作为一位诺贝尔文学奖获得者，约翰·斯坦贝克堪称美国最为不朽的作家之一。凭着敏锐的洞察力和对文学艺术始终不渝的追求， 斯坦贝克创作出了许多具有普世情怀的作品。 尽管斯坦贝克的作品至今仍受读者的喜爱， 但它们却一直都是被当作大萧条时期的“左翼文学”的代表来解读和评判的。 通过细读斯坦贝克的主要作品，我们不难发现他的小说除了在表现人类的苦难和尊严方面具有重要的历史价值外，在小说叙事上也取得了很高的艺术成就。 源自神话作品的叙事结构， 灵活多样的叙事视角和叙事方式， 以及诗性化的叙事语言， 不仅为斯坦贝克小说中的那些重大的历史题材增添了无穷的艺术感染力， 而且还开拓了现代美国小说的意境。 在很大程度上， 斯坦贝克在小说叙事上的成功在于神话自然主义和诗性语言的融合。

As a Nobel Prize laureate ，John Steinbeck is among the most enduring writers that America has ever had． With a keen eye and unswerving dedication to the experimentation of writing ，he has completed many works of universal concerns． Al- though his works still enjoy great popularity among readers ，they have long been regarded as examples of the “Leftist Literature ” arising from the Great Depression． During his life time ，Steinbeck has rarely received due critical attention ，and the studies of his works have been apparently inadequate compared with those of his contemporaries． A careful reading of his major novels ，howev- er ，reveals that apart from the historical significance in representing the ordeal and dignity of mankind ，Steinbeck ’s fiction has also achieved great accomplishment in fictional narrative． The mythological narration structure ，flexible point of view ，varied nar- ration modes ，together with poetic language ，have not only strengthened the aesthetic appeal of the major historical events in his fiction ，but also expanded the sphere of modern American novel． The success of Steinbeck ’s narrative strategy ，to a large extent ， lies in the integration of mythological naturalism with poetic language．