Staff Pick
As Steinbeck wrote the first synopsis of
The Wayward Bus in Spanish, he had originally chosen
El Camión Vacilador as the book's title. He writes, "the word
vacilador, or the verb
vacilar, is not translatable unfortunately, and it's a word we really need in English because to be vacilando means that you're aiming at some place, but you don't care much whether you get there. We don't have such a word in English.
Wayward has an overtone of illicitness or illegality, based of course on medieval lore where wayward men were vagabonds. But
vacilador is not a vagabond at all.
Wayward was the nearest English word that I could find." It is a shame that there exists no English equivalent for
vacilador, as it truly is the most apt word to describe the novel's (as well as the bus's) trajectory.
It has been noted elsewhere (even somewhat extensively) that
The Wayward Bus is one of Steinbeck's lesser or minor works. While it, indeed, may not be as well known as some of his other novels, it's a resounding piece of literature, one which surely ranks among his best. With a cast of characters rivaling any of Steinbeck's other books and little plot to speak of,
The Wayward Bus relies on the development of these characters and their interactions with one another. The real brilliance of the story, however, is Steinbeck's rich, precise use of language and the tale's naturalistic effect. The author himself writes,
This book depends on mood, on detail and on all the little factors of writing for its effectiveness. It has practically no story....it is what I wanted to say and I think it is in there for anyone who really wants to find it and there's a top story for those who don't....It will be called simple character study and that is only the littlest part of what it is.
Though there may be "practically no story, "that certainly isn't to say that simply nothing happens, for there is no small amount of interpersonal tension and emotional upheaval.
As in many of Steinbeck's other books, the characters are portrayed in a most unsentimental manner. Yearning for something just beyond their reach, many of them see their hopes frustrated, yet refuse to accept them as mere illusory pipe dreams. The men and women that populate Steinbeck's novels are often improbably authentic, neither saints nor sinners, but, rather, reflections of the way human beings actually are, have been, and shall continue to be, throughout ages and across oceans. In his works, we are left with the sense that we are, circumstance notwithstanding, the stewards of our own fate, and that neither pride nor guilt shall absolve us of our accountability. As he said during his banquet speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize:
We have usurped many of the powers we once ascribed to god. Fearful and unprepared, we have assumed lordship over the life or death of the whole world of all living things. The danger and the glory and the choice rest finally in man. The test of his perfectibility is at hand. Having taken godlike power, we must seek in ourselves for the responsibility and the wisdom we once prayed some deity might have. Man himself has become our greatest hazard and our only hope.
Recommended By Jeremy G., Powells.comSynopses & Reviews
A collectible 50th anniversary deluxe edition featuring an updated introduction by Jay Parini and first edition cover art and illustrated maps of Steinbecks route by Don Freeman
In September 1960, John Steinbeck embarked on a journey across America. He felt that he might have lost touch with the country, with its speech, the smell of its grass and trees, its color and quality of light, the pulse of its people. To reassure himself, he set out on a voyage of rediscovery of the American identity, accompanied by a distinguished French poodle named Charley; and riding in a three-quarter-ton pickup truck named Rocinante.
His course took him through almost forty states: northward from Long Island to Maine; through the Midwest to Chicago; onward by way of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana (with which he fell in love), and Idaho to Seattle, south to San Francisco and his birthplace, Salinas; eastward through the Mojave, New Mexico, Arizona, to the vast hospitality of Texas, to New Orleans and a shocking drama of desegregation; finally, on the last leg, through Alabama, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to New York. Travels with Charley in Search of America is an intimate look at one of America's most beloved writers in the later years of his lifea self-portrait of a man who never wrote an explicit autobiography. Written during a time of upheaval and racial tension in the Southwhich Steinbeck witnessed firsthandTravels with Charley is a stunning evocation of America on the eve of a tumultuous decade.
This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition also features French flaps and deckle-edged paper.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Review
"Pure delight, a pungent potpourri of places and people interspersed with bittersweet essays on everything from the emotional difficulties of growing old to the reasons why giant sequoias arouse such awe."
Review
"Profound, sympathetic, often angry . . . an honest, moving book by one of our great writers."
Review
"The eager, sensuous pages in which he writes about what he found and whom he encountered frame a picture of our human nature in the twentieth century which will not soon be surpassed."
Synopsis
Penguin Classics commemorates the 50th anniversary of Steinbeck's Nobel Prize with two stunning new editions of his best-loved works
At age fifty-eight, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America. This chronicle of their trip meanders from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases. Still evocative and awe-inspiring after fifty years, Travels with Charley in Search of America provides an intimate look at one of America's most beloved writers in the later years of his life—a self-portrait of a man who never wrote an explicit autobiography. Written during a time of upheaval and racial tension in the South—which Steinbeck witnessed firsthand—Travels with Charley is a stunning evocation of America on the eve of a tumultuous decade.
Synopsis
In his first novel to follow the publication of his enormous success, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbecks vision comes wonderfully to life in this imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling Californias back roads, transporting the lost and the lonely, the good and the greedy, the stupid and the scheming, the beautiful and the vicious away from their shattered dreams and, possibly, toward the promise of the future. This edition features an introduction by Gary Scharnhorst.
About the Author
John Steinbeck (1902–1968) was born in Salinas, California. He worked as a laborer and a journalist, and in 1935, when he published
Tortilla Flat, he achieved popular success and financial security. Steinbeck wrote more than twenty-five novels and won the Nobel Prize in 1962.
Jay Parini teaches English at Middlebury College and is the author of five novels, including The Last Station. He lives in Vermont.