A Journey into Steinbeck's California, Third Edition

by Susan Shillinglaw, Nancy Burnett (Photographer)

Overview

The third edition to A Journey into Steinbeck's California features new photographs plus updated sections to provide a closer look into one of the most important American literary figures.

Susan Shillinglaw takes the reader on a journey into Steinbeck's life, offering insight into how California influenced his creative process and how, in turn, his legacy has influenced modern California. Literary pilgrims will learn about the land's prominent role in Steinbeck's work; tourists can visit the same buildings that he lived in and wrote about; and history buffs will appreciate the engrossing perspective on daily life in early 20th-century California. Offering an entirely new perspective on Steinbeck and the people and places that he brought to life in his writing, this depiction of the symbiotic relationship between an author and his favorite places will delight readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938901829
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/14/2019
Series:	ArtPlace Series
Edition description:	3rd ed.
Pages:	300
Sales rank:	250,722
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Susan Shillinglaw is a professor of English at San Jose State University, where she was director of the University’s Center for Steinbeck Studies for 18 years. In 2012-13 she was named the SJSU President’s Scholar. She was also Director of the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas from 2015-2018. She has published widely on Steinbeck, including Carol and John Steinbeck: Portrait of a Marriage (U of Nevada Press, 2013) and On Reading the Grapes of Wrath (Penguin, 2014), and has written introductions to several Steinbeck books for Penguin New American Library editions.

Nancy Burnett is one of the founders of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the first aquarium in the United States dedicated to interpreting a single region. She has served as chairman of the Sea Studios Foundation and was the executive director for The Shape of Life, a revolutionary eight-part television series detailing the dramatic rise of the animal kingdom through the breakthroughs of scientific discovery.

Interviews

"In 2004 I started writing A Journey into Steinbeck’s California, with the due date of twelve months hence, an editor willing to read a chapter a month, and a zeal for writing a book about Steinbeck’s appreciation of place. His place is my place, Central California. When he describes 'round comfortable oaks,' I see them that way, every day. Monterey Bay, a mile from my house is a 'blue platter.' Lupines and poppies are scattered over the California hills in early spring, just as they were when Steinbeck was living in Monterey County during the first half of twentieth century. For me and countess tourists and readers, Steinbeck makes his home country seem real—not only vividly painting the landscapes but also the people, the geography, the flora and fauna, and little regional histories. His is a holistic sensibility that looks at the intersection of people and place. And A Journey into Steinbeck’s California is a tribute to Steinbeck’s ecological sense of place."