""OF MICE AND MEN While the powerlessness of the working class appears frequently in Steinbeck's writing from the late 1930s, he focused more intently on two men in his 1937 novel """"Of Mice and Men,"""" painting an intimate portrait of them as they navigate a world characterised by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. Although the focus is limited, the theme-a friendship and a common dream that gives life meaning-is universal. EAST OF EDEN The Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck referred to East of Eden as """"the first novel"""" in his notebook, and it definitely possesses the mythic simplicity and primal intensity. This expansive and frequently cruel book is set in the fertile Salinas Valley of California and chronicles the connected fates of two families-the Trasks and the Hamiltons-whose generations helplessly recreate the fall of Adam and Eve and the toxic rivalry of Cain and Abel. ""