This sketch was drawn by Barnaby Conrad, a friend of Steinbeck and his third wife, Elaine.

Provided by the Center for Steinbeck Studies, San Jose State University

Knight Errant

Steinbeck set out on a noble mission to fight for the underdog

By Mary Ann Cook

John Steinbeck's 100th birthday is Feb. 27, and he wrote his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath in 1938 while living in these parts. He also finished Of Mice and Men here.

The house he lived in, the first house he and first wife Carol Henning owned, is on Greenwood Lane, now in Monte Sereno, although at the time Steinbeck lived there, it was in the county.

Later he and Carol built a house in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and they called it home until 1941, when the marriage foundered and Steinbeck moved to New York. After years of suffering rejection slips, Steinbeck had won some recognition by the time he wrote The Grapes of Wrath, his eighth published novel. Many scholars argue that the Nobel Prize for Literature, which was awarded to him in 1962 for his body of work, was awarded in large part for The Grapes of Wrath.

Part of the book's genesis came from a series of newspaper articles on the migrant workers' camps in the San Joaquin Valley which Steinbeck wrote for the old San Francisco News. Though he struggled to master just the right tone for the book, as letters to his publisher, Pat Covici, show, it's doubtful that he could imagine the torrent he would unleash with its publication.

"This won't be a popular book," he wrote to Elizabeth Otis, his agent.

But he did have an idea of its importance and impact, evident by this comment in a letter to his publisher, quoted in the Penguin Books, 1992 edition: "There are five layers in this book, a reader will find as many as he can, and he won't find more than he has in himself."

Yet it's unlikely he could have predicted that it would be burned, banned and vilified not just in his home town of Salinas, but throughout other parts of the country, from both podium and pulpit. By the same token, it's just as unlikely he could have seen that it would achieve such international acclaim and worldwide popularity.

It was at the top of the bestseller list throughout 1939 and remained on the list for some months in 1940, though it eventually slipped from the top that year. The turmoil changed his life. The phone rang with requests; crank letters poured in; and he feared he was being targeted by the Associated Farmers.

An intensely private man, he actually celebrated the novel's slippage from first place, reports Jackson J. Benson in his Steinbeck biography, Steinbeck, the Writer.

For years The Grapes of Wrath has been required reading for English classes. Because it has become a classic, because it was written here and because this is Steinbeck's centenary, Los Gatos Library Director Peggy Conaway decided Los Gatos was ripe for a town-wide read.

"Los Gatos Reads Steinbeck!" is the name of the campaign, and The Grapes of Wrath was, not surprisingly, the book chosen for the read-a-thon. Sponsored by the library and Friends of Los Gatos Public Library, the program placed copies of the book at coffee shops throughout town and on a special table at the library.

Readers are on the honor system: They borrow a book, then return it. The idea was to get the whole town talking--about one book. The campaign was born in Seattle and was successful in Chicago with To Kill a Mockingbird and in various other cities in the state of New York.

Judging by the pace at which copies of the book have disappeared from coffee shops--they had to be replenished in 10 days, notes Conaway--the response has been equally enthusiastic here. The campaign is threefold--to encourage public discussion of the book in a coffee shop setting; to promote community spirit; and to provide an appreciation of classic literature.

If deemed successful, Los Gatans can probably expect to see other books similarly shared throughout the town in coming years. "I'm very encouraged by the positive response," Conaway says. "I had no idea how it would go or how many copies we'd need." About 200 copies have been made available. Friends of the Library supplied the funding and will sell the books at the end of the program.

"I hear a lot of comment," says Gina Foster, library assistant. "People saying 'What a good idea' and 'I can't wait to read it.' They come to the desk intending to check it out, but there's no checkout. It's free."


Provided by the Center for Steinbeck Studies, San Jose State University

John Steinbeck visited Warsaw, Poland, in 1963, where this photograph was taken. He had been presented with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.




To cap off the town-wide read, Susan Shillinglaw, director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University, will present "Writing The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck in Los Gatos" March 1 in the Town Council Chambers, 110 E. Main St. The event starts at 7 p.m. with coffee and cookies; the talk starts at 7:30 p.m.

Shillinglaw will sign copies of her book before and after the talk. The book is America and Americans: And Selected Nonfiction (Viking), a collection of Steinbeck's journalism, which she co-edited with Jackson Benson. It incorporates Steinbeck's last book, of the same name.

The book's introduction states: "These articles form a series of snapshots of a man who, through his compassion, concern, and sense of fun, has endeared himself to the American public. ... These pieces are curiously modern and relevant."

Shillinglaw says that Steinbeck was so engrossed in writing The Grapes of Wrath while living here that he had less community with Los Gatos than any other place he lived. After its publication, the Steinbecks hoped to find more privacy in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

His wife, Carol Henning, was a San Jose product who met Steinbeck when he was working at Lake Tahoe. Carol was the one who typed and corrected his manuscripts, after working all day. She gave the book its title--from the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Her father was a well-known Realtor, active in San Jose politics.

In their Los Gatos days, the Steinbecks were viewed as hard-drinking Bohemians, out of place in a conservative town. Steinbeck was considered a scruffy lout by many who knew him in the early days. What kind of man would let his wife support him while he spent all day long at home, scribbling away, and doing God knows what, was the prevailing opinion.

That's the sentiment Los Gatan Marge Mercant, who grew up in Monterey, remembers hearing from her father when he talked about Steinbeck.

Steinbeck was extremely shy, despite the raucous partying from Cannery Row days and beyond with Ed Ricketts and other compadres. There were often house guests at the Steinbecks' accompanied by flamboyant hijinks. In the Santa Cruz Mountain days, the guests were sometimes famous--Charlie Chaplin, Spencer Tracy, Broderick Crawford, Burgess Meredith. (The last two played in theater versions of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.)

But Steinbeck was a disciplined writer. And he would go to some lengths to discourage gawkers and unwanted visitors. When he lived on Greenwood Lane, one neighbor was particularly nosy. Steinbeck reportedly took to urinating off the balcony of his house to discourage her from walking by.

At least that was the story passed around the local barber shop. Los Gatos Weekly-Times columnist John Baggerly interviewed Steinbeck when Baggerly was working for the old Los Gatos Mail News. Baggerly recalls that Steinbeck was accessible, a straight-shooter and didn't put on any airs. Steinbeck was drinking buttermilk and offered some to Baggerly. So much for the hard-drinking days, at least during that period.


Provided by the Center for Steinbeck Studies, San Jose State University

This photograph by noted photographer Dorothea Lange features Tom Collins at Weedpatch in 1936. Collins was manager of the migrant camp that served as inspiration for 'The Grapes of Wrath.'




Another local also has a history with Steinbeck, albeit once removed. Saratogan Audry Lynch has been a Steinbeck devotee since college days and has written two books about him. Lynch became enraptured with Steinbeck one summer and read all his books.

"The characters in Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat sounded so exotic to someone reading about them in Cape Cod," she recalls. Steinbeck wasn't deemed literary enough to be part of the reading requirements at Harvard when Lynch was a student there. Times change: Today one can get a doctorate in Steinbeck, Lynch says.

She became so enthusiastic about Steinbeck's work that she intended to write a biography. When she moved to this part of the world in 1960, so close to Cannery Row and Salinas Valley and those who had known him, she was even more motivated. But two biographies had been published about that time.

And a third sounded like overkill, so she let the fever die down. However, her enthusiasm was only submerged and flared up later, spurring on With Steinbeck in the Sea of Cortez in 1991. This is an accounting of Steinbeck's scientific adventures with Doc Ricketts and others, as told by the cook.

Lynch interviewed the cook, Sparky Enea, and says his recollections--and her book--"are like the downstairs maid talking about the queen." More recently, in 2000, Lynch wrote Steinbeck Remembered, a collection of reminiscences from 20 individuals who knew Steinbeck during his Salinas, Pacific Grove and Los Gatos years.

The appeal of Steinbeck for Lynch stems from "his continuing compassion for the underdog and his great characterizations." Says Lynch, "His strength as an author comes from the fact that he demands both the mind and the emotions."

Then there are his beautiful descriptions of the land. "As you drive by the places he's describing, you're reminded of his words. Living in this area makes it very alive. I'm newly stoked these days," Lynch adds, because of all the activities planned for the centenary.

She'll be a presenter at a Steinbeck conference at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., March 21-23. Her paper, "Two Rebels With a Cause," compares and contrasts John Steinbeck and James Dean, the latter of which starred in the movie of the same name based on Steinbeck's East of Eden.

"I'm having a lot of fun researching it," Lynch says. Another activity she's involved with that was inspired by the centennial is the Traveling Steinbeckians. This group of six from the California Writers Club give readings of Steinbeck's works at bookstores and centers throughout the Bay Area.

Among the Los Gatans reading 'The Grapes of Wrath' in recognition of Steinbeck's centennial is Betty Auchard. She also gives readings from Steinbeck's works as a member of the Traveling Steinbeckians.










Los Gatan Betty Auchard is part of the group. Others are John Hooper, archivist at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, plus Bill Baldwin, Carol Wood and Jane Parks-McKay.

Then there's the Saratoga Steinbeck Discussion Group, founded by Sue Mallory. It's an outgrowth of the class on Steinbeck that Maurice Dunbar taught at De Anza College. The group formed to continue studying the writer's works and have been through them chronologically in the four years of the group's existence.

Saratogans Louise Webb, Mary Sessler, Nancy Anderson, Nancy Daniher, Anne Louden and Lynch are all members of that group of Steinbeck devotees, as well as Art Ring from Campbell. They've made several treks to the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas and report that it's a fascinating, under-appreciated place.

The Los Gatos Library and Friends will sponsor a tour of the center on March 2, the day after the Shillinglaw talk. The tour group will meet at the center, 1 Main St., Salinas, at 10 a.m. Transportation is on one's own and reservations are appreciated and can be made by calling the Friends Hotline: 408.399.5700.

Los Gatan Chatham Forbes, who teaches a course on Steinbeck at the California History Center at De Anza College, will lead the tour. His Steinbeck class will take place Feb. 28 and March 21, from 6:20 to 10 p.m. and will include two fieldtrips: one to Salinas March 9; and one to Cannery Row March 23.

Says Forbes about Steinbeck: "He thought of himself as a knight errant, in pursuit of noble causes. That theme is a thread throughout his life. During his last decade, he was enmeshed in following the Arthurian legend, visiting England and translating the King Arthur tales from Middle English into English.

"He stirred the national conscience with The Grapes of Wrath and In Dubious Battle and was intent on curing injustices. He was an iconoclast who challenged things. He wanted to right wrongs with his pen."

"I'm sorry I never met him," Lynch says. "It's one of the regrets of my life. I've met all three of his wives and one of his sons [Thom]. The other son, John IV, has died. Thom is dedicated to getting movies made or remade from Steinbeck books, particularly those that have never made it to the screen," Lynch adds.

Jumping on the Steinbeck centennial bandwagon are the Steinbeck Centers--at San Jose State University and in Salinas--plus the city of Monterey. The Monterey Conference Center will host a 100th birthday party Feb. 27, starting at 5 p.m. Call 831.375.8512 for more information.

There's also a Steinbeck lookalike contest. That's part of the doings Feb. 23 at the Salinas Center. Steinbeck's son will be the judge of that one. Also, at 11 a.m., same day and place, Susan Shillinglaw and Jackson Benson will talk about and sign their book, America and Americans. For information, call 831.775.4724.

An iconoclast with a knight errant banner; a loner who craved solitude but surrounded himself with people; a craftsman of words who would rather be writing than doing anything else, but whose successes often made writing impossible--all these contradictions made up the complex man who was John Steinbeck.

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