toute sa vie. L'autopsie a révélé une occlusion presque complète des artères coronaires principales.

Conformément à ses souhaits, son corps a été incinéré et inhumé le 4 mars 1969 au cimetière familial Hamilton à Salinas, aux côtés de ses parents et de ses grands-parents maternels. Sa troisième épouse, Elaine, a été enterrée dans ce terrain en 2004. Il avait écrit à son médecin qu'il sentait profondément, « dans sa chair », qu'il ne survivrait pas à sa mort physique, et que la fin biologique de sa vie était la fin définitive.

Le roman inachevé de Steinbeck, basé sur les légendes arthuriennes de Malory et d'autres, *Les Actes du roi Arthur et de ses nobles chevaliers*, a été publié en 1976.

De nombreuses œuvres de Steinbeck sont des lectures obligatoires dans les lycées américains. En Angleterre, *Nos Petits Passagers* était l'un des textes clés utilisés par l'organisme d'examen AQA pour le GCSE de littérature anglaise jusqu'à son exclusion du programme révisé, examiné pour la première fois en juin 2018. Le texte est encore largement étudié par les élèves de GCSE au Pays de Galles et en Irlande du Nord, bien que des appels à son retrait aient été lancés en Irlande du Nord en raison de préoccupations concernant l'utilisation de propos racistes dans le texte. Une étude du Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature aux États-Unis a révélé que *Nos Petits Passagers* était l'un des dix livres les plus fréquemment lus dans les lycées publics. Les œuvres de Steinbeck ont également été interdites. *La colère de Grapes* a été interdit en août 1939 par le conseil des superviseurs du comté de Kern dans les écoles et bibliothèques financées par le fonds public du comté. Il a été brûlé à Salinas à deux reprises. En 2003, un conseil scolaire du Mississippi l'a interdit au motif de vulgarité. Selon l'American Library Association, Steinbeck était l'un des dix auteurs les plus fréquemment interdits de 1990 à 2004, *Nos Petits Passagers* se classant sixième parmi 100 livres de ce type aux États-Unis.

### Draft ###

### 1. Query Decomposition

"Pourquoi John Steinbeck n'a pas fini ses études à l'université de Stanford ?"

Key elements to verify:
- Stanford enrollment ● 
- Incompletion reasons ◐
- Timeline 1919-1925 ◐
- Alternative path details ○

Translation straightforward. Standard biographical query.

### 2. Information Retrieval Phase

Stanford years: ● 1919-1925, English literature program
Degree completion: ○ Incomplete/unspecified reason
Key transition: 1925 → NYC for writing career

Context markers:
- Born: 1902 Salinas, California
- Timeline: 20+ year career buildup
- Financial factors: family support, coastal California upbringing

### 3. Causal Analysis

Multiple pathways to consider:
A) Financial constraints? 
B) Career opportunity timing?
C) Academic dissatisfaction?
D) Health/personal issues?

⟨H≈0.8⟩ 
Steinbeck → coastal California → marine biology influence through Ed Ricketts → Pacific Ocean sustenance → economic independence from degree → writing career leap to NYC → 1930s breakthrough with "Tortilla Flat" → Nobel Prize 1962...

The degree becomes irrelevant when alternative success paths emerge.

### 4. Evidence Triangulation

Family support system: ● Father provided financial/housing stability
Career pivot: ● NYC writing experiment → success
Timeline alignment: ● Career progression 1925-1968 spans degree completion gap

Physical constraints check:
- Geographic: California coastal influence on later marine themes ✓
- Economic: Family support enabling writing career ✓  
- Social: 1920s cultural climate favoring creative independence ✓

### 5. Logical Synthesis

∴ Multiple sufficient causes rather than single definitive reason

Primary factors:
1. Financial independence through family support
2. Immediate career opportunities in writing
3. Alternative success pathway emerging
4. Personal/academic dissatisfaction (implied but not explicitly stated)

NB: Absence of explicit degree completion ≠ failure
Evidence: Continued intellectual development, successful career, Nobel recognition

### 6. Answer Construction

Response should emphasize:
- Multiple contributing factors
- Family support as enabler
- Career timing as catalyst  
- Alternative success demonstration
- Timeline context (1919-1925 Stanford → 1925-1968 career)

The incompleteness becomes narrative element in larger success story.

⚠ Potential bias: Retrospectively justifying unconventional path

Final verification: ✓ Consistent with biographical patterns, ✓ Addresses query scope, ✓ Acknowledges uncertainty appropriately

### Answer###
John Steinbeck n'a pas terminé ses études à Stanford pour des raisons qui ne sont pas entièrement claires. Il a effectivement étudié la littérature anglaise à l'université de Stanford près de Palo Alto, mais n'a pas obtenu son diplôme, quittant l'université en 1925.

Après avoir quitté Stanford, Steinbeck s'est d'abord rendu à New York où il a travaillé des petits emplois tout en essayant d'écrire. Lorsqu'il a échoué à faire publier son travail, il est revenu en Californie. Cette période de retour en Californie s'inscrivait dans un contexte économique difficile - la Grande Dépression - mais il semble qu'il ait bénéficié du soutien de sa famille, notamment de son père qui lui a fourni un logement gratuit et des prêts financiers qui lui ont permis d'écrire sans chercher d'autres emplois.

Il faut noter que Steinbeck a vécu une grande partie de cette période dans une petite maison de Pacific Grove, sur la péninsule de Monterey, où son père possédait une propriété. Cette proximité avec la côte et les influences biologiques, notamment grâce à son mentor Ed Ricketts, ont probablement joué un rôle dans sa capacité à développer une approche particulière de l'écriture qui s'est révélée ultérieurement très réussie.

Son parcours atypique - abandonner Stanford sans diplôme pour se lancer dans une carrière d'écrivain - s'est finalement révélé être une décision qui l'a mené à une carrière prolifique et prestigieuse, culminant avec le prix Nobel de littérature en 1962.