East of Eden

　　Novel by John Steinbeck, published in 1952. It is a symbolicrecreation of the biblical story of Cain and Abel woven into ahistory of California's Salinas Valley. With East of Eden Steinbeckhoped to reclaim his standing as a major novelist, but his broaddepictions of good and evil come at the expense of subtlety incharacterization and plot and it was not a critical success.Spanning the period between the American Civil War and the end ofWorld War I, the novel highlights the conflicts of two generationsof brothers; the first being the kind, gentle Adam Trask and hiswild brother Charles. Adam eventually marries Cathy Ames, an evil,manipulative, and beautiful prostitute; she betrays him, joiningCharles on the very night of their wedding. Later, after givingbirth to twin boys, she shoots Adam and leaves him to return to herformer profession. In the shadow of this heritage Adam raises theirsons, the fair-haired, winning, yet intractable Aron, and the dark,clever Caleb. This second generation of brothers vie for theirfather's approval. In bitterness Caleb reveals the truth abouttheir mother to Aron, who then joins the army and is killed inFrance. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature --Thistext refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of thistitle.