The Moon Is Down (Acting Edition for Theater Productions) Paperback – October 1, 1942

One of my most vivid memories of middle school was carrying a paperback copy of The Red Pony by John Steinbeck. It was required reading in eighth grade, along with Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and several others. Our reading teacher also assigned our class to read The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, but parents objected. We did what all good 13-year-old boys would do in such a situation: we read it on our own.Steinbeck’s novella was popular. The four connected stories were easy to read, and they were about a boy growing up on a ranch. The teacher encouraged us to read more of Steinbeck on our own, and a few of us did, tackling Tortilla Flat and The Grapes of Wrath (which was not as easy to read as The Red Pony).John Steinbeck (1902-1968) published a series of fictional works considered American classics, including “Cannery Row,” “Of Mice and Men,” and “East of Eden.” He’s best remembered for “The Grapes of Wrath,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Award in 1940.It was in 1940 that Steinbeck became concerned with the Nazi German threat. Europe was at war, and Nazi propaganda was flourishing in the United States and Latin America. Steinbeck was particularly disturbed with how good the propaganda was; he met with President Franklin Roosevelt to express his concerns but thought nothing had come of it. Until the next year, when he was contacted by the agency that became the Central Intelligence Agency to write propaganda from the opposite perspective. He set to work, and produced a short novel called “The Moon is Down,” published in 1942.Without ever mentioning the country in which it is set, or the name of the invading and occupying country, Steinbeck told a story of a small town having to confront the reality of occupation. Most readers sensed he was writing about Norway, but everyone knew the occupying power was Nazi Germany. It is a story of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events, moving from shock to resentment and ultimately resistance.The book was well received by the American reading public, but it was savaged by two of the leading literary critics of the day, Clifton Fadiman and James Thurber. It’s admittedly not among Steinbeck’s best work. It seems wooden and stilted in places, although it also contains some absolute gems of writing. “Uneven” is how many might describe it today.But that’s only part of the story of “The Moon is Down.” The other part is what happened outside the United States.Copies of the book were smuggled into occupied Europe. People made their own translations and copies, passing them around to friends. Plays were written based on the book and performed clandestinely. Translations included Norwegian, Dutch, French, Russian, Danish, and even Chinese, among many others. The book became the best known American literary work in Russia during the war. A Dutchman translated it into his own language and gave readings to groups of people in the countryside, warning them they could be arrested for listening. Everyone understood, and no one left. A member of the resistance in Italy translated and mimeographed 500 copies and gave them to fellow fighters; to be caught with it was a death sentence.In America, one of the criticisms was that Steinbeck had made the occupying soldiers seem like ordinary people instead of “Nazi monsters.” Readers in occupied countries saw that as entirely realistic, resonating with their own experience of what German soldiers were like. Yes, there was brutality and violence, but the soldiers seemed like ordinary, recognizable people. That was part of the horror of the experience.And that was the key to the novel’s profound reception. After the war, people would say over and over again how well Steinbeck had captured the experience of occupation, as if he had been there. The book offered understanding of a terrible experience; it also offered hope and a reason for people to risk their lives to fight the occupation.“The Moon is Down” also explains why democracy is the best form of government, what freedom is, and what the cost can be.

The pearl was my favorite story ! His detailed descriptions are so vivid,it just drew me in andFelt every emotion..

The Moon is Down is one of the lesser known of the Steinbeck collection. Often referred to as “wartime propaganda”, Steinbeck’s The Moon is Down is a fairly short novella that really packs a punch by delving into some deep issues and themes amid war, and centers often on the interactions and conflicts between two sides. Interestingly enough, Steinbeck had already solidified his literary status by the time he wrote this one, so this book represents Steinbeck’s commentary about these issues contained within war.I think one of the most prevalent issues that Steinbeck brings to light in The Moon is Down is the notion that war is oftentimes not is as easy to interpret or come to terms with as one may think, and Steinbeck brilliantly digs into the dynamics of the “conquered” and “conqueror.” What I particularly like about Steinbeck is that he presents themes, morals, and issues and allows the reader to come their own conclusions; and this is the case here, as he uses interactions between both sides of the two parties to create commentary on the issues presented.Another issue or complexity brought to light is the question of who exactly is the conquered and who is the conqueror, as here there is an ironic twist to that notion when the people who have been invaded rise up and have resistance against their enemies at all costs.As is often the case with reading Steinbeck, there is great symbolic power. In particular, I thought the final chapter was very symbolic and thought-provoking. He has some powerful and insightful quotes:“The people of the conquered country settled in a slow, silent, waiting revenge.”“The cold hatred grew with the winter, the silent, sullen hatred, the waiting hatred.”It’s easy to see how this novella could be transformed into a play adaptation on stage or a film.

I was unaware of this book until being recently introduced by a friend.A very effective propaganda piece written by Steinbeck at the request of the Armed forces during WWII.

You can truly feel the tension rising in the town as the book progresses. It is a classic in literature.

This is a short novel (less than 100 pages) by John Steinbeck including an introduction as to its affects and popularity once it was published during WW II. Unlike the war propaganda we are receiving today, that paints one side as all good and the other as evil, this novel humanizes all of the characters...the various occupiers with their affinities, talents and fears, subsumed under hierarchical orders; the long term mayor of the town who is used as a patsy by those occupiers including the ways he tries to stand up to their will and the ways the townsfolk bravely and sneakily resist. Soldiers would put this book in their back pocket as they went to battle. It rings true and as news unfolds about the situation in Ukraine, the images and lessons of this book come to me to buttress my understandings.

Not the Penguin edition, which is best.

well written---relevant

I was reading the same book at FURB, but this book is kinda different

Ho letto questo libro nel giorno della memoria e comprendo quanto avidamente lo lessero in quelle giornate tragiche le popolazioni sottomesse dalla furia nazista. Bello il finale con la citazione delle ultime ore di Socrate.

The story is a little dry, war related, and political. I didn't enjoy it much. The copy is good. Very easy to read, all the Kindle features enabled.

Steinbeck's formative novella of the French resistance to the Nazi occupation and the Vichy collaborators during WWII. Read it in light of the current Russian adventurism. "The flies have conquered the flypaper".

Un racconto coinvolgente e avvincente di cui consiglio vivamente la lettura. La storia é ambientata durante la seconda guerra mondiale e pone bene in evidenza le atrocità perpetrate dai nazisti invasori di altri Paesi. Un atto di accusa al regime di Htler.