Fiction and Non-Fiction in Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley and East of Eden?

Travels with Charley – Fact or Fictions?

In John Steinbeck’s last book, Travels with Charley (1962), he concluded that “We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Journeys are often transformative ventures. Whether we consciously acknowledge it or not, it is impossible to return from a journey.” Apparently, his revelation was not just about his last book, but a statement about the overall direction of his writing career and life. Although Charley was widely acclaimed, some critics attempted to belittle it because Steinbeck published as non-fiction, yet he altered some travel details and added some colorful accounts of his very real journey across America. I contend that these jabs were unreasonable because they assume that the memoirs of other authors are 100% fact based. As if writers can really always recall details of events from years or decades ago without attempting to dig deeper in their memory banks than is possible. Although some critics do not hesitate to find fault for inconsistencies when an author claims his work is non-fiction, there is seldom a cry to panning him when he includes actual life events in his work of fiction—as Steinbeck did in East of Eden.

East of Eden Considered

East of Eden, published about ten years before Charley, was also a significant transformative journey for the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author. In his dedication for the book, Steinbeck wrote, “Nearly everything I have is in it.” For about the last four years, one of my most focused journeys has been reading, studying, and teaching one of Steinbeck’s books per year at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of the University of Richmond. Ironically, I started out with his last book, Travels with Charley, because it focused on the authors late in life reflections. At the time he was writing the book he was in his late fifties, which is about the same age as many of the life-long learners in my classes. That book was so popular that many of the students asked me to teach other Steinbeck classics. In later years, I taught classes on Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath, which were equally notable. During this time, several participants had asked me to consider teaching East of Eden. I first became inspired by this book on an Amtrak train ride last summer (2018) from Los Angles to Salinas, where I visited the Steinbeck National Center and the nearby Steinbeck family home. The author’s descriptions of California often matched the scenery of the coastline and mountain ridges I observed as a train passenger and ignited my imagination. I finished reading the book on my return trip to Los Angles. But I was not fully satisfied, as I wanted to know more about what was behind the mind of the man who wrote this masterpiece. It was not until I started teaching the class this spring that some of my students told me that I could find out as much as I cared to know about East of Eden in Steinbeck’s Journal of a Novel. One of my students had already read it and lent it to me to consider before the next sessions. This article is one of the fruits of that generosity.

Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters

According to the Journal, Steinbeck wrote the letters of the Journal at the same time as he was planning and writing East of Eden. He notes that “it took him about three years of puzzled thinking to work out the details of this book.” He hand-wrote the Journal in pencil in the left margins of his notebook, while writing the first draft if the text on the right-hand pages  Few great works of literature are as well-documented as Steinbeck’s Journal, which provides readers with generous access to a great writer’s planning insights, considerations, drafting, character considerations, and discarded storylines. Therefore, those who love great literature are fortunate that Viking Press decided to compile and publish Steinbeck’s, Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters, shortly after the author’s death in 1969.

It became clear to me after reading East of Eden, as well as his accompanying Journal that the process of writing that book became a transformative journey for him. It took him on trips to many unplanned places. And I believe that this book will also transform readers who are willing to take the time to read and consider Steinbeck’s East of Eden and other classic masterpieces:

Steinbeck explains that the letters were initially intended as a communication device to his close friend and Viking Press Editor, Pascal Covici. He says that he also used the letters to stimulate his writing process when it was blocked, or as a means to record his ideas while he was still mulling them over. Most of the entries record the mundane details of Steinbeck’s personal and family life. They are unedited by the author or the publisher. Chances are that Steinbeck never intended to have them published or seen by the public. The casual reader would have to sift through a great deal of trivial diary-like entries to retrieve any significant and insignificant details about his East of Eden considerations. On some of the same day’s entries, Steinbeck comments on building some shelves, laying carpet in his house, playing games with his boys, and attending shows with his family, like The King and I and South Pacific. Interspersed with those entries, he considers possible ideas for his book in progress. Despite this smorgasbord of both ordinary and interesting notes, Covici thought that the letters were important enough for them to be published as a Journal by his firm. Covici acknowledges that he would never have been able to complete the project without the help of Steinbeck’s wife, Elaine and his sons, Thom and John.

As he documented in his Journal, Steinbeck originally chose to write East of Eden for his sons. He “wanted them to know how it was.” As they were four and six years old when he was working on the book, he wanted to “tell them directly,” so they could understand when they got older. He wanted them to be able to read about his family’s story which he conceived “against the background of the country I grew up in. I wanted to describe to the boys what their blood is.” I also wanted to describe the Salinas Valley in detail…so that there can be a real feel for it.” He explains that he also wanted to take time in the book “for thought, comment, observation, and criticism…as if it is my last book.” The way he started East of Eden, it seems like he was going for a straight non-fiction account of his upbringing in the Salinas Valley:

“I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may and what time the birds awaken in the summer—and what trees and seasons smelled like—how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.”

The Most Difficult Book Steinbeck Ever Wrote?

However, despite Steinbeck’s plans, the Journal documents how the process of writing East of Eden became a transformative trip for the author which he could not fully control once the book took shape. He writes that “it was the most difficult book I have ever written.”  The “story seemed to move itself,” rather than him directing it. Yet, parts of the book keep Steinbeck’s original intent to document his family ancestry on Hamilton’s Irish family side on his maternal grandparents He uses the actual names of his grandfather, Samuel, and his nine offspring, which includes Steinbeck’s mother, Olive. Many documented events of their lives are found in the story, including how Samuel’s family helped to settle the Salinas Valley, and how she raised World War I bonds and celebrated by flying in a daring stunt plane.

How East of Eden Transforms into a Novel

However, the book also started to also take the shape of a novel very near the onset. Out of the creative process, Steinbeck conceived of the creation of three generations of Trasks. The protagonist Adam Trask moves from a family farm in Connecticut to the Salinas Valley. Steinbeck’s actual family did move from New England to the Central Coast region of California, and he grew up entirely in that region. Steinbeck reflects that he spent so much time creating and “defining the Trask family.” He reflects that he often knew what they were going to say or do before writing about them. The idea of using Adam as the main character apparently reflected Steinbeck’s secondary purpose in writing the book, i.e., to create a modern parallel s of the Bible stories about Adam and Eve and Cain & Abel. Steinbeck, who was raised by a deeply religious mother, wrote in the Journal that “he wanted to tell the greatest story of—the story of good and evil, of strength and ugliness.”

Editors React to East of Eden: Steinbeck Pushes Back

Steinbeck’s editors complained that East of Eden almost became “two books in one, and would confuse the reader.” They also thought that such a long book would overrun planned publication costs. But Steinbeck pushed back that the distinct stories were two parts of his whole creation, and they must be published in one book. Editors also complained that they did not think that some of the Hamilton men spoke in realistic Irish dialogue. Steinbeck countered and asked:

“This is my book, I’ll make the characters talk any way I want. Do you want to publish it or not?”

No Distinct Line Between Non-Fiction and Fiction?

Like in Travels with Charley, Steinbeck found that it best-suited his artistic purpose to mix some facts with his fiction. He saw “no reason why I should not tell the family stories,” and use their family names, “But I must also put in all the lore and anecdote I can…so the boys will know the family.” Are there any critics who would pan an author for covering real life events in a work of fiction? If so, many of the great works of literature, including David Copperfield, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and A Cather in the Rye would immediately be disqualified because they depicted actual events in the lives of their authors!

So, why criticize an author for including some fictional accounts in a work of non-fiction? I would appreciate seeing your responses. Respond in a dialogue box below.

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Dr. Murray Ellison received a Master’s in Education from Temple University (1973), a Master’s Degree of Arts in English Literature from Virginia Commonwealth University (2015), and a Doctorate in Education at Virginia Tech (1988). He is married and has three adult daughters and a new grand-daughter!  He ‘retired’ as the Virginia Director of Community Corrections for the Department of Correctional Education in 2009. Included in his ‘after-retirement activities,’ he is the founder and chief editor of this literary blog, and he is an editor for the International Correctional Education Journal. He is the Co-Editor of the 2016 book of poetry, Mystic Verses, by Acharya Shambhushivananda, and is an Editor for The First Mennonite Church of Richmond’s Newsletter. He serves as a board member and volunteer tour guide for the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond Virginia. Mainly, however, for the last several years, he has taught literature classes for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Richmond. Effective August 2018, he started teaching English Writing & Research Classes at the Richard Bland College of William & Mary University. Finally, in his ‘spare time,’ he tutors two school youth, does occasional professional editing and coördinates both The Midlothian, Virginia, Classic Book Club and the VCU Working Titles Book Club. Contact Murray at ellisonms2@vcu.edu, or leave a note at the bottom of the post.

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