Autobiography of a famous writer

Whether we like it or not, literary history tends to follow a known path. In high school, we read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and we are told this is the definitive book about The Dust Bowl. In college, we are introduced to T.S. Eliot’s long poem “The Waste Land” and told that this work is an example of high modernism. But what if I told you that The Grapes of Wrath is not a Dust Bowl novel after all and that “The Waste Land” is actually a confessional poem about T.S. Eliot’s long-lost muse, Emily Hale? The books in the following list challenge the reception of well-known figures in literary history like Steinbeck, Eliot, Sylvia Plath, and Robert Lewis Stevenson and, in some cases, add in new historical literary figures who have nearly been erased.

Although assigned The Grapes of Wrath in high school, the difference for me was that my family had come over from Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bowl, so this book really struck me. After I read it, I rushed home to call my grandmother to tell her about it. But my grandmother wasn’t impressed. Instead, she told me Steinbeck got it all wrong. I was confused by her reaction. Why was she so upset about this great author’s work? My teacher told me it was a classic. I had no idea how right my grandmother’s react

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