151 - Steinbeck Book Club: The Pastures of Heaven with Dr. Susan Shillinglaw

I am so excited to share today’s episode with you. For those of you who follow my substack, you may know that I have decided to make my way through Steinbeck this year. We started with Pastures of Heaven, a short story cycle that comes a few years after his first publication, called Cup of Gold, which is a historical novel set in Mexico. I decided to skip that first book as Pastures of Heaven turns our gaze to California. I was blown away by this cycle and wrote out my initial reactions to it on the substack. After finishing each volume in Steinbeck’s oeuvre, I will plan to have a podcast discussion with experts about the book, providing the readers and myself the additional context and analysis to make the reading experience richer. And we are fortunate enough to begin this podcast series with a titan of Steinbeck scholarship: Dr. Susan Shillinglaw. Born in Iowa, raised in Colorado, Susan Shillinglaw graduated with a B.A. in English and Art from Cornell College and earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is a Professor Emerita 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.

Dr. Shillinglaw has published widely on John Steinbeck, including Carol and John Steinbeck: Portrait of a Marriage (U of Nevada P, 2013) and On Reading The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin, 2014); and A Journey into Steinbeck’s California (3rd edition, 2019) She also wrote introductions to several of Steinbeck books for Penguin New American Library editions. Her most recent title is "Steinbeck’s Uneasy America: Rereading “Travels with Charley,” which she edited with Barbara A. Heavilin. This collection puts together critical scholarship on John Steinbeck’s best-selling, late-career travel memoir. In 1960, Steinbeck was a renowned man of American letters. Many considered him America’s troubadour of ordinary people, the conscience of the country. But weakened by two small strokes and anxious that he had lost touch with America, he embarked on a cross-country road trip accompanied by his wife’s standard poodle, Charley. Two years later, he published Travels with Charley to popular acclaim and robust sales.

In this episode, Dr. Shillinglaw and I discuss Steinbeck’s continued relevance, pertinent biographical information that informs our reading of his text, themes and the structure of Pastures of Heaven, character analysis, and interpretative tools needed for an enriched reading experience. I hope you enjoy this conversation and it encourages you to book up this great short story cycle.