Charley and co.

I have a couple of thoughts on the topic of whether one should be upset upon learning that Steinbeck fabricated a good deal of "Travels with Charley". First, I think it's important to put the whole purpose of his trip into context. So he got a fancy custom made camper fabricated and then the idea was to drive to different towns, spend a couple hours there interacting with a person or two before shipping out and expect to derive some truth about America from these extremely brief encounters? There is something to be said about an outsider's view, unembedded, a survey of the country (hell, my films are all about being an outsider)... but from just HOW little time he spent in each place it seems a bit preposterous to think one could really get a sense of the town that was anything beyond superficial. This is all to say, I really don't think it makes much of a difference whether he was staying in hotels with his wife or not.... I don't think him in his camper really gets us closer to "AMERICA". Secondly, the book seemed to me to be less about truth with a lower case "t" and more about truth with a capital "T" as we discussed in class. Less about these individual places and characters than in Steinbeck's insights into life- which is something he gained from having a few years on him--- the trip (or trip as a narrative strategy) was really just a spring board for thought.... at times very reminiscent of Twain. Unromantic, grumpy-sure, darkly humorous... but True! We know these characters. Okay... so the whole lying to us I don't quite get- obviously it was a move to sell books. But, why couldn't it just have been a fictional travelogue based on "research"... his insights into America through these characters he created or adapted from real life. Though, I guess it's fun to imagine a grumpy old man riding around the country looking for the "Truth" and yet kind of lazy about it. Or maybe just tired. That's kind of a sad note to end on.

mm