Steinbeck Reflects On His Pen

[foamy]

http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/04/09/john-steinbeck-working-days-pen/

 

A link to John Steinbeck's reflections about how he feels about his pen. On this forum certainly, some might find it interesting.

 

Edited April 9, 2015 by foamy

[Thor_Odinson]

He had quite the feelings for his pen. BUT WHAT WAS THE PEN??????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[Dronak]

He had quite the feelings for his pen. BUT WHAT WAS THE PEN??????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I saw this article earlier today and thought the same thing. With all the praise he had for his pen, I expected the article to tell us what brand/model he was using.

[inkstainedruth]

Interesting reading. Thanks for posting the link. I've always been a fan of Steinbeck's novels (his short stories, though, not so much -- if I *never* have to read "Of Mice and Men" again it will be too soon...).

Like Thor_Odinson, I'm curious about what pen Steinbeck was using. At one point two different pens get mentioned: an "old" pen and a "new" one. So, what pens would have been available back in the late 1930s and early 1940s? I'm guessing that he'd be using an American-made one. And he probably could have, by that point, afforded something more than a third or fourth tier pen (plus I can't see him using an Arnold or a Rexall... ). But I also can't see him buying some top of the line fancy schmancy pen either (I did a quick Google search and found out that _The Grapes of Wrath_ was banned (and even burned) in a lot of places, in spite of also winning the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Literature -- ironically both as "Communist propaganda" and because (in the Soviet Union) because even the poorest Americans could still afford to own a car [these last factoids come from a website called "The Grapes of Wrath: 10 surprising facts about John Steinbeck's novel" [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/10755043/The-Grapes-of-Wrath-facts.html]

As an author, he would have needed something that would hold up to the challenge of longhand first drafts; and since he seems to be waxing poetic I'd *like* to think he was using something like a Parker Vacumatic (I think 1940 would be a tad early for him to have a 51). But it could, I suppose, be something as prosaic as an Esterbrook.

Wonder if there is anyway to find out, one way or the other.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[jar]

IIRC though he was claimed to use a pencil for most of his writing.

[Ernst Bitterman]

I'm suspecting a dip pen, if he is being surprised by it surviving the writing of a single book.

[rwilsonedn]

Jar has a point. All the references I've seen are to Steinbeck's love of Balckwing pencils. This series of quotes seems to be his only reference to using a pen.

His apparent concern about the pen lasting through the manuscript could mean it was a dip pen, or that it was old and already showing its age, or that it was cheap and lightly made. He does seem to have at some point in the process obtained a new pen, and then gone back to the old one.

Interesting mystery.

ron

[New_Falcon]

I posted the follow to this thread https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/102492-famous-peoples-pens/page-3 a while back. Though it should be pointed out that this was during the East of Eden times and not in the same time period as the article above.

 

A while back I was reading 'Journal of a Novel, The East of Eden Letters'. In there John Steinbeck writes a letter to his friend and editor Pascal Covici as warm up to his writing.

In these series of 'letters' he mentions his writing procedures and his choice of pencils several times. He also states that he did use many pencils a day but not in the way suggested above. He would sharpen a batch in one go and then write with one and as it went blunt just switch to the next and so on. He did this until he finished the sharpened pencils in his pencil tray and then would go and sharpen them all again with an electric sharpener.

The choice of pencils seems to have been something that he narrowed down upon, but was always in search for the best pencil.

The three he mentions are the Black Calculator [pg 9], Mongol 2 3/8 F [pg 9], Mongol 480 #2 3/8 F round [pg 131] and the Eberhard Faber Blackwing [pg 34]. I suspect that the Mongol 2 3/8 F and the Mongol 480 #2 3/8 F round are the same pencil, but for correctness I mention them as referenced in the book.

John Steinbeck also mentioned that he preferred round pencils due to the callous on his finger giving him trouble hence the need for round pencils [pg47].

There's a lot on the web if you do a search, but just wanted to share the references from this book.

Hope that helps.

Edited April 9, 2015 by New_Falcon