Steinbeck's tough yet charming portrait of people on the margins of society dependant on one
another for both physical and emotional survival A Penguin Classic Published in 1945
Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and
the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey
California including longtime friend Ed Ricketts Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc
Dora Mack and his boys Lee Chong and the other characters in this world where only the
fittest survive to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works.
In her introduction Susan Shillinglaw shows how the novel expresses both in style and theme
much that is essentially Steinbeck: "Scientific detachment empathy toward the lonely and
depressed . . . and at the darkest level . . . the terror of isolation and nothingness." For
more than seventy years Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the
English-speaking world. With more than 1 800 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 up-to-date translations by award-winning
translators.
