Is ‘East of Eden’ based on a true story? The real-life history behind Netflix’s new series
Netflix released all seven episodes of the limited series ‘East of Eden’ on October 1, with Florence Pugh in the leading role as Cathy Ames. The series reimagines John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel about Cain and Abel, set in two families in California’s Salinas Valley. Elia Kazan’s movie was James Dean’s first leading role, and there was a TV miniseries in 1981. Both have left newcomers with one question: how much of the story actually happened?
While the main plotline is fiction, a large part of it uses Steinbeck’s family’s story as its basis. The Hamiltons, neighbors whose dry, poor land borders the wealthy Trasks, are based on his mother’s real family. Samuel Hamilton, the inventive patriarch, was Steinbeck’s maternal grandfather. According to Oprah’s Book Club guide, the real Samuel moved his family to Salinas in 1871 and finally settled in King City in 1873 on the bone-dry acres the novel describes.
Steinbeck barely knew him, as he died in 1904 when the author was two. Furthermore, the same guide says the Hamilton stories are all true, although Steinbeck changed some dates and exaggerated personalities. It is worth noting that the Trasks are a different case altogether, as Steinbeck invented that family and followed its history through three generations, according to Encyclopedia.com. Cathy, her husband Adam, and his brother Charles are all from that made-up line, and their rivalry reflects the Cain and Abel parallel.
Steinbeck also wrote himself into the novel. The story’s opening scene sees a narrator recalling the Salinas Valley from his own youth. He first wrote the book for his young sons, Thom and John, to show them their family roots, and the chapters with Hamilton were meant for their eyes. Interestingly, Steinbeck wrote letters to his editor, Pascal Covici, about the novel while working on it. Those letters were published in 1969 as ‘Journal of a Novel,’ a year after his death.
Writer Zoe Kazan, Elia Kazan’s granddaughter, told Tudum she took Steinbeck’s own description of the book as the story of his country and the story of himself as her guide while adapting it. She added that every element of the series has its basis in the novel, and she unfolded Cathy rather than inventing her. The 1955 movie covered only the last fourth of the book, while the series intends to adapt it in its entirety. All seven episodes, which Kazan wrote and executive produced, are streaming on Netflix now.
