I’m short on blog entries, so I’m going back in time a little bit to make comments about some of the earlier works that I didn’t post about.

One of my favorite books that we read this year was Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley.  I really enjoyed the writing and his intended mission to reconnect with America and find out “What are Americans like today?”.  The entire idea of setting out on a long road trip with his dog was incredibly appealing and something that I hope to do someday (when money and time aren’t such insurmountable obstacles).  I could really identify with the students at his son’s school and the many people he met along the way that wished they could do the same thing, but were too caught up in the demands of life to engage in such an extravagance.  His trip really is a luxury that few Americans could afford to embark on.  I can only think that it would have been even more appealing in an age without the Internet and inexpensive communication that allows people to stay in touch with friends and family and be exposed to vast amounts of information.

When I learned in class that he had grossly misrepresented the details of his trip I was furious and confused as to why no one had discovered these lies sooner.  I felt like his credibility, especially from the perspective of non-fiction literature, was irreparably damaged.  This knowledge destroys a lot of the charm that the book possesses.

Upon further thought I have changed my tune a little bit.  It still bothers me that he was not alone, spent nights in luxury hotels and had the company of his wife and other friends throughout the course of the trip.  However, as I said it was one of my favorite books of the semester.  He was sick and probably unable to pursue the journey the way he describes it and was smart enough to realize that it would have been far less effective to tell the story the way it really happened.  I’m beginning to think that the actual details of his travels are less important than the salient points he made about the trashing of the environment and the decline of localism.  He was still able to convey a powerful experience and I wonder whether I would care about the misrepresentation at all if this course wasn’t based on non-fiction literature.