1 Paste your biographical sketch here (maximum 500 words)

For an overview of John Steinbeck's life, see the entries of The Moon is Down, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden. In a letter written by Steinbeck to the producer of the film, The Wayward Bus, Charles Brackett in 1956, Steinbeck explained the origins of the novel.

"I don't think I ever told you the origin of this story. It was first projected in Mexico, and it first synopsis was written in Spanish for Mexico. At that time it had a wonderful title, I think. It was called El Camion Vacilador. The word vacilador, or the verb vacilar, is not translatable unfortunately, and it's a word we really need in English because to be 'vacilando' means you're aiming at some place, but you don't care much whether you get there. We don't have such a word in English. Wayward had an overtone of illicitness or illegality, based of course on medieval lore where wayward men were vagabonds. But vacilador is not a vagabond at all. Wayward was the nearest English word I could find."

The inception of the novel, The Wayward Bus possibly dates back as far as 1940 when Steinbeck visited Mexico City, the original setting for the story. By 1945, the theme of the novel was well underway to form both a plot and structure (Warren). It was a novel intended to be something like Don Quixote for Mexico (McCarthy). Steinbeck first tried to start writing The Wayward Bus, during the movie production of another one of his novels, The Pearl. However, due to complications with the script and shooting, he was forced in June of 1945 to delay his work on his new novel until that winter, when his commitment to the movie was over. Despite the postponement, The Wayward Bus was becoming increasingly important to him: "?the book that had, in so many respects, become of overriding importance to him and on which so many of his hopes were now centered" (Simmonds 287). After the movie and his return to New York, Steinbeck's intentions were to focus in on the writing of his new book. During this time, he and his wife Gwyn lived in a rented apartment while they were waiting for their house to finish being built. Gwyn was pregnant with their second child, and was having a very difficult pregnancy. As a result, Steinbeck had to work at home, often at his kitchen table, instead of in his Viking Press office. At the end of January 1946 his progress on the book was not going well, and he wrote in a letter regarding his work on The Wayward Bus that he "just had to toss out about 20,000 words. Wasn't any good." This new start on the book suggested a change in approach, and also a probable change in the story's setting from Mexico to California (Benson). Shortly thereafter, the Steinbeck's moved into their new home, and their son, John Steinbeck IV was born. John and Gwyn were beginning to experience tension in their marriage, which added to the stress surrounding his work. In addition, in July of 1946, Steinbeck was forced to return to Mexico City for a month to settle various difficulties occurring with the production of The Pearl.

"Undoubtedly, the novel had not been an easy book for Steinbeck to write. There had, in addition, been too many distractions, not the least being the move into the new house, the vexations and time-consuming interruptions connected with the completion of The Pearl movie, and Gwyn's ill health and increasing demands for his attention prior to and following the birth of their second son. With his publishers pressing him for the delivery of the new work, Steinbeck had hurried the writing of later chapters, then realized that the whole text needed radical revision before he could consider releasing it for publication. Steinbeck was subsequently to regret that he had failed to veto the too hasty publication. Ten years or so later, he openly admitted that the book had been 'a paste up job' and that he 'should never have let it go out the way that it did'" (Simmonds 292).

Steinbeck finished the novel during the first week of October in 1946, about a month after returning from Mexico. The novel was published in February of 1947, the month of his forty-fifth birthday. The Wayward Bus was very different than any of his previous novels. The sales of the novel were quite successful, however Steinbeck was very bothered by the misunderstanding that the novel received from critics. The critics found many faults, calling it "trite and meaningless," "familiar, flat and trivial," and "sordid, petty and vulgar" (Simmonds 292). Despite the harsh reviews, the reading public remained loyal, a continual sequence of events that Steinbeck faced with later novels. Steinbeck was also involved in adapting the novel into a script for the production of The Wayward Bus as a film. This novel was not one of Steinbeck's most successful novels, but it was one that was very important to him personally. In the New York Times Book Review, Donald Adams raises the point that the difficulty that Steinbeck had with this novel was the existence of "a wide gap between [Steinbeck's] intention and accomplishment." Sources Cited and Consulted: Benson, Jackson J. The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer. The Viking Press:New York, 1984. French, Warren. John Steinbeck. Twayne Publishers:Indianapolis, 1975. McCarthy, Paul. John Steinbeck. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.:New York, 1984. Parini, Jay. John Steinbeck:A Biography. Henry and Holy Company:New York, 1995. Simmonds, Roy. John Steinbeck:The War Years, 1939-1945. Associated University Presses:Cranbury, New Jersey, 1996. Steinbeck, Elaine & Wallsten, Robert. Steinbeck:A Life in Letters. The Viking Press:New York, 1975.

1 Paste contemporary reception history in here (maximum 500 words)

"Evidently even John Steinbeck 'takes a walk now and then.' This is it. We hope he doesn't continue to walk downhill. For here is a book that will inevitably be a bitter disappointment to those who have put John Steinbeck at the top of the roster of American writers today" (Kirkus). John Steinbeck did not enjoy the acclaim from critics that he once had with his previous successes. The Wayward Bus received very mixed reviews, mostly favoring the negative. Most critics admired the quality of his prose and the vividly descriptive passages. Although his usual craftsmanship was noted and respected, the characters in The Wayward Bus were heavily criticized. Ben Ray Redman commented in The Library, that what was missing in this novel was the emotional, sentimental involvement with the characters. It is this involvement that allows the readers to participate and up to this point had been present in all of Steinbeck's successful novels'. Redman noted that "the great weakness of The Wayward Bus is that it holds no characters who enlist Steinbeck's full sympathy or who, consequently, engage his full powers." Many critics simply found the characters unlikable and flat. The plot was described as simple and linear, and in many cases just a "dismal bus ride." Harry Hansen from the Saturday Review of Literature characterized it as "Another load of sleazy characters who deserved oblivion rather than the accolade of a book club." Steinbeck was accused of being preoccupied with sex, and this preoccupation was depicted as an unsuccessful artistic device. Most critics interpreted the novel as an allegory that failed to accomplish the purpose in which it had been intended. (This point is emphasized more in the subsequent reviews.) Reviews commonly expressed disappointment in Steinbeck for not rising to the potential that they had seen in him in his previous successes. J. H. Jackson said in the San Francisco Chronicle, "In my opinion, I'm sorry to say, the novel is not Steinbeck at his best, nor Steinbeck at what a good many people thought he was going to become." The negative reviews greatly affected his reputation among critics with his following novels. However from this point on the reading public remained faithful and appreciative despite the critics who continued to minimize any artistic achievement in subsequent novels. An Excerpt from a Typical Review:

"The Wayward Bus will not add greatly to Mr. John Steinbeck's reputation. In earlier novels he has shown his ability for describing the lives and preoccupations of the half-baked, a subject he treats with zest and confidence, though without much humour. Here something more seems required; the book, although readable and competently put together, never rises above the level of the better sort of film to which some uplift has been added." - Times [London]

Complimentary and Moderate Excerpts:

"To those who admire Mr. Steinbeck, it is refreshing to see the warm flow of vitality which surges up in his pages, and to mark such changes as have occurred in his style and in his philosophy since he wrote his great story of the Okies?Very lovely, very sensuous the country is in Mr. Steinbeck's rippling prose?Very natural and funny, and at times very candid, is the talk?But, for all the animal magnetism and photographic reality, one ends by wondering if American life is actually so empty, so devoid of meaning, so lonely for the Juans, The Pritchards and the Camilles of today. God help us if it is." -Edward Weeks, Atlantic

"With frankness, warmth, humor and insight, author reveals his characters' individual Freudian problems as they come to the surface under stress of the situation. Will probably offend some readers but is very much a must novel." -H.G. Kelley, The Library

"In the final effect, although it makes for a striking novel, is less than completely satisfying, it is in great part because we had come to expect another major Steinbeck advance in breadth and power, such as was marked in turn by In Dubious Battle and The Grapes of Wrath, while The Wayward Bus does not reveal such development. Furthermore, the central character of Juan Chicoy, the Irish-Mexican 'natural man,' does not quite come off, and the climax somehow lacks the expected dramatic force. But there is enough in the novel to make one anticipate Steinbeck's next book as hopefully and eagerly as this was awaited. His is a notable American talent." -Richard Watts, New Republic

Negative Excerpts:

"The Wayward Bus is not deficient in entertainment. But to what extent Steinbeck has been successful in reproducing an intelligible and authentic microcosm of our culture is another question." -Samuel Roddan, Canadian Forum

"Steinbeck's dreary, prurient pilgrimage has no real human or universal significance. It is nothing more that an unusually dismal bus ride -- more dismal, depraved and meaningless than any man anywhere has taken." -Frank O'Malley, Commonwealth

"The simple-mindedness of the story is saved once again in a while by Steinbeck's incidental touches?But in theme and design the novel is a disappointing piece of second-rate, back-to-the-bulls fiction. Moreover, Steinbeck writes carelessly." -Time

Reviews Include: U.S. Quarterly Review: Jan.1947 Partisan Review: 1947 Times [London] : Nov. 29, 1947 Atlantic: March 1947 Canadian Forum: May 1947 Chicago Sun Book Week: Feb.16, 1947 Commonwealth: April 25, 1947 Kirkus: Dec.15, 1946 The Library: Feb.15, 1947 Manchester Guardian: Nov. 29, 1947 Nation: March 29, 1947 New Republic: March 10, 1947 New York Herald Tribune Weekly: Feb.16, 1947 New York Times: Feb.16, 1947 New Yorker: Feb. 22, 1947 San Francisco Chronicle: Feb.16, 1947 Saturday Review of Literature: Feb.15, 1997 Time: Feb. 24, 1947 The American Mercury: 1947

2 Paste subsequent reception history in here (maximum 500 words)

The subsequent reviews follow the pattern of disappointment and negative views that the contemporary reviews had of The Wayward Bus. Most flaws were similarly found in characterization and the allegorical content of the novel. Again, Steinbeck's quality of prose was noted, however critics complained that more was needed from a novel than simply a good read. Donald Weeks complains that the characters are all "type-specimens, components as well as products of our civilization?But while Steinbeck describes the flawed lives of his main characters in objective detail, he never says how or why they got that way. In other words, he seems to be saying, 'Here is a typical group of homo Americanus'. See, this is how they look, this is how they act." Weeks attributes the lack of fictional reality to this flaw in Steinbeck's stereotypical characterization. Similarly, Jackson Benson finds Steinbeck's lack of sympathy for and the stereotyping of his characters irritating. He said that Steinbeck "has deliberately collected certain representative specimens in the field and put them together in a laboratory tank to observe their interactions." Benson also found the characters in The Wayward Bus Steinbeck's least convincing and lifelike. They are "selected, rather than rendered." Another heavily criticized element in subsequent reviews of The Wayward Bus was Steinbeck's use of the Everyman allegory, which appears as a prefatory quotation (see assn. 1, part 15). According to Timmerman's book "John Steinbeck's Fiction: The Aesthetics of the Road Taken," "the story of Everyman is a story of discovering one's spiritual need through being stripped back, robbed of old assumptions and dependencies, and emerging fortified by inward spiritual strength as one begins to learn what one must do to be saved. The Wayward Bus in no way approached a close allegorical parallel to Everyman." Howard Levant concluded that the end result of Steinbeck's use of Everyman was an allegory without an object, "an imposed pattern in a functional void," in which the incomplete allegory leaves the novel open ended and irresponsible. Most critics commented that the allegory was simply not believable. The characters never grow or accomplish, despite their alterations in character. Most important to Weeks was that their repentances were superficial and inherently meaningless. However Jay Parini wrote in his biography of Steinbeck that The Wayward Bus was a misunderstood and neglected novel by Steinbeck's critics. He claimed that by persisting in reading it as a failed allegory, the critics "diminished its genuine originality as a novel that breaks through the allegorical form as it approaches a kind of symbolic realism?There is an admirable wildness, a jaggedness, and a tonal honesty of presentation in this novel, and it deserves reconsideration." Parini was in the minority though of subsequent critics who called for a reconsideration of the merits of Steinbeck in The Wayward Bus. An Excerpt from a Typical Review:

"The Wayward Bus is a trenchant, accurate portrayal of the darker side of the American dream. The overwhelming sense of a failed talent in this novel is not at all thematic. The betrayal, the failure, is almost entirely artistic. The recurring charge is that Steinbeck cannot handle ideas is more accurately phrased as Steinbeck's relative inability to achieve a convincing expression of ideas - a harmony of structure and materials." -Howard Levant

Complimentary Excerpts:

"Steinbeck brings his specimens to a rare and abundant life. The reader gets to know these characters intimately?Moreover, the novel evidences again the simple eloquence and power in Steinbeck's language?Here are pleasing flashes of Steinbeck's best writing - terse understatement, twists in expectations, energetic diction. The ingenuity of language and liveliness of character in The Wayward Bus make the novel absorbing and pleasurable reading." - "John Steinbeck's Fiction: The Aesthetics of the Road Taken," (189)

Negative Excerpts:

"The Wayward Bus has no significantly organized or logical plot behind the familiar motif of the pilgrimage. Its emphasis is not upon narrative but attitude, not upon social behavior, but upon social types, not upon character but upon caricature." -Jackson Benson

"The Wayward Bus reads like a movie, an uncensored movie. Any writer finds a form which allows the fullest expression of what he does best, but the different ways in which we read a novel and see a play are worth remembering. The reader asks more of a novel in characterization. He does not want men and women simplified for him. He wants them whole." -Donald Weeks, "John Steinbeck: Modern Critical Views," (30)

Reviews Include: Benson, Jackson J. "The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer." The Viking Press: New York, 1984. Bloom, Harold. "John Steinbeck: Modern Critical Views." Chelsea House Publishers: New York, 1987. Coers, David V. "After the Grapes of Wrath: Essays on John Steinbeck." Ohio University Press: Athens, Ohio, 1995. French, Warren. "John Steinbeck's Fiction Revisited." Twayne Publishers: New York, 1994. Levant Howard. "The Novels of John Steinbeck: A Critical Study." University of Missouri Press: Colombia, Missouri, 1974. Parini, Jay. "John Steinbeck: A Biography." Henry and Holy Company: New York, 1995. Simmonds, Roy. "John Steinbeck: The War Years, 1939-1945." Associated University Presses: Cranbury, New Jersey, 1996. Tedlock, E.W. & Wicker, C.V. "Steinbeck and His Critics: A Record of Twenty-Five Years." University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque, 1957. Timmerman, John H. "John Steinbeck's Fiction: The Aesthetics of the Road Taken." University of Oklahoma Press: London, 1986.

1 Paste your critical analysis in here (maximum 2500 words)

What does the label "bestseller" tell readers about a book? That label generally evokes high expectations for the quality of the novel and the enjoyment that the reader will experience from it. However, a common misconception is that popularity and success of best-selling novels equates with quality. Bestsellers are usually bought before read; therefore sales can be independent of its subsequent reception. A bestseller is not a guaranteed "good book," and if a reader is expecting that from any given bestseller, disappointment is a possible reaction that could be experienced. This was the case for many readers of The Wayward Bus, by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck was a famous best-selling author whose novels were widely read by the public. By the time of the publication of The Wayward Bus in 1947, Steinbeck had already experienced much success with previous novels such as The Grapes of Wrath and In Dubious Battle. Steinbeck had acquired the status of a literary celebrity, which created high expectations for this long-awaited novel. However according to his critics, The Wayward Bus disappointingly turned out to be one of the main failures of Steinbeck's career. The Wayward Bus was the subject of some of Steinbeck's worst reviews, yet its sales kept it a bestseller for a good part of 1947. The Wayward Bus became a best-selling novel due to forces external to the novel itself, which included the public's high expectations, due to the wide promotion of the book by its publisher Viking, and the popularity of John Steinbeck as its author. Both its status as a best-selling novel and its perceived failure evolved from the public's expectation for a repeat of Steinbeck's previous novels. The circumstances under which The Wayward Bus was written were not ideal or conducive to creating a "great book." It was written during an extremely stressful time in John Steinbeck's life. He began writing The Wayward Bus during the completion of the movie production of a previous novel, The Pearl. Complications involving this project disrupted his work on The Wayward Bus on several occasions and served as a large distraction. Steinbeck's involvement in the movie industry was common to many best-selling authors, however was a complication and distraction for him while writing this novel. In addition to this distraction of other work projects, his family was experiencing a stressful period of transition. These factors created an atmosphere of constant stress and distractions, which did not lend themselves well to finishing his novel. Even more significant was that Viking, his publishing company was rushing him into production:

With his publishers pressing him for the delivery of the new work, Steinbeck had hurried the writing of later chapters, then realized that the whole text needed radical revision before he could consider releasing it for publication. Steinbeck was subsequently to regret that he had failed to veto the too hasty publication. Ten years or so later, he openly admitted that the book had been 'a paste up job' and that he 'should never have let it go out the way that it did.' (Simmonds 292)

As Simmonds mentioned, Steinbeck later acknowledged that he had given into the pressure that his publishing company Viking had placed on him to release the book quickly. Pushed into production, Steinbeck did not take the time he needed for its completion, and The Wayward Bus was published before it was ready. This was his first novel in eight years, and Viking was anxious for their star author to get another book out into the market. Viking was eager to capitalize on the industry that was behind Steinbeck. John Steinbeck had become a known commodity among the public, and by means of promotion, they intended to turn this long-awaited novel into a bestseller. Viking ran publication advertisements throughout the country, spending over $30,000 on advertising, both before and after publication. There were nine advertisements in The New York Times Book Review alone during the period of February to May in 1947, as well as advertisements in Publishers Weekly and the Saturday Review. It was also advertised as the Book-of-the-Month Club selection for March, which was a tremendous contribution to the novel's best-selling sales. Viking also advertised it as "Steinbeck's first full-length novel since 1939," when The Grapes of Wrath was published. The underlying effect that The Grapes of Wrath had on The Wayward Bus is significant in understanding it as a bestseller. The Grapes of Wrath was the only book through which critics' saw Steinbeck live up to his true potential. Its overwhelming success raised the par of excellence by which Steinbeck would be measured by in the future. The persona of a best-selling author has a significant effect on the sales and the staying power of their novels. The Grapes of Wrath had transformed Steinbeck into a literary celebrity. Charles Angoff wrote in the North American Review, "With his latest novel, Mr. Steinbeck at once joins the company of Hawthorne, Crane, and Norris, and easily leaps to the forefront of all his contemporaries. The book has all the earmarks of something momentous, monumental, and memorable." The Grapes of Wrath was the best-selling novel of 1939 and its sales remained strong into 1940, and beyond. "By the end of 1939, over 430,000 books had been shipped: a staggering number, then or now. Since then, the novel has never been out of print or sold under 50,000 a year. The number of translations and books sold in non-English speaking countries is mind-boggling" (Parini 226). The limelight that Steinbeck was thrown into during the success of The Grapes of Wrath placed enormous pressure on him to remain at that high level of achievement:

The Grapes of Wrath was almost an immediately accepted as a masterwork of American literature, and the enthusiastic popular response to John Ford's haunting film only heaped further renown on the novel. John Steinbeck had made it to the top of the mountain, even though he did not particularly like being there or trust his ability to breathe air at that height. (Parini 238)

Instead of wanting to capitalize on his achievement, Steinbeck retreated rather than trying to go from one success to another. It was eight years until he wrote his next full-length novel, The Wayward Bus. In its promotion for The Wayward Bus, Viking capitalized on Steinbeck's last success, and anticipated that the public would respond in anticipation for a similar novel. The reading public, including the critics, was expecting a repeat performance of The Grapes of Wrath, and found themselves disappointed in the apparent differences between the two. Howard Levant commented that although there were a few details that were similar, there were overwhelming differences in their structures, materials, and the degree of their harmony (Levant 207). It is unknown what the critical reception of The Wayward Bus would have been if it had been Steinbeck's first novel and there were no preconceived expectations of it. However, that was not the case and the disappointment that followed its publication was because it was not another The Grapes of Wrath. Richard Watts said of The Wayward Bus in the New Republic, "In the final effect although it makes for a striking novel, is less than completely satisfying it is in great part because we had come to expect another major Steinbeck advance in breadth and power, such as was marked in turn by In Dubious Battle and The Grapes of Wrath, while The Wayward Bus does not reveal such development." Steinbeck had not intended for The Wayward Bus to be anything like The Grapes of Wrath. In fact, "He wasn't going to sacrifice the enjoyment he would have in writing it just to satisfy everyone's expectations of significance. Enjoyment in writing for him involved trying something different, and that in itself, he believed, was enough to bring the critics automatically down on his back" (Benson 575). According to Jackson Benson, Steinbeck wrote to satisfy himself and not the public. However, Steinbeck was probably caught between the desire for his own personal fulfillment, and the pressure of success to continue to achieve greatness in the eyes of the critics and the public:

If, in such manner, it was possible to produce a work proclaimed almost universally as the greatest novel of the decade (and sometimes as the greatest novel ever written by an American), then surely it was possible for the process to be repeated. This is not to suggest that this was a conscious approach adopted by Steinbeck in subsequent work, but it is just possible that the seed may have been implanted in his mind, to be nurtured by the more-or-less general acclaim that was to greet some of the hastily written work he published during the stressful years 1939 through 1945. Once the wartime interruption to the possible predestined course of his career was at last behind him, Steinbeck's great tragedy could be said to have been that he found it beyond his grasp to achieve again that remarkable synthesis of imaginative spontaneity and high literary quality that is the hallmark of The Grapes of Wrath. (Simmonds 17)

A gap existed between Steinbeck's intentions and accomplishment within the work. Critics expressed a widespread dislike for Steinbeck's characters his use of the Everyman allegory, and his lack of emotional involvement within the story. Kirkus wrote, "Evidently even John Steinbeck ?takes a walk now and then.' This is it. We hope he doesn't continue to walk downhill. For ere is a book that will inevitably be a bitter disappointment to those who have put John Steinbeck at the tope of the roster of American writers today." Similarly, J.H. Jackson from the San Francisco Chronicle said that, "In my opinion, I'm sorry to say, the novel is not Steinbeck at his best, nor Steinbeck at what a good many people thought he was going to become." The link between these reactions was that they all mentioned the critics' disappointment in Steinbeck. This disappointment indicated that they had seen an impressive potential in Steinbeck that they measured his work by. The critics were not evaluating The Wayward Bus on its own achievements, rather by the achievements of The Grapes of Wrath and other Steinbeck successes. The core of the issue was not the novel in itself, however the novel in relation to the reputation of Steinbeck that it would affect.

The Wayward Bus will not add greatly to Mr. John Steinbeck's reputation. In earlier novels he has shown his ability for describing the lives and preoccupations of the half-baked, a subject he treats with zest and confidence though without much humour. Here something more seems required; the book although readable and competently put together, never rises above the level of the better sort of film to which some uplift has been added. (London Times, 11/29/47)

A possible reason that The Wayward Bus was such a disappointment was that the novel did not contribute and fit the previous mold of the Steinbeck reputation that critics had come to expect. Despite the poor reviews, the sales figures indicate that The Wayward Bus was an extremely popular novel among the readers. The Book-of-the-Month Club sold 600,000 copies, and Viking sold an additional 150,000 copies, which made The Wayward Bus Steinbeck's most successful book commercially thus far. This indicates that the power of a blockbuster author's persona, like Steinbeck, is enough to motivate the public to buy a book. The Wayward Bus is an example of a novel whose sales were independent of its popularity and success in terms of literary quality. This is an explanation for the dominance of an author like Steinbeck on the bestseller list despite poor reviews. The Wayward Bus is not the only bestseller that followed this pattern of success due to the author's fame and earlier best-selling successes. There are many different types of bestsellers and explanations of why they end up on the bestsellers list. The Wayward Bus is included in a category of bestsellers in which earlier novels by the same author contributed, and in some instances were responsible for their place on the bestsellers list. J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, Edith Wharton's Twilight Sleep, and Hemingway's Across the River and Through the Trees are examples of other bestsellers in this category. J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey was published in 1961, following Catcher in the Rye. The foundation of readership that Salinger acquired in Catcher of the Rye was different than the targeted audience that for Franny and Zooey. However, the limited target audience would not have been wide enough to put Franny and Zooey onto the bestsellers list. The additional audience Salinger already had from Catcher in the Rye can explain much of its readership beyond that target audience. Edith Wharton's Twilight Sleep was published in 1927, following the publication of Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence, both of which were bestsellers. These two novels had established her as a well known and respected author in the literary world, and similar to The Wayward Bus, critics expressed disappointment in Twilight Sleep. Also resembling The Wayward Bus, Hemingway's Across the River and Through the Trees was seen as one of Hemingway's worst achievements by his critics. They were disappointed in the novel not reaching the high standard that Hemingway had previously set as his precedent. The Torrents of Spring, The Sun Also Rises and For Whom the Bell Tolls were Hemingway's earlier critically acclaimed bestsellers, which would have led the reading public to predict another such success, accounting for Across the River and Through the Trees's status as a bestseller. The Wayward Bus is an example of a heavily promoted bestseller that was written by a famous author, for which the public had high expectations. Despite poor reviews, there was enough public interest in the novel to put it on the bestsellers list. This interest came from its widespread promotion, and from the precedent of Steinbeck's work set by The Grapes of Wrath. The reason for The Wayward Bus's initial commercial success but ultimate literary failure was because of that earlier precedent. The reading public, including his critics, thought that they could reliably predict the quality of The Wayward Bus based on Steinbeck's previous books, explaining the best-selling status of his mediocre The Wayward Bus. Furthermore, The Wayward Bus represents an entire category of novels that would not have been bestsellers without the author's earlier successes. Reviews Used: Times [London] : Nov. 29, 1947 Kirkus: Dec.15, 1946 New Republic: March 10, 1947 New York Times: Feb.16, 1947 San Francisco Chronicle: Feb.16, 1947 Saturday Review of Literature: Feb.15, 1997 The American Mercury: 1947 Other Sources: Benson, Jackson J. The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer. The Viking Press:New York, 1984. Parini, Jay. John Steinbeck:A Biography. Henry and Holy Company:New York, 1995. Simmonds, Roy. John Steinbeck:The War Years, 1939-1945. Associated University Presses:Cranbury, New Jersey, 1996.

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