California Literature Connection

This project relates to California Literature because of one on Sinclair's greatest novels, Oil! which was published in 1927. This novel is similar to his 1906 novel, The Jungle. Oil! takes place in southern California and is about one man's success during the booming oil industry in the 1920's. The story is told through the son of a man who buys land rich with oil and does everything he can to dominate the oil industry in the southern California region. Sinclair wrote the novel in part as an autobiography, writing about a relationship between a father and son that reflected his own father and himself.





A film based on Sinclair's novel was recently made in 2007. There Will Be Blood was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won 2 awards this year. Paul Thomas Anderson wrote the screenplay for the movie, pulling his inspiration from Sinclair's famous novel.