Edward Weeks of the Atlantic Monthly reviewed the book as a Steinbeck classic, writing, "His dialogue is full of life, the entrapment of Ethan is ingenious, and the morality in this novel marks Mr. Steinbeck's return to the mood and the concern with which he wrote The Grapes of Wrath."[2] The Swedish Academy agreed and awarded Steinbeck the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. The presentation speech by Anders Österling, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, remarked specifically on five books from 1935 to 1939 and continued thus:
In this brief presentation it is not possible to dwell at any length on individual works which Steinbeck later produced. If at times the critics have seemed to note certain signs of flagging powers, of repetitions that might point to a decrease in vitality, Steinbeck belied their fears most emphatically with The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), a novel published last year. Here he attained the same standard which he set in The Grapes of Wrath. Again he holds his position as an independent expounder of the truth with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or bad.[3]
Saul Bellow also lauded the book, writing, "John Steinbeck returns to the high standards of The Grapes of Wrath and to the social themes that made his early work so impressive, and so powerful." However, many reviewers in America were disappointed.[4] A few years later, Peter Lisca called Winter "undeniable evidence of the aesthetic and philosophical failure of the [Steinbeck's] later fiction".[5]
In letters to friends before and after its publication, Steinbeck stated that he wrote the novel to address the moral degeneration of American culture during the 1950s and 1960s. American criticism of his moralism started to change during the 1970s after the Watergate scandal. Reloy Garcia, describing his reassessment of the work when asked to update his original Study Guide to Winter, wrote, "The book I then so impetuously criticized as somewhat thin, now strikes me as a deeply penetrating study of the American condition. I did not realize, at the time, that we had a condition," and he attributes this change of heart to "our own enriched experience".[6]
In 1983, Carol Ann Kasparek condemned the character of Ethan for his implausibility and still called Steinbeck’s treatment of American moral decay superficial, although she went on to approve the story's mythic elements.[7]
The professor of literature and Steinbeck scholar Stephen K. George wrote, "With these authors [Saul Bellow, Brent Weeks, and Ruth Stiles Gannett] I would contend that, given its multi-layered complexity, intriguing artistry, and clear moral purpose, The Winter of Our Discontent ranks in the upper echelon of Steinbeck’s fiction, alongside Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, East of Eden, and, of course, The Grapes of Wrath."[8]
The novel was the last that Steinbeck completed before his death in 1968. The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights and the screenplay for Zapata were both published posthumously in unfinished forms.
