I can draw one conclusion from this book: Steinbeck is a soul) I put off getting to know this work for a long time, because I expected something minor, summing up the results of life, reflection, regrets and memories. But I was completely wrong. "A Journey with Charlie in Search of America" is a travelogue, observations and reflections on various topics, written with humor, thoughtfulness and a deep understanding of human nature.
John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories. In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The writer here is 49 years old, full of energy, and eager to fulfill his long-held dream of traveling to every state in America. He buys a van, puts his sleeping quarters in it, takes his poodle Charlie with him so he won't be lonely, and sets off on his journey. The author pays attention not only to what he sees around him, but also to the arrangement of his own simple life, and some of his inventions are very funny and practical (for example, the method of washing laundry). Steinbeck - an observant traveler, he is interested in everything and enjoys talking with people: guards on private estates, fishermen, waitresses, hotel guests, strolling actors, salesmen in gun stores ... There is a place in his notes for his favorites: "Montana has bewitched me. Montana is majestic and warm. If it had a seashore, or if I could live away from the sea, I would move there immediately and apply for a permit to settle there. Of all the states, this one is my dearest and most beloved."
One of the curious issues raised in the text is the question of roots. In the period when the writer went on the road, the popularity of "houses on wheels" peaked, and Steinbeck was very interested in the reasons why people decide to live this way, if they are not afraid that their children and themselves will lose their roots, their attachment to their native land. I received a reasonable question: what kind of roots does a person living in an apartment thirty meters above the ground, in a stuffy megalopolis, who sees greenery only on weekends in the park have? For people, mobile housing meant, as paradoxical as it may sound, stability and confidence in the future. They did not depend on a job in a certain place, when downsizing the family simply moved to where the job was; no need to agonize about selling/renting real estate, no need to worry about moving furniture, everything they needed was always at hand, and household utilities (water, sewage, telephone) were easily connected at the many equipped parking lots. You know, even I, a heavy person, found this idea attractive.) Steinbeck also argues interestingly about the importance of roots for Americans: isn't it more natural for a nation of adventurers and conquerors just to live a semi-nomadic lifestyle, isn't the urge to change places embedded in their collective subconscious?
One of the strongest scenes in the book is Steinbeck's arrival in New Orleans, which coincided with an important historical moment: two little black girls went to their first white school. The writer was struck by the anger and hatred of the white activists, who every morning swore at the representatives of the law and the little children, and forbade their own children to go to the same school as the blacks. The atmosphere of anger, tension and fear that permeated the American South was simply unbearable, and Steinbeck greatly reduced his time in those parts. It was 1960...
"My homeland had changed, and when I left it, I did not change with it. In my memory it remained the same, and its present appearance irritated and confused me. Industrialization and globalization provoked much reflection in Steinbeck. He marveled at the speed of industrial development, but also noted the frightening level of pollution; he saw the pluses in highways, but said that they kill the joy of travel, because you can not even look around, because attention is constantly focused on the rushing cars on the sides; he was happy and saddened by a unified English language, which erased the features of regional languages ... Did he find the America that he was looking for? Was he able to reconnect with it, to connect the picture from his memory with the real country? Here is the answer: "We have no reason to fool ourselves. What we once knew is dead, and maybe most of us are dead too. And now it's all new and maybe good out there, but we don't know any of it."
I used to answer the popular question, "Which writer would you dream of talking to over a cup of coffee?" invariably: "Umberto Eco." After this book, I would definitely add John Steinbeck to the answer. Intelligent and resourceful, with a lively sense of humor, observant and sympathetic, an excellent psychologist, a man not just asking difficult questions, but also looking for answers that are far from simple - I would have loved to talk to him on a variety of topics. Unfortunately, this will never happen. But I still have a couple of his works left unread, so I'll settle for little else.
"We have defeated all our enemies except ourselves."
P.S. In one of his dialogues with old acquaintances, Steinbeck refers to Thomas Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home". If anyone has read it, please write your opinion, very interesting.
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