Roadside America

For 11/17 and 11/19 we’ll focus on John Steinbeck’s compact, charming account of a cross-country road trip in a converted pickup truck camper named Rocinante, accompanied by his French poodle Charley. The trip was taken in the fall of 1960. Along the way, we’ll talk about what Steinbeck hoped to learn and what he actually did (or didn’t) learn from his travels about himself and his country… and compare his writing style, narrative journey, and degree of realism (fiction? nonfiction? memoir?) in the text to both On the Road and Hell’s Angels.

Tues 11/17 Reading: Parts One and Two

Internet Archive
Life Magazine on Google Books
Billboard Magazine
Time covers

Thurs 11/19 Reading: Parts Three and Four

On Tues 11/24, please bring your current drafts as *printed papers*. You should have a new/updated #4 draft (Memoir paper) and a 2-3 page draft for your #5 (Film) paper that contains a description, overview and/or synopsis of the film – which hopefully, you’ve screened more than once by this time.