# Travels With Charley  ## Metadata - Author:: [[wikipedia.org]] - Full Title:: Travels With Charley - Category: #articles - URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_Charley?wprov=sfti1#Veracity ## Highlights > It depicts a 1960 [road trip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_trip) around the United States made by Steinbeck, in the company of his standard [poodle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poodle) Charley ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdryj6pfja2zgr6c9x1g1rtv)) > What are Americans like today?" ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdryjfe5cv3wxy1aqqdq552t)) > Such a trip encompassed nearly 10,000 miles. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdryk79pfxtsjvy9xrzmncth)) > A new introduction to the 50th anniversary edition of the book cautioned readers that "it would be a mistake to take this travelogue too literally, as Steinbeck was at heart a novelist." ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdryktb198z7vw5bq8ydrbn0)) > At the last minute, he decided to take his wife's 10-year-old French Poodle Charley, with whom he has many mental conversations as a device for exploring his thoughts ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdryn3zv8n763hqqn88cfnv6)) > He talked to a sailor stationed on a sub who enjoyed being on them because "they offer all kinds of – future". Steinbeck ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdrynzykjfjk0p74se6ms9g2)) > After his encounter with American border officials, he discussed his dislike of the government. He said the government makes a person feel small because it doesn't matter what you say, if it's not on paper and certified by an official, the government doesn't care ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdryqmyw27nmd75c45crh8js)) - Note: G. K. Chesterton chesterson fence > technology was advancing so quickly as to give Americans more and more instant gratification ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdryw0283ejyxegvpyjtrwjv)) > He then seemed to say goodbye to his hometown, on pages 205 to 208, for the last time, making an allusion to "[You Can't Go Home Again](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can%27t_Go_Home_Again), a book by [Thomas Wolfe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wolfe)." ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdryzjkghabbc8hp755dtfjr)) > Heading east again, Steinbeck then cut through the [Mojave Desert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojave_Desert) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdrz04asqm5x26mc7h5anjvh)) - Note: 60’s crossing Mojave with rented window mount Ac with a block of ice. > He made his way to Texas, where he and his wife Elaine attended what he called a Thanksgiving Day "orgy" at a wealthy cattle ranch near Amarillo ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdrz3h3vzf23jm76jnzpwrvc)) - Note: T. Boone pickins? Rich remind me of Marie Antoinette & the peasant villages she created. > lost, it becomes evident at the end of the story that being lost is a metaphor for how much America has changed in Steinbeck's eyes ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdrz5x4xqpzg3hdnt81bz47r)) - Note: I feel with Monsieur Ci Gît that the end is not in question. It’s the means—the dreadful uncertainty of the means. > In the Steinbeck novel *[The Pastures of Heaven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pastures_of_Heaven)*, one of the characters regards [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson)'s *[Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_a_Donkey_in_the_Cevennes)* as one of the single greatest works of English literature and eventually names his infant son Robert Louis. Later, Steinbeck and his wife Elaine were inspired by Stevenson in choosing the title *Travels with Charley*.[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_Charley#cite_note-5) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdrzh3hfe611j9v8h8gbxszv)) > Steinbeck's son believed that his father invented much of the dialogue in the book, saying: "He just sat in his camper and wrote all that [expletive]."[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_Charley#cite_note-mcgrath-7) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdrzad066apn1bh74jcymnsa)) - Note: & Charley drove > I'm fairly certain that Steinbeck made up most of the book. The dialogue is so wooden. Steinbeck was extremely depressed, in really bad health, and was discouraged by everyone from making the trip. He was trying to recapture his youth, the spirit of the knight-errant. But at that point he was probably incapable of interviewing ordinary people ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdrzj4vfyyw5qnphe9r8vdm8)) > His perceptions were right on the money about the death of localism, the growing homogeneity of America, the trashing of the environment. He was prescient about all that.[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_Charley#cite_note-mcgrath-7) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hdrzjkemnmw6nr79kvazvzw7))