I don't know how Mr. Steinbeck still enjoyed his fame and legacy while being found as a major benefitciar of intellectual misconduct, and obviously belittle women.
When he was writing the grapes of wraith, he was reading Sanora Babb's manuscript from his publisher friends. He was already an established writer, and managed to publish his own work heavily borrowed the structure and major plot from Sanora's work.
And obviously, no publishers are willing to publish Snora's work, because Mr. Steinbeck is telling them he is writing one that is very similar (which is obvious, because he is essentially copy the book's story line). Ms. Babb's work is only published in 2004, 70 years later after its original completion in 1930s.
I think Mr. Steinbeck probably deserve being stripped of his Nobel prize for this blatant misconduct.