...
Show More
I love a good road book, and Travels with Charlie is no exception. Every writer who does a travel book ultimately presents more of themselves than the people and places they experience, both because they know themselves better, and because the experiences of the road becomes a mirror to reveal the traveler. Steinbeck’s book does this more than most — it gives you far more Steinbeck than America. The few encounters he described along the way became devices to allow him to pontificate and philosophize.
Not that this is a problem. Spending time with Steinbeck is a pleasure. His sharp mind, slightly world-weary humor, and philosophical take on America as he found it in the Fall of 1960 all combine for a fascinating literary journey.
In these pages, Steinbeck tells us much about himself, including a physical description:
”I wear a beard and mustache but shave my cheeks. I cultivate this beard not for usual given reasons of skin trouble or pain of shaving, nor for the secret purpose of covering a weak chin, but as pure, unblushing decoration, much as a peacock finds pleasure in his tail. And finally, in our time, a beard is the one thing a woman cannot do better than a man.”
He shares the profundities of people he met, like these musings from a rugged Maine Yankee:
”My grandfather knew the number of whiskers in the All Mighty’s beard. I don’t even know what happened yesterday, let alone tomorrow. He knew what it was that makes a rock or a table, I don’t even understand the formula that says nobody knows.”
And, of course, Steinbeck used his brilliant wordsmithing to give us scintillating details of the areas he traversed:
”Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
Keep in mind that Travels with Charlie isn’t wholly non-fiction. At best, this book is creative non-fiction — a creative story shaped and inspired by Steinbeck’s travels rather than a fully accurate recreation of the actual trip. But with a novelist as great as John Steinbeck, who’s complaining?
Not that this is a problem. Spending time with Steinbeck is a pleasure. His sharp mind, slightly world-weary humor, and philosophical take on America as he found it in the Fall of 1960 all combine for a fascinating literary journey.
In these pages, Steinbeck tells us much about himself, including a physical description:
”I wear a beard and mustache but shave my cheeks. I cultivate this beard not for usual given reasons of skin trouble or pain of shaving, nor for the secret purpose of covering a weak chin, but as pure, unblushing decoration, much as a peacock finds pleasure in his tail. And finally, in our time, a beard is the one thing a woman cannot do better than a man.”
He shares the profundities of people he met, like these musings from a rugged Maine Yankee:
”My grandfather knew the number of whiskers in the All Mighty’s beard. I don’t even know what happened yesterday, let alone tomorrow. He knew what it was that makes a rock or a table, I don’t even understand the formula that says nobody knows.”
And, of course, Steinbeck used his brilliant wordsmithing to give us scintillating details of the areas he traversed:
”Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
Keep in mind that Travels with Charlie isn’t wholly non-fiction. At best, this book is creative non-fiction — a creative story shaped and inspired by Steinbeck’s travels rather than a fully accurate recreation of the actual trip. But with a novelist as great as John Steinbeck, who’s complaining?
