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Believing that a good, interesting life is marked by quality, not quantity, John Steinbeck took note of his itchy feet and prepared to travel. He was accompanied by his French poodle, Charley, diplomat and watchdog, across the states of America from Maine to California. Moving through woods and forests, dirt tracks and highways to large cities and wildernesses, Steinbeck observed America and the Americans with a humorous and sometimes sceptical eye. What he sees is a lonely, generous nation too packed with individuals for single judgements. His vision of how the world was changing, however, speaks to us warningly and prophetically through the decades.
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It's easy to read, beautifully written and full of keen observations. And the relationship between the writer and his dog is an engaging one throughout.This book is often marginalised by his great fiction, but it really is a gem of a book.
My original US edition features uninspired cover art, but this Penguin classic issue is also worth buying soley for the superb cover shot of 'one man and his dog'.
Steinbeck dreaded the South but knew that he could not be avoided. Traveling in 1962, Steinbeck saw some of the dramatic events of the Civil Rights movement while he sampled the prevailing racial attitudes of Southerners of the day.
At the start, Steinbeck was looking to become reacquainted with America. I was hoping that the would finish with some wise conclusions gleaned from his experience. He did conclude that Americans were more united as Americans than they were divided as residents of different regions. He is amazed to find the degree to which diverse immigrant groups have amalgamated into a new nationality in less than two centuries. I passed this on to a distant cousin in France with whom I have been discussing themes in American and French history. Beyond this, we are left to draw our own conclusions from the facts reported.
I wonder how many of the people to whom Steinbeck referred have read and recognized themselves in this book. How many of us, who did not meet Steinbeck, see ourselves or our acquaintances reflected in its pages?
This a a hard book to put down, so don’t try. Pick it up, free your mind and enjoy “Travels with Charlie.”
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