In a nutshell: Two people who are not blood relatives of John Steinbeck continue decades-long fight over his estate.

You know how it goes. A famous person marries a few times. They die. Multiple heirs contest who gets what despite everyone making money. It's like the worst reality TV show ever aired on Bravo.

In essence, that's what's been ongoing with John Steinbeck's extended family for decades--and it's been a classic case of contempt and lawsuits.


Quick Synopsis Time!:
The Nobel laureate and writer of The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden died in 1968, while married to his third wife Elaine of 18 years. With his second wife, Gwyndolyn, Steinbeck had two sons, Thomas and John.

Seemingly attempting to be fair to all, Steinbeck divvied up how his family could earn income from his novels after his death. In short, Elaine was bequeathed interest from earlier works Steinbeck outright-owned the copyright to. Meanwhile, his sons would receive royalties from copyrights later. Copyright law is a mindless labyrinth and confusing to everyone, so we'll skip the minutia.

Elaine dies years later. In her own will, she leaves her Steinbeck income to her daughter from a previous marriage (and Steinbeck's stepdaughter), Waverly Scott Kaffaga.

Meanwhile, both sons died, with Thomas leaving his royalties to his own wife (and Steinbeck's daughter-in-law) Gail Knight Steinbeck.

Still following? Let's Continue!:
Now, Gail and Waverly have been in court for years fighting for more money.

In 2017, Waverly was awarded $13 million by a jury after it was found that Gail was trying to interfere with Waverly's negotiations with movie studios for film adaptations. In September, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reduced the verdict to roughly $5 million, but still found in Waverly's favor. Yet, Gail and Waverly continue fighting in court over who owns what and who has done one wrong.

Why? Because there was yet another agreement signed by the then-living parties in 1983 how this would all be divided up. Alas (((rubs temples furiously)))--copyright law being what it is, which is full of jargon and a myriad of poorly-worded language--Gail believes she has rights to works, while Waverly contends only she does.

All of this means the case eventually could end up in the United States Supreme Court, as The Hollywood Reporter explains.

In conclusion:
Two people who are not blood relatives of John Steinbeck want John Steinbeck's money.

This is why I choose to remain broke. My heirs can't quibble with their inheritance if there's no inheritance.

Ayn Rand won't go away.

She's getting irked because she saw someone do something nice.

Ayn Rand is either a philosopher, a genius, and a skilled writer,

OR

She's a selfish, frightening, and a miserable hack at making books.

Either way, she's as popular as ever.

The way you view her says as much as your view on literature as it does your own personal moral compass. While Rand wrote two novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, it is her creation and development of a philosophical movement of Objectivism--featured in her two books--that keeps her memory alive 35-years after her death.

Did you just ask her for a cookie? Did you??

While her philosophy's scope darts in a dozen directions, one area stands forth today. In layman's terms, Objectivism argues that people should be selfish for their own personal betterment, and that personal self-interest in the only proper moral action. In essence, Objectivism bristles at altruistic behavior, and finds nothing good in doing good deeds for others. Want to eat that last cookie instead of sharing it? Objectivism would tell you to have it all for yourself, then buy a new bag of Oreos and refuse to share them with your friends or loved ones. Keep those cookies away from the hungry people most, too.

Put another way, it's a fancy way to explain being greedy.

A how-to guide on how to be mean!

Jonathan Freedland, a columnist with London's Guardian newspaper, focused on how Rand's philosophy has been embraced with open arms by the current La Casa Blanca administration and executives in Silicon Valley, with believers like Donald Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, House Speaker Paul Ryan, the founder of Uber, Travis Kalanick, and even the deceased Steve Jobs, who called Atlas Shrugged one of the "guides of his life." It seems Ayn Rand is more popular in death than she ever was in life.

Says Freedland:


"No wonder the tech companies don’t mind destroying, say, the taxi business or the traditional news media. Such concerns are beneath the young, powerful men at the top: even to listen to such concerns would be to betray the singularity of their own pure vision. It would be to break Rand’s golden rule, by which the visionary must never sacrifice himself to others.

[...]

Such an ideology will find a ready audience for as long as there are human beings who feel the rush of greed and the lure of unchecked power, longing to succumb to both without guilt. Which is to say: for ever."


If, by chance, you feel the allure of Ayn Rand and Objectivism slowly wooing you, like you wouldn't mind being selfish and only praising yourself, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver had a quick comedic segment a couple seasons ago asking why Ayn Rand was still a thing:





Why IS Rand a thing? Because selfishness is a thing, and selfishness is easy.

That said, slogging through a thousand pages of Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead is hard. Be selfish and refuse to subject yourself to them.

Should they sit at the kids' table or with the adults? 49 famous writers as children judged for holiday dinner plans.

Growing up, did your family have a large gathering during the holidays that required bratty children to be banned to a small side table? You know how it happened: A 7-year old version of yourself awkwardly sat beside your gawky cousins with the lazy eye and head lice who didn't have the motor skills to properly feed themselves without spilling half of their mashed potatoes all over their lap. Then you'd look with envy at the adults' table and silently pray you'd be invited over to dine with them.

That happened to a lot of us.

We were all kids at some point though. Some of us were debonair, and some of us ate paste. And famous writers were no different.

Here are famous writers when they were children or teenagers--and the decision whether they should luck out and eat with the adults or be at the kids' table for whatever holiday meal you're enjoying:


1.)  Albert Camus

If Camus sits at the kids' table, that jerk cousin will make fun of his cauliflower ear and budding two pack-a-day smoking habit.

Verdict:  Adults' table!
____________________


2.)  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Listen, if you're bringing Mr. Bear, that's just going to take up space. The sassy hand wave doesn't help matters.

Verdict:  Kids' table!
____________________


3.)  Anna Akhmatova

The poor woman can't even get a seat during photo shoots with her brother. The least she can have is a proper seat at a holiday dinner.

Verdict:  Adults' table!
____________________


4.) Beatrix Potter

If I want to be scowled at over dinner, I'll just look to my uncle nursing his seventh scotch for the night.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


5.)  Bertrand Russell

Is that a cricket bat or is he coming to dinner armed? If that's the case, he can lay down the law with the children.

Verdict:  Kids' table!
____________________


6.) Boris Pasternak

Boris, the older brother here, came dressed to the nines for dinner, or to lead a small navel ship into battle. One or the other.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


7.)  C.S. Lewis

The hand on the knee and defeated face is the look of any adult over the age of thirty Monday through Friday.

Verdict:  Adults' table!
____________________


8.)  Czesław Miłosz

That's the look of sheer enthusiasm right there. It's probably best to let him decide where the hell he'd like to sit to keep things calm.

Verdict:  Wherever he wants to sit.

____________________


9.)  Doris Lessing

Admit it, you just looked at her and immediately judged she shouldn't have to deal with those miserable cousins at the kids' table.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


10.)  Ernest Hemingway

He's probably smuggling a small shotgun and a flask of whiskey under that gown. You don't need that combination headache.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


11.)  Eugene O'Neill

He's just going to judge the side dish you brought and sit there sulking all dinner with that face. You know this is true.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


12.)  Ezra Pound

A half hour into dinner, he's going to start promoting fascism, and then a fight will break out over the green bean casserole.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


13.)  Frank O'Hara

That's the face of someone who's going to politely ask you to pass the peas, and then eat in silence beside the deaf elderly grandmother at the table.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


14.)  Gabriela Mistral

Is this a holiday dinner or are we having a child bride? When did this become creepy?

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


15.)  Gore Vidal

It's Gore Vidal. He'll write a scathing review of how you overcooked everything, and then make fun of your clothing, crow's feet, and lack of exceptional footwear.

Verdict:  Not even invited to dinner.

____________________


16.)  Hermann Hesse

Sure, he looks super serious, but someone needs to stand up to that aunt railing about her political leanings.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


17.)  James Joyce

Oh, boy, I can't wait to listen to a twenty-minute, incoherent, stream-of-conscious story from him about his teddy bear and a fire truck.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


18.)  Joseph Conrad

The heart of darkness isn't just the title of Conrad's most famous work. It's Conrad's childhood soul.

Verdict:  Kid's table!

____________________


19.)  Kurt Vonnegut

How can you watch this short interview Vonnegut did a few years before his death, and not want to share a drink and dessert with him?

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


20.)  Octavio Paz

Admittedly, he looks like an insurance agent or an actuary, but he won't ruffle feathers at the dinner table.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


21.)  Pearl Buck

She might be the most levelheaded guest at dinner, and that's even after four glasses of wine.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


22.)  Samuel Beckett

If you offend him in the slightest way over dinner, he might sue you.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


23.)  Thomas Mann

He needs to sit with the grown-ups just so he can have a serious conversation with his parents as to why they dressed him like a poor man's Tron.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


24.)  Winston Churchill

The 1953 Nobel Prize winner in literature could tell a good story. He probably also has a half dozen nips of gin strapped to him in this photo.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


25.)  F. Scott Fitzgerald

If you're already pouting before you even make it in the house, you're just going to be sour over dinner. No one needs that.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


26.)  Gabriel Garcia Marquez

He. Is. Staring. Into. Your. Soul.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


27.)  Gertrude Stein

Well, if you want her to critique how the appetizers ran too long, and how the main course was lacking a proper protagonist, so the whole meal needs to be done over--and THEN properly invite her when you goddamn know what the hell you're doing with this meal, you might as well send her to the...

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


28.)  Hans Christian Anderson

He'll somehow venture off into a story of how you could kill an evil witch by boiling her in the gravy boat--and it'll be subtly creepy, no doubt--but he'll keep things interesting.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


29.)  Henry Miller

No one is allowed to dress more flamboyantly at the dinner table than grandma who's completely bought out the Home Shopping Network of their most garish clothing and jewelry.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


30.)  Jack Kerouac

Something about Kerouac makes me uneasy, like he's the kid who has a meltdown and throws his whole dinner plate against the wall while screaming that no one understands him. Admit it--this is the face of a kid you could see doing that.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


31.)  Countee Cullen

The most sane and level-headed conversation you'll have over the entire holiday season of dinners and get-togethers will be with him. High five him if he sits beside you at the table.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


32.)  Truman Capote

He looks so sweet and innocent! Then, in twenty years, he'll create a fictional character on you that's befuddled, a lush, and acidic in nature, and he'll say it was all because you didn't hand the peas and carrots over to him at a holiday dinner quickly enough when he was 5-years old, and he holds grudges. So, you know...

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


33.)  William Faulkner

True story: In this photo, William Faulkner had already downed two bottles of vodka.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


34.)  Ayn Rand

HA! Hahahahahahaha...hahahaha. ((catches breath))

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha--------no. She hates us all.

Get a restraining order.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


35.)  Yukio Mishima

He might try to throw a coup d'état if dinner doesn't go as planned, and then things will become really grim after that.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


36.)  Rudyard Kipling

It depends--are you going to get the relaxed, humbled Kipling who wrote "Gunga Din," or the elitist and creepy Kipling who wrote "White Man's Burden" to sit across from you during dinner? If you have to ponder the question, the answer is clear.

Verdict: Kids' table!

____________________


37.)  Julia Kristeva

Even as adorable as she looks, she's going to psychoanalyze you and then write a cultural study on the events that occur at dinner. You won't understand half of what she's alluding to, you'll feel stupid, and then suddenly the holiday party just became sad.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


38.)  Pablo Neruda

Not everyone can rock sensible slacks underneath a flowing robe.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


39.)  Rabindranath Tagore

The rakish headwear will be a talking point at dinner. We all know this.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


40.)  Alice Walker

As if.

As if you'd send that adorable face to have a miserable dinner with unruly distant cousins.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


41.)  Seamus Heaney

He's Irish, so at least he'll be a little lubed up by the time the main course is served. Then the real conversation begins.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


42.)  Sylvia Plath

Are you her father? No? Her husband? No?

Okay, dinner will be safe.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


43.)  Katherine Mansfield

She'd probably politely ask you about your work, life, kids, and then help you clean up after dinner, all while profusely thanking you.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


44.)  Lewis Carroll

He had honours in mathematics while at Oxford. In other words, a real live wire of excitement.

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


45.)  Marcel Proust

Do you have 38 hours to spare to listen to Proust detail the significance of candied yams?

No?

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


46.)  J.D. Salinger

The younger tyke in this photo--the real question is would he even show up to dinner, or go into hiding all day and make people question where he is?

Verdict:  Kids' table!

____________________


47.)  Jack London

I mean, he is bringing along a dog, as well as apparently a scuffed-up fedora, so things might be fairly interesting.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


48.)  Maya Angelou

Okay, so she will speak verrrrrry slowly during conversation, but she's not going berate you for overcooking the carrots at dinner, so take what you can get.

Verdict:  Adults' table!

____________________


49.)  John Steinbeck

Here's the sweetest kid at the holiday dinner party. He'll even offer to remove your plates, serve you dessert and coffee, and regale in you talking about yourself all night because he's honestly interested in you as a person. So, duh.

Verdict:  Adults' table!