By this time, several of Steinbeck's works had received poor critical appraisals, and he became discouraged and suffered what may have been a slight stroke. Still, during this time, he wrote The Winter of Our Discontent, which is set on the east coast and whose main character is the descendent of a Puritan heritage. Ethan Allen Hawley, the main character, sees the moral corruption that has become America. Deciding to join in the immorality, he finds — too late — that his son has been influenced by his example. Regarded as a criticism of middle class American values in modern society, the book was scorned by critics and readers alike who were not in the mood for Steinbeck's criticism. Characteristically, as it was being published, Steinbeck set off in a small truck with his black poodle, Charley, "in search of America."
That same year, 1961, Steinbeck was invited as a guest to attend the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. The following year, the Swedish Academy awarded Steinbeck the Nobel Prize for Literature, the highest honor a writer can receive. The prize was presented for the body of his work, but it met with outcries from critics who felt Steinbeck had limited talent and was a writer of propaganda. Steinbeck took the opportunity in his acceptance speech to strike out at those critics, saying "Literature is not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood, singing their litanies in empty churches. Nor is it a game for the cloistered elect, these tinhorn mendicants of low-caloric despair." Having received the Nobel Prize, however, was a mixed blessing: Although it gave Steinbeck a place of great honor in the literary world, it also put terrible pressure on his future writing.
