Author John Steinbeck was a native son of the Monterey peninsula. There are a lot of references to him in the area. We opted for the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, his hometown. We were uncertain if this would be worthwhile. It was. Of course, we were aware of some of his novels (and the resultant movies), but there was a lot we didn’t know. Did you know his first wife (of three) was Carol Henning? We didn’t. Also didn’t realize how controversial his work was.
After visiting, I downloaded the Kindle version of six of his shorter novels and already finished reading Tortilla Flat. The novel is about the Tortilla Flat on the Monterey peninsula, not the one on the Apache Trail.
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- Many of the incidents in his novels were based on real-life events, like the spoiled lettuce on a delayed train.
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- A mural has been commissioned to coincide with a new release of his novel, The Pearl. It’s a work in progress.
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- After winning the Nobel he stopped writing fiction because of all the criticism he received. Travels with Charley was based on his actual travels with his dog, Charley.
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- He noted that after the interstate highways were completed you could go from New York to Los Angeles without seeing anything.
