To a God Unknown
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Image:God unknown.jpg To a God Unknown is a novel by John Steinbeck, first published in 1933. The book was Steinbeck's second (after his unsuccessful Cup of Gold), the title taken from a hymn excerpt of the Rig Veda's Book X. Steinbeck found To a God Unknown extremely difficult to write; taking him roughly five years to complete, the novella proved more time-consuming than either East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's longest novels.
In this short novel, Steinbeck explores the relationship of man to his land. The plot follows a man, Joseph Wayne, who moves to California in order to establish a homestead, leaving his father, who soon dies.
Joseph builds himself a house, and invites his brothers to join him with their wives, and he himself gets married. Although his father has died, Joseph feels that he is somehow still living, in a large oak beside the house.
As the land prospers, Joseph starts to establish a pagan-like relationship with the land; completing various ritual type actions from time to time, which he feels will help the land.
Most people around him don't understand what he's doing, and one of his brothers, a devout Christian, understands very well, and is strongly opposed. The same brother kills the old oak, and so for Joseph, kills the father, the land's protector.
Soon after a famine comes to the land, and Joseph, who feels himself intrinsically tied to the land, struggles against it, physically and spiritually.
The novel examines what is meant by belief and how it affects different people. It also portrays the connection between the farmer and the land, a common theme, which appeared also in his later novels, such as East of Eden. It was one of Steinbeck's first books.Template:Novel-stub