Burning Bright

Joe Saul’s longing for a child has become the measure by which he judges his marriage and his own worth. Unaware that he is sterile, he grows increasingly desperate after three childless years with Mordeen. Mordeen, believing that motherhood is the only way to save him from despair, conceives a child with the younger Victor while Friend Ed tries to understand and protect everyone involved.

Steinbeck presents the same four archetypal characters in changing settings—a circus, a farm and a ship—so that the conflict is detached from one particular place or historical moment. Written as an experimental “play in story form”, the work examines pride, biological and chosen fatherhood, marital secrecy and the possibility that compassion may matter more than possession.