John Steinbeck was deeply disappointed when his friend Adlai Stevenson for the third time lost the presidential race as democratic candidate in 1960. The victory went to John F. Kennedy as most people will know. Out of this disappointment John Steinbeck decided to undertake a 10.000 miles long travel across a USA which he felt he no longer knew. His travel companion was his French puddle, Charley. Steinbeck began his journey by visiting states in the east, then the most northern states, down the west coast and finally ending the travel in the south.
John Steinbeck wrote that he was driven by a wish to rediscover his native country as he earned his living by writing about it. He felt out of touch with the modern USA after having spent 20 years in New York City and traveling around Europe. Now he wanted to find out what characterized the country and his fellow Americans in 1960.
With help he constructed a prototype of an auto camper. He assembled a small house of parts from his boat which he put on his flatbed pickup truck. In this tiny house there was room for a kitchen and a bed. He called his auto camper Rosinante named after Don Quixote’s horse. On the 23 of September 1960, he left his summer residence in Sag Harbor in New York and began his long journey with Charley. John Steinbeck was 58 years old, and his health was deteriorating.
Even though Travels with Charley is now more than 60 years old it is still surprisingly relevant. Steinbeck talked to a lot of ordinary Americans and none of them recognized the famous writer. Through the conservations he had with people he met, his observations and reflections Steinbeck wrote about the enormous changes that the great country was going through. He touched upon nature conservation, alcoholism, racism, poverty and wealth, guns, taxes, communism, the difference between the south and the north and many more topics. By and large many of the same topics that still cause conflicts in the American society to this very day.
Travels with Charley is highly entertaining in its descriptions of the places which Steinbeck visited. Both complimentary and critical. The many conversations that he had with Charley along the way also add to the fun of reading this book.
Travels with Charley is a highly recommendable book. Later findings that the journey was not as authentic as described in the book do not alter my impression of a book that I enjoyed reading immensely. Travels with Charley was Steinbeck’s last book before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1962. The book went on to sell more than 1,5 million copies and earned Steinbeck a new generation of readers both in the USA and in Europe. John Steinbeck died in 1968.
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