The sardine road

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The street of the sardines (English Cannery Row ) is a successful novel by the American writer John Steinbeck from 1945 .

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In the 32 chapters of the novel, the author tells mostly cheerful or tragicomic events that cross over and over again. He describes the milieu in the port district of the Californian city of Monterey in the 1920s / 30s in an ironic and humorous way : the Chinese Lee Chong's general store, where you can buy almost anything, the Flotte Flagge restaurant , a brothel, which is run by the enterprising but social soft-hearted Dora Flood is led. In the case of flu waves, the girls are also involved as Red Cross nurses for children and do double work (Kp. 16). During these times, the assistant doctor and organizer is the "Doc". He runs the "Western Biological", which for him is both a laboratory and a home. Here the biologist keeps rats and snakes in cages, prepares marine animals such as jellyfish, starfish, worms and sea anemones for research institutes (Kp. 18), listens to classical music, invites guests to parties and seduces young women. In spite of all this, however, he remains a lonely loner. "Doc" is the hero of the novel, because he not only unselfishly helps his neighborhood with flu epidemics, but also as an advisor. Steinbeck based this character on Edward F. Ricketts , with whom he was friends during his time in Monterey and to whom he dedicated his novel.

In this setting, the author portrays the life and goings-on of the common people in Cannery Row (hence the English title), the street of the sardine canning factories: “Whores, sons of whores, matchmakers, streamers and gamblers, in one word: people; one could justifiably say: saints, angels, believers, martyrs - it only depends on the point of view. ”In the center is next to the“ doc ”a clique of idlers and rascals who are not so specific about property rights in small things takes, but proceeds according to humanly sympathetic rules: Mack is their diplomatically and rhetorically skilful guide, Hazel collects sea animals for the "Doc", Eddie helps out as a substitute bartender at "La Ida" and collects the leftovers for his friends. Hughie and Jones occasionally work at the Hediondo canning factory. Gay, a good mechanic of old machines, only comes to visit the group if his wife has beaten him up too badly. The group's actions in the city and in the rural idyll are described in an ironic romanticizing way (chapter 13). They live in an old shed that the Chinese merchant Lee Chong had to give them after their "offer" to protect it from arson and break-ins. They call their home “Palace Hotel and Grillroom” and furnish it with old furniture in a homely manner (Kp. 7).

The action, which runs slowly and is interrupted by anecdotes, becomes grotesque when Mack and his buddies come up with the idea to please the friendly and helpful "Doc". In childlike spontaneous enthusiasm they organize a surprise party for him (Kp. 7). They catch frogs for him, which he can sell as test animals to laboratories, use the money he has earned to buy decorations and food in Chong's shop and decorate the “Western Biological” while “Doc” is on the road. But because he stays out for so long, they start eating the food, drinking and playing record music before he returns. This attracts visitors and disputes with the uninvited guests. The apartment is badly damaged and the venture ends chaotically (Chapter 20). “Doc” is on the one hand angry about the devastation, on the other hand touched by the good intentions of the clique. Because he basically sympathizes with them and feels spiritually related to the social outsiders who refuse the principle of success and live into the day: "Everything that we admire in people, generosity, goodness, sincerity, honesty, decency, compassion, Heart, only leads to failure in our social system. While all qualities that we supposedly despise, harshness, sophistication, selfishness, and lack of character, contribute to success. People admire these good qualities, but what they prefer to produce are these fundamentally bad ones. […] The sale of souls 'to win the whole world' nowadays takes place without external pressure and unanimously - but thank God not entirely. Something like Mack and the Boys lives all over the world. ”(Kp. 23). After their failure, the "heroes" try again with a celebration, which this time Mack, Chong, Dora and all the other neighbors prepare together and which works better because "Doc" has been warned and is present from the start. This is how a harmonious, maudlin neighborhood festival develops. But the idyll is not preserved. The exuberant party of the Cannery Row community ends in a wistful, melancholy mood (Kp. 30), and "Docs" house is again badly affected. The last chapter on the day after the festival ends on the one hand with "Docs" recitation of a life-affirming poem ("Still ...") that deplores the loss of loved ones but nevertheless emphasizes eternal values, and on the other hand with sentences that reflect reality: “... the white rats scurried and scurried in their cages, and behind the glass of their compartment the rattlesnakes rested very quietly. Her veiled eyes stared gloomily into the distance. "(Kp. 32)

Episodic portraits of other people are inserted into this main strand of the narrative, for example that of the French "Henri the Painter", who, however, is in reality neither French nor Henri. He rarely comes to paint. Therefore it can never be determined whether he actually has artistic talent. He spends most of his time building a houseboat, in which he lives with changing friends. The ship is changed again and again and never tested in the sea, because the imaginary sailor is afraid of the waves (Chapter 22). Other secondary characters are Sam Malloy and his wife, who live in a discarded steam boiler in a neglected storage area (Kp. 8). Like the protagonists of “Cannery Row”, this cauldron also plays a role in the follow-up volume, Happy Thursday . Other chapters deal with curious historical events such as the embalming of the humorist Josh Billings (Chapter 12), who died in Monterey, or the department store advertising with the "Heavenly Runner" (Chapter 19).

Reception and criticism

Some critics see parallels in the story of Cannery Row to the earlier novel Tortilla Flat , among other things because of the romanticizing description of poverty. The Daily Telegraph wrote (loosely translated): "A very human writer, uninhibited, coarse and compassionate, inquisitive and of a deep cleverness."

filming

The story and its sequel Wonniger Thursday (in the original Sweet Thursday ) served as a template for the film Street of the Sardines , published in 1982 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . Directed by David S. Ward , Nick Nolte played Doc and Debra Winger Suzy (who only appeared on Wonniger Thursday ).

expenditure

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pacific Biological Laboratories (Ed Ricketts' Lab). Retrieved January 29, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Cover text of the English edition, Penguin Modern Classics