The Monkey King's Used Primate Emporium and Book Reviews

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Thomas Fensch, "Steinbeck and Covici � the Story of a Friendship"

Started June 27 � Finished June 28, 2002; 248 pages. Posted 01 July 2002

I think I figured something out. McDonalds could introduce a Steinbeck McRib sandwich, and I would rush out and buy two of them — one to eat, the other to put on my shelf and save.

This book (the hardback, anyway) is totally rare and out of print apparently. I certainly had never seen a copy before. Of course that means the price was pretty high as well, even with my discount. When it came in, I simply couldn�t justify paying that much for a book, especially one of such a collectable stature. I mean, this book was in immaculate condition � some of the pages hadn�t even been split yet. I�d prefer just to have a reading copy.

Believe it or not, I am not a collector. Sure, I have every single Daredevil comic ever printed, and yeah, I have nearly every episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on tape, and yes, I seem to purchase anything by or about Steinbeck, Vonnegut and Hunter Thompson that comes through the store. But I�m not a collector, dammit!

If you look at the reviews of books on Steinbeck written by other people, I�m pretty sure I didn�t really care for most, if not all of them. This book proved an exception to the rule. Fensch is primarily showing the relationship between Steinbeck and his longtime editor Pascal Covici.

He lets the letters do that for the most part, but he offers plenty of expository prose that is neither ostentatious nor imposing, all the while being engaging and informative. I�d never really thought about the role of an editor before except for when they�re shown in films, where they are almost always pushy, greedy, and not understanding of the artist. Hell, maybe it�s true � I was an editor for my paper, ask somebody on my staff if that stereotype is true.

Covici on the other hand, played the role of friend, mentor, psychotherapist, marriage counselor and drinking buddy. He also had an innate understanding of both Steinbeck�s prose and psyche. A long time ago, I mentioned how Samuel of �East of Eden� saved my life. I think Covici was Steinbeck�s version of Samuel, and he was probably very lucky to have him.

I have only one complaint about this otherwise excellent book: In the reference notes, he mentions at least five books, biography and otherwise, about Steinbeck that I�ve never read. It looks like I�m not going to get through my Steinbeck collection anytime soon.

But then again, I really don�t think that�s a bad thing.

Sometimes, anyway.


Rating: Worth new. Good luck on finding a copy.

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