A Life in Letters is a treasure for readers, writers, and especially fans of Nobel Prize in Literature winner John Steinbeck. This epistolary book chronicles some of Steinbeck's letters to friends, fellow authors, editors, publishers, and politicans over decades. Steinbeck honestly and passionately shares many facets of himself in these correspondences, which gives a look inside his life and mind, his approach to and struggles and successes as a writer, and views on relationships and the world.

I'd begun to highlight quotable passages and found I was highlighting pages in a row. I had to slow down my reading to credibly take in the parts that resonated to me. Given that there was too much for me to select to quote, I picked just one bit that speaks to my heart directly:

John Steinbeck to George Albee in 1931

"Don't fool yourself, George. A man's best work is done when he is fighting to make himself heard, not when swooning audiences wait for his paragraphs. An elevated train two doors away can have far more to do with a fine book than advance royalties, or 'an eager printer's boy waiting in the hall.' If you don't want to fight them you shouldn't be writing. One can force attention by making one's work supurb. Only practice can do that." ( )

Update 05-01-2021. I'm going to have to give this book at least 1 star, only because it makes me crazy when I see books with no stars in my stats and then I have to investigate to see if I forgot to plug in a rating and/or a review.
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I can’t really rate this book of letters because, for me personally, all the talk of his writing was boring and I had to skim for what is interesting to me: Day to Day living. Other readers might be the opposite.

I did enjoy reading about his travels throughout America, Europe and Asia. Too bad he never made it to Africa. ( )

Poorly indexed.

John Steinbeck was a compulsive writer. In a letter to his editor and friend Pat Covici in 1960, he recorded his excitement about a planned trip by campervan around the United States.* Steinbeck wrote: "I nearly always write - just as I nearly always breathe". The association of writing with life itself defines Steinbeck. He wrote novels, plays, screenplays, opinion pieces, political speeches, travel journalism and war reportage. And, of course, letters.

From his days as a struggling writer in the 1920s until his death in 1968, Steinbeck wrote letters almost daily: to friends and family, to his literary agent, to his editor and to the political leaders with whom he associated when he became well-known. When Steinbeck was writing a novel, letter-writing was his way of warming up for a day's work. At other times he wrote letters because this was just what he did. Steinbeck was a shy man who hated speaking on the phone and letters often took the place of conversation with the people he cared about. In addition, he didn't write an autobiography, avoided giving interviews and was terrified of public speaking, so the letters form an important record of Steinbeck's life.

Reading this book was quite a project. Its 906 pages include letters written over a period of more than forty years. The first letter in the volume was written in 1926 to a college friend while Steinbeck was working as a caretaker on an estate at Lake Tahoe while writing his first novel. The last letter is incomplete: a letter to his literary agent probably begun shortly before he died in 1968. I found the book a fascinating read. The letters in it have been chosen because they have something to say. Mere letters of obligation or letters which are simply answers to other letters were not included in the collection.

Steinbeck had plenty to say in his letters. The picture of him which emerges from them is of an intelligent and thoughtful man who had insight into his own failings, who was generous and compassionate and who had a genuine interest in people, in society and in the natural environment. He writes with enthusiasm about topics as diverse as gardening, dogs, boats and gadgets he has invented or things he believes should be invented. In addition, the letters deal with his debilitating bouts of depression, the despair he felt as his first two marriages failed, his deep and enduring love for his third wife, his concerns about his sons and his recurring feeling that his writing was inadequate. Steinbeck also writes a lot about writing, both reflecting on his own practice and giving encouragement and advice to other writers.

I've read the collected letters of other writers in the past: Jane Austen's letters and those of Dorothy L Sayers are the ones which immediately come to mind. However, I've not found myself marking so many pages of a book with sticky notes before. This volume positively bristles with colourful plastic tabs. There are gems of wisdom and insight in it which I want to be able to read again. At the same time, part of me feels slightly uncomfortable at having read this lifetime of correspondence. Steinbeck did not write to his wife, to his sons or to his friends with an eye to publication. He was a private man and these letters reveal his private thoughts. While I'm not sure that he would have liked the idea of the general public reading his letters, I'm still very glad that the editors - Steinbeck's wife Elaine and his friend Robert Wallsten - thought that putting together the volume was a worthwhile endeavour.

This is highly recommended for writers and for anyone who appreciates Steinbeck's writing, wants more insight into Steinbeck the man and has plenty of time to read a doorstopper of a book.

*The record of this trip became [b:Travels with Charley: In Search of America|5306|Travels with Charley In Search of America|John Steinbeck|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347394032s/5306.jpg|1024827]. ( )

John Steinbeck spent his life writing letters. He sent thousands of letters, written mostly in pencil in his tiny handwriting. Steinbeck’s third wife, Elaine, and his friend, Robert Wallsten, gathered up more than six hundred letters written over the course of forty plus years to create an autobiography of sorts, a book which is as compelling as it is enlightening. Beginning in 1923, in his twenties, and ending in 1968 just before his death, Steinbeck’s letters reveal his deepest thoughts, emotions and fears, and uncover his process of writing. What is astonishing about Steinbeck’s letters, besides the sheer volume of them, is how they form a narrative of who he was as he grew from a young man into a wise and self-deprecating adult.

Robert Wallsten and Elaine Steinbeck organized Steinbeck’s letters in a chronological order. They have inserted helpful notes throughout which guide the reader as to what was happening in Steinbeck’s life at specific times, and which allow the letters to be read with perspective to events as they historically occurred. Despite its length of nearly 900 pages, Steinbeck: A Life in Letters never lags. It became apparent to me early on in the book that not only was Steinbeck an amazing novelist, playwright and short story writer, but he was an irresistible letter writer as well.

John Steinbeck’s sense of humor is, perhaps, one of the most entertaining aspects of the book. His humor was dry, sarcastic, and ironic. He often made fun of his own shortcomings, and although it is evident that criticism often wounded him, he also found humor in it (perhaps as a defensive measure).

I notice that a number of reviewers (what lice they are) complain that I deal particularly in the subnormal and the psychopathic. If said critics would inspect their neighbors within one block, they would find that I deal with the normal and the ordinary. – From Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, page 68 (1933)

The early years of Steinbeck’s life were filled with rejection and self-doubt, but also with a distinct yearning for greatness. Steinbeck’s letters show him to be a man who worked hard for what he achieved. It surprised me how he often felt that what he wrote was not good enough. Despite his occasional swaggering, he actually is revealed as a man of extreme humility.

Of course the hundred page ms. flopped heavily. Just now I am busy on another one. Eventually I shall be so good that I cannot be ignored. These years are disciplinary for me. – from Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, page 29 (1930)

Perhaps when people think of John Steinbeck, they first think of The Grapes of Wrath – a book which won him not only the Pulitzer Prize (catapulting him instantly into the limelight), but also won him a great deal of criticism along with a fair share of death threats. What amazed me was how, even after having completed the final draft, Steinbeck did not see The Grapes of Wrath as his greatest work.

I’m still tired and it seems pretty bad. And I am sure it will not be a popular book. I feel very sure of that. I think to the large numbers of readers it will be an outrageous book. I only hope it is better than it seems to me now. – from Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, page 172 (1938) -

Instead, Steinbeck believed East of Eden to be “the book” – a novel which he had practiced his whole life to write and one in which he took great pride.

This is “the book.” If it is not good I have fooled myself all the time. I don’t mean I will stop but this is a definite milestone and I feel released. Having done this I can do anything I want. Always I had this book waiting to be written. – from Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, page 431 (1951) -

Embedded in the letters are many interesting revelations about his novels and plays:

-Steinbeck’s editor begged him to change the ending of The Grapes of Wrath, but Steinbeck refused saying “I am not writing a satisfying story – I’ve done my damndest to rip a reader’s nerves to rags, I don’t want him satisfied.“
-A setter puppy belonging to the author destroyed half of his draft for Of Mice and Men: “Two months work to do over again. It sets me back. There was no other draft. I was pretty mad but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically.“
-Cal in East of Eden was the character who Steinbeck related to most: “Cal is my baby. He is the Everyman, the battle ground between good and evil, the most human of all, the sorry man. In that battle the survivor is both.“
- Elaine Steinbeck was the inspiration for the title of Travels with Charley.

Steinbeck: A Life in Letters reveals a man who was at heart an idealist, philosophizer and romantic; a man who married three times (he divorced his first two wives) and fathered two sons. Steinbeck was devastated by the divorce from his second wife, Gwyn. He returned to California and holed up in a cottage, angry, sad and bitter. During this time his letters lost their humor. Steinbeck seemed to have lost belief in love and marriage.

American married life is the doormat to the whore house. Eventually they will succeed in creating a race of homosexuals. And they will not be content with that. I am just beginning to see our mores objectively and I do not like what I see and I do not want my boys brought up by them. The impulse of the American woman to geld her husband and castrate her sons is very strong. – from Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, page 343 (1948) -

Throughout this time, as in other low points in his life, Steinbeck seemed to sink into a depression – unable to write or find the joy in his life. Eventually, he was to meet and fall in love with Elaine Scott who became his third wife…and his romantic view of love was to return to him, along with his humor. In a letter to his fourteen year old son, Thom, Steinbeck writes about love: “Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it. The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.”

Reading Steinbeck’s letters gave me a deeper appreciation for the writer he became – they humanized him and gave me great insight into his thought processes and intelligence. I must also say, that I was thrilled to see Steinbeck’s love of dogs appear in his letters. He owned many dogs, and often he wrote of their antics. What becomes clear in his correspondence is how much animals (and nature in general) meant to Steinbeck.

Dogs are curious extensions of ourselves. We have two – a cocker belonging to Waverly – Elaine’s daughter – a bitch of great appetite – in fact a walking stomach – greedy beyond belief, and also a big French poodle acquired in Paris – the most intelligent dog I’ve ever seen. I don’t need dogs as I once needed them but I like them as much as ever. Once they were absolute necessities to me – emotionally. But if I lived alone I would instantly get one. A house is very dead without a dog. – from Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, page 462 (1952) -

Steinbeck: A Life in Letters should be mandatory reading for Steinbeck fans or for those scholars who wish to learn more about the inner workings of a great author. In this day and age of computers, cell phones, and digital communication – handwritten letters are becoming a thing of the past. Reading this book made me realize how sad it is that we are losing the art of letter writing. There is something fantastic and confidential about reading someone’s letters – often people reveal more of themselves in a letter than they would ever verbalize in conversation. I think this was certainly the case with John Steinbeck.

Highly recommended. ( )