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.Steinbeck used his notinsignificant influence to obtain the necessary visas Report on America, published June 22, 1955, inand permits for himself and Capa.Shortly beforePunch, is a rambling article that proposes to explaintheir departure, however, Steinbeck fell and brokelife in America to the readers of the British humorhis kneecap, requiring him to remain bedridden formagazine, Punch.He reports the conviction oftwo months.The two men finally departed on JulyMickey Jelke on charges of operating a prostitution21, 1947, arriving in Moscow via Stockholm.Dur-ring and reminisces about the houses which catereding their two-month stay the men traveled toto the base but gay impulses of men in his ownMoscow, Stalingrad, the Ukraine, and Georgia.hometown of SALINAS, CALIFORNIA.He describesReturning home, Steinbeck wrote a series of arti-how the righteous ladies of the Salinas women scles for the New York Herald Tribune, followed byclub sought to shut the houses down until the trou-the book, A Russian Journal, which was illustratedbled District Attorney explained to them that theirwith Capa s photographs.The resulting journal,own husbands collected exorbitant rent on thealthough politically naïve, provides an interestingproperties.In a separate section, Steinbeckand entertaining look at the postwar Soviet Union.describes President Dwight Eisenhower s habit ofVIKING PRESS published A Russian Journal in 1948.practicing his putting on a small stretch of level turfjust outside the executive offices of the WhiteEARLY CRITICISMHouse.He notes that golf has taken the place offishing as national political training, and that it is Most reviewers credited the contribution Steinbeckviewed as a character building exercise.He made for American readers to see the Russians asobserves facetiously that Eisenhower s golf game is blood-and-flesh human beings, a perspective thatnot good enough to create political jealousy, but readers rarely had during the early cold war era.that if it improves, there may be trouble.Steinbeck One of the first reviews of the journal, an articledescribes the national furor that arose when the titled Russian Journal, was published in Time onpresident ordered two squirrels trapped and January 26, 1948.The article comments thatremoved from the White House putting green.although Steinbeck and Robert Capa did not bringAfter vehement protest from squirrel societies, back any exciting news about their trip or about thethe president, Steinbeck writes, was forced to hold Russian people, their journal did prove that thea press conference to claim that the matter had not Russians are people after all. Oriana Atkinson,been brought to his attention.who reviewed A Russian Journal for the New York A Russian Journal 185Times Book Review, called the journal an illuminat- make a trip together to Russia to do a simpleing and interesting report about the Russian peo- reporting job, backed up by photographs. Beforeple, and praised John Steinbeck and Robert Capa s leaving, the two men are offered much advice andsuperb reporting job.Atkinson pointed out the sim- many warnings about Russia, primarily by peopleplicity and honesty Steinbeck applied in reporting who have never been there and know nothingon a people toward whom Americans were hostile about it.They are cautioned repeatedly that theyat the time.Richard Watts, Jr., who reviewed A will arrive in the Soviet Union and promptly disap-Russian Journal for The New Republic, observed that pear it seems that everybody has heard the storiesSteinbeck and Capa s work is an ugly symptom of of disappearances, but nobody knows anybody whothe sensitive state of Russian-American relations. has disappeared.Steinbeck jokes that the well-As Watts points out, the journal simply shows an intentioned advice only loaded him down withAmerican writer s comparison between the unreg- rumors. ulated confusion of American life and the moral-Chapter 2istic Russian planning. But Watts acknowledgesSteinbeck cables a colleague from the Herald Tri-that Steinbeck filled the book with genuine andbune to arrange for their reception in Moscow.Theuncritical affection for the Russian people, and thattwo men arrive aboard an old American C-47 mili-the book indicates Steinbeck s belief in peace.Oftary transport plane that has been converted forcourse, neither Watts nor Steinbeck predicted thecivilian use.At the Moscow airport they discoverdisintegration of the Soviet Union at the time Athat no one has come to meet them.As neitherRussian Journal was published.But, nonetheless,man speaks Russian nor carries rubles, they areSteinbeck s writing did help his American readers tounsure of what to do.A French courier escortsunderstand the Russians emotionally.them to their hotel where they learn that no reser-vations have been made for them.During the nextCONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVESfew days they sleep in rooms belonging to numer-Susan Shillinglaw is one of the few Steinbeckous American correspondents while they try toscholars who have done serious research about Aarrange for their own accommodations.Russian Journal.According to Shillinglaw, A Russ-Chapter 3ian Journal is an important book in the Steinbeckcanon, much more so than has been acknowl- The more experienced American correspondentsin Moscow help the two men arrange their stay andedged
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