Burning Bright

John Steinbeck

The twins have the same blood. They'd understand. Old Joe Saul said then in Greece we wore high shoes and wooden masks when we were gods. He said in Rome we tumbled in the red sand of the arena after the blood had run, and we juggled burning sticks in front of the set-up crosses and their burdens.
Then in the dark centuries, he said, we laughed and played in the miracles, and we were the only gay in that laughter-starving time. From then on, he said, everybody knows.

I'm sailing at midnight. I've done everything I can--everything. Now you will be all alone on your particular dark ocean. Maybe your soul will require the destruction of everything beautiful around it for its small integrity. But I always thought it might be a little braver soul than that, Joe Saul. It is so easy a thing to give--only great men have the courage and courtesy and, yes, the generosity to receive.

There are two aspects of this story that deserve especial notice. First, the form. Steinbeck called Burning Bright one of his play novelettes (or something like that) and intended it to be a play readable as a novel and vice versa. However this is only the tip of the iceberg. In the actual text, Steinbeck works wonders. He begins the first act with a compelling enough story in a certain setting. But in the second act he keeps the characters and storyline but completely changes the setting. What was a circus full of circus performers becomes a farm with farmhands--names and all completely the same. But the story keeps right along as if there had been no change at all. Steinbeck continues this change in each act, making Burning Bright incredibly enchanting. There is a great pleasure in recognizing the characters in their new skins, sometimes even with new traits and features. Not only does Joe Saul the farmer who was the trapeze artist surprise you at times, but he also is entirely recognizable as Joe Saul, regardless of his name. Each character remains exactly who they were though they are a new human being. This form of Steinbeck's not only makes for an enjoyable read, but is also quite fast.
The second aspect of the novel is its topic. As usual Steinbeck makes you feel like you are hearing an ancient, almost primordial tale. Steinbeck would have been one of those bards in the dark ages who kept fur-clad warriors in rapt attention around a small fire in the midst of the raging wilderness as he told the ways of the world. All the more so now, though we have a much more fearsome wilderness to keep us from hearing him.
You will be surprised by the course of Burning Bright. I am not sure what to think of it myself, it will challenge you, and that for sure. Especially Mordeen's comments at the end. Look for them, make sense of them if you can, or maybe don't.