Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition) [Paperback]

 

 

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When I was a teenager, I read a lot of John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), The Moon is Down (1942), Cannery Row (1945), and East of Eden (1952). The last Steinbeck book I bought was Travels with Charley - In Search of America (1962). I remember taking it to my first real job when I was 18 and being laughed at by the workmen for reading it at lunchtime. The cover looked "fruity" - a jaunty drawing of a man in a green truck riding with a French poodle. Reading matter at work consisted of girly magazines and Louis L'Amour novels. I must have been one o' them there tinker bells or somethin' reading a book like that.

The title was a bit silly, though, wasn't it? I lost momentum and didn't finish. Twenty years later, I got another copy, having read that Travels with Charley represented a classic piece of travel literature, that most satisfying yet most unrecognized of genres. And who knew Steinbeck wrote other travelogues? Who has heard of his Sea of Cortez (1941), a report about a voyage from California to Mexico, or A Russian Journal (1948), where he heads off for a snoop around the Soviet Union?

Born and raised in California, where many of his novels are set, John Steinbeck spent the second half of his life in New York City, with frequent trips to England and France. At the age of 58, after a couple of strokes, he lit out from his home in Sag Harbor, Long Island with his (also) ailing poodle, Charley, to refamiliarize himself with America, its land and people. In a letter to a friend, he outlined his method of travel and his route.

"In the fall - right after Labor Day - I'm going to learn about my own country. I've lost the flavor and taste and sound of it. It's been years since I have seen it. Sooo! I'm buying a pick-up truck with a small apartment on it... bed, stove, desk, ice-box, toilet - not a trailer - what's called a coach. I'm going alone, out toward the West by the Northern way...."

And that's what he did. In the truck he named Rocinante, which he painted on its side, he and Charley drove to Massachusetts and then to Maine before hitting Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana.... With a stockpile of booze, he rode around the United States in a giant circle recording conversations, observations, reflections, and offering up delectable vignettes of natural beauty. He writes, "I was told that a stranger's purpose in moving about the country might cause inquiry or even suspicion. For this reason I racked a shotgun, two rifles, and a couple of fishing rods in my truck, for it is my experience that if a man is going hunting or fishing his purpose is understood and even applauded."

Much of what was man-made in America disturbed Steinbeck. He was horrified and angered by the pollution, industrial ugliness, uniformity of communities, soulless trailer parks, and much else. He was also annoyed by people's attitudes towards race and difference.

Where Steinbeck really shines is in his description of the landscape. Setting was crucial in Steinbeck's novels and he's almost showing off, proving to skeptics he still has it. He characterizes Montana as "a great splash of grandeur," and talks about its terrain as "shouting color." Mere samples; he can go on for whole pages, molding topography until the ear hears poetry and the mind sees a portrait. Consider this impression of California's redwoods.

"There's a cathedral hush here. Perhaps the thick soft bark absorbs sound and creates silence. The trees rise straight up to zenith; there is no horizon. The dawn comes early and remains dawn until the sun is high. Then the green fernlike foliage so far up strains the sunlight to a green gold and distributes it in shafts or rather in stripes of light and shade. After the sun passes zenith it is afternoon and quickly evening with a whispering dusk as long as was the morning."

Travels with Charley is nice read - witty, poignant, lyrical - but did its author pull a Bruce Chatwin? Chatwin, a British writer of considerable talent, best known for his In Patagonia, was a first-class fraud. His writing is largely fiction passed off as travel literature. The New York Times thinks Steinbeck embroidered. So does Steinbeck's son, also named John, who said that the conversations in Travels are bogus and that his father hardly talked to anyone. "He just sat in his camper and wrote all that (expletive)."

There's a discussion between Steinbeck and a New England farmer about Nikita Khrushchev's famous shoe-brandishing incident.
Steinbeck says, "What happened at the U.N.? I forgot to listen."

"You wouldn't believe it," he said. "Mr. K. took off his shoe and pounded the table."

"What for?"

"Didn't like what was being said."

"Seems a strange way to protest."

"Well, it got attention."

The chat continues for a page and a half. The only problem, according to Charles McGrath in his 2011 article "Reality Check for Steinbeck and Charley," is that this conversation occurs several weeks before Mr. Khrushchev spoke at the United Nations. McGrath notes several other discrepancies and claims Steinbeck did a lot of the trip with his wife, Elaine, who, in the story, Steinbeck meets briefly in Chicago. Moreover, Steinbeck (and, perhaps, his wife) didn't rough it all that much. He (or they) not only stayed in motels (which he acknowledges), but luxury hotels.

With this in mind, the conversations in Travels seem stilted. I noticed this, but chalked it up to being the vernacular of the times. I now see that it's a bit like dialogue one would find in, well, a John Steinbeck novel.

Vrai ou faux, Travels with Charley quickly became a bestseller (and is still popular, with well over 200 peer reviews on Amazon.com), allowing readers to get a glimpse into the literary icon's curmudgeonly yet sensitive personality.

The year this book was published happened to be the same year Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature. During his acceptance speech in Sweden, Steinbeck said, "the ancient commission of the writer has not changed. He is charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement."

A tiny bit of embellishment is sometimes required in travel writing. But outright invention certainly constitutes grievous fault and failure. John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley is an American beauty, though perhaps not a natural beauty.

Troy Parfitt is the author of Why China Will Never Rule the World

i study english language at faculty of philosophy in rijeka, croatia and we have to read books to improve our vocabulary. i chose this one and i was totally surprised. i love it so much! it gives a great account of america in the 60's but it also gives a warm story about a man and a dog!it could be read as a travel book, as a realistic fiction etc. i recommend it to everyone who enjoy reading absolutely great books!

Most people reading this will undoubtedly know the background story behind John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley.

In 1960, Steinbeck decided that he had lost touch with America and wanted to re-discover the country. So he bought a 3/4 ton pick up and a camper unit and set off, accompanied by his dog Charley, on a three month trip through the United States.

Travels With Charley was the travelogue he wrote about his trip. It's a classic; one of those books that will still be around a century from now.

This unabridged audio book version of Travels With Charley is really well done.

I have a 40 minute highway commute to work and I usually fill the time listening to audio books. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Good book; buy it used
I recently bought the library binding so that I could loan this book to my friends and students and not worry about it falling apart from use. Read more

Published on Mar 16 2004 by Kharmic Tide Pool

5.0 out of 5 stars On The Road
Our media culture is obsessed with superficial appearances. All information is processed at high speeds in small parcels. Read more

Published on Jan 28 2004 by M.D.

3.0 out of 5 stars Lucky Poodle
I wish my master would take me on some journeys like this! The farthest he takes me is to the corner liquor store, which is cool because I get to see this really cute Yorkshire... Read more

Published on Jan 22 2004 by Scraps

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless wisdom along with a time-capsule from 1960
After reading "The Grapes of Wrath", "Travels With Charley" was irresistable to me. Read more

Published on Oct 22 2003 by Mike

5.0 out of 5 stars One of his best
In the 1960s when Steinbeck always lived up to our expectations for powerful fiction, Travels with Charlie drew our scorn without having to read it. Read more

Published on Sep 18 2003 by Jack Purcell

5.0 out of 5 stars Travels with the best
I had read most of Steinbeck's books as a child or young adult, but somehow overlooked "Travels with Charley" until this summer. Read more

Published on Aug 24 2003 by E. Karasik

3.0 out of 5 stars Terrific!
Another Steinbeck great! I LOVE that Charley is a poodle!! Enjoy.

Published on Aug 6 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars A book full of truth
I have read somewhere that what makes a novel a "classic" is that it must contain some fundamental truths that can withstand changing fads, cultures and eras. Read more

Published on July 18 2003

1.0 out of 5 stars A car, a dog, and a big crab
In "Travels with Charley" Steinbeck takes a break from the exploitation fiction that made him famous and hits the road. He and Charley, well, travel. That's it. Read more

Published on Jun 19 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Eloquent!!!
This book was excellent. I would reccomend this as a book for anyone to read. You can relate with Steinbeck's need for travel. Read more

Published on Jun 15 2003 by David W. Neagley

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