John Steinbeck is one of America's most famous classic authors, persistent in his pessimism. I am not a personal fan of Steinbeck's - in my opinion, he is negative and discredits the persistence of the American spirit.
His classic novella, "Of Mice and Men" tells the story of a large, unusually strong and mentally challenged man and his friend George. While Steinbeck makes obvious use of foreshadowing (as any dime store novelist can), there is no literary technique that he appears to have any talent at, other than beating the reader to death with his message. Life beats the living crap out of you, and at the end it doesn't matter because you don't get what you want anyway.
Sound familiar? Steinbeck's other cornerstone novel, "The Grapes of Wrath" has basically the same theme. If I remember correctly, after losing almost everything in the Midwest, the protagonist family travels hundreds of miles, racking up countless expenses and losing family members, only to be less than wage slaves to an orange grower. Also, I'm pretty sure most of them are dead at the end.
Steinbeck would have an ironic, sad sort of feel to him (Heller, Vonnegut, etc.) if he didn't overly saturate every one of his novels with this pithy replacement for depth. I would also wonder perhaps what happened in Steinbeck's life to make him such a bitter and angry individual if he didn't insist on shoving his point of view down my throat in such poor excuses for literature.
