John Steinbeck
publisher
Penguin
format
Paperback
pages
224
Per Petterson
Mrs. Somebody, Somebody
Tracy Winn
With Violets
Elizabeth Robards
Bill Warrington's Last Stand
James King
TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY IN SEARCH OF AMERICA, originally published in 1962, provides an intimate and personal look at one of America's most beloved and brilliant writers in the later years of his life; this is a self-portrait of a man who never wrote an explicit autobiography. In September, 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley embarked on a journey across America at a time of upheaval and racial tension in the South-which Steinbeck witnessed first-hand---and is a stunning evocation of America on the eve of a tumultuous decade. His keen ear for the dynamics among people is evident, too, as he records the interests and obsessions that preoccupy the Americans he encounters along the way.
About the Author
John Ernst Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902 of German and Irish ancestry. His father, John Steinbeck, Sr., served as the County Treasurer while his mother, Olive (Hamilton) Steinbeck, a former school teacher, fostered Steinbeck's love of reading and the written word. During summers he worked as a hired hand on nearby ranches, nourishing his impression of the California countryside and its people.
After graduating from Salinas High School in 1919, Steinbeck attended Stanford University. Originally an English major, he pursued a program of independent study and his attendance was sporadic. During this time he worked periodically at various jobs and left Stanford permanently in 1925 to pursue his writing career in New York. However, he was unsuccessful in getting any of his writing published and finally returned to California.
His first novel, Cup of Gold was published in 1929, but attracted little attention. His two subsequent novels, The Pastures of Heaven and To a God Unknown, were also poorly received by the literary world.
Steinbeck married his first wife, Carol Henning in 1930. They lived in Pacific Grove where much of the material for Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row was gathered. Tortilla Flat (1935) marked the turning point in Steinbeck's literary career. It received the California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal for best novel by a California author. Steinbeck continued writing, relying upon extensive research and his personal observation of the human condition for his stories. The Grapes of Wrath (1939) won the Pulitzer Prize.
During World War II, Steinbeck was a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. Some of his dispatches were later collected and made into Once There Was a War.
John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 “...for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humor and a keen social perception.”
Throughout his life John Steinbeck remained a private person who shunned publicity. He died December 20, 1968, in New York City and is survived by his third wife, Elaine (Scott) Steinbeck and one son, Thomas. His ashes were placed in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Salinas.
Beyond the book
BACKGROUND
In December 1959 Steinbeck's work on The Acts of King Arthur was interrupted when he suffered a small stroke. The effects were not permanent. Steinbeck, now in his late 50's, put aside the Arthur manuscript and started a new novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, set in the 1960's and published in 1961.
Adlai Stevenson, among others, had encouraged Steinbeck to travel through the U.S. as he had in the 1930's gathering impressions and canvassing attitudes that Steinbeck could cast in the form of a book. The idea appealed to Steinbeck, and as he completed The Winter of Our Discontent, he began making plans for a drive through America. He commissioned the construction of a special vehicle a sturdy truck on the back of which was mounted a cabin in which Steinbeck could sleep, cook, and work. He was delighted when the truck arrived, and spent much of the summer provisioning it for the expedition ahead.
His wife Elaine, concerned about her husband's health, was at first opposed to the trek. She could not change her husband's mind, however, and he christened his vehicle “Rocinante” in honor of Don Quixote's horse. Elaine provided the title Travels With Charley because both Steinbeck and Elaine admired Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels With a Donkey (1879).
Steinbeck decided to take their pet poodle, Charley, on the 10,000 mile journey. Travels With Charley can best be appreciated as an act of courage.
The journey began on September 23, 1960. Steinbeck joined Elaine and her relatives in Amarillo, Texas, in time for Thanksgiving 1960. They returned to New York in January 1961.
The manuscript of Charley was in progress by early February 1961, and was written in part in the West Indies on Barbados and completed in New York. It was published mid-summer 1961 and became one of the largest commercial successes of Steinbeck's career. Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature on October 25, 1962.
From The National Steinbeck Center!
Compiled by Pauline Pearson
June 5, 1990
Revised 6/95