John Steinbeck – Travels with Charley

In search of America Excerpt from a 1962 review excerpt by Edward Weeks…

“His new book, Travels with Charley, is a one-man, one-dog account of the expedition in which he recaptures his familiarity with America. He set out with some misgiving, not sure his health would stand up to the 10,000-mile journey he envisioned; as he traveled, the years sloughed off him, and the eager, sensuous pages in which he writes about what he found and whom he encountered frame a picture of our human nature in the twentieth century which will not soon be surpassed.”

This book, an ‘important personal friend’ of Mary’s, was a hit, the lamb shanks and crème caramel were a hit, Mary’s paintings were a hit! Unfortunately, the note taker for the night was a bit hit and miss and so here follows what will probably be a very misrepresentative (and short)record of our musings on Steinbeck and his book.

The discussion, like Charley and Steinbeck , roamed freely through political and personal landscapes, lingering on questions of consumerism, privilege and conscience . On the night we came to no new realisations about the schism between haves and have nots, or maybe we did…I forget. Let’s just say that Mary still thought there was opportunity in the land of it because ‘when Americans blossom they really blossom’ and that Steinbeck did the self deprecating America ‘the macrocosm of the microcosm me’ line very well in this journey/book.

What he also did well was write. Kevin selected a few gems from the book – the waitress who drained a room of life, people moving to Flordia who must surely miss changing weather, the room of Southern experience that Northerners could never enter. Steinbeck would only let your attention wonder a little before engulfing you again in his journey. There was no quibbling over Steinbeck’s ability and Charley’s charm. However, Dennis did make the point that in moving from the pastoral North to the political South Steinbeck grew weary and his narrative strained. He started out fighting against a hurricane but succumbed to the inexorable march…of time. Ultimately Dennis felt this should have been a book of short stories. Texas was outside of the journey that Steinbeck and Charley wanted to be on.

The last word belongs to the Spanish, Steinbeck and now Kevin -a beautiful thought on how we can journey - vacilando.

Scores:

Mary 9
Leanne 8
Kevin 8
Dennis 7

Average 8

Kevin