The Bakersfield Voice
Pages of our past
Pages of our past
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Posted by Wed Nov 12, 2008 13:11:16 PST
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In his book “Obscene in the Extreme,” Rick Wartzman takes a brave look into the world of 1930s politics through a single event in Kern County history. While some may see the banning and burning of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” as a single moment in our past, Wartzman takes us behind the scenes into a world where fear and hatred abound. It was more than a novel to those who lived here. It was edging into their lives, and residents thought democracy was at stake, social order was on the brink of chaos, and power would shift into oblivion.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting with Rick before he spoke at the Southwest Branch Library. A very pleasant man, Rick eagerly answered my questions.
NM: What prompted the book “Obscene in the Extreme”?
RW: I saw a photograph of Bill Camp presiding over book burning of grapes of wrath while writing my first book, “The King of California.” It’s the kind of image that stays with you. At a book reading here at Russo’s, a friend and I were talking and the photo came up. She asked if I saw it and I said yes. She asked if I knew about the librarian, Gretchen Kneif, who fought the censorship. I didn’t so I started poking around with it. The moment it became a book for me was in the drama itself, even though it happens in a week. A first I didn’t think there was enough drama for a book. But it became a great window into the class politics of 1930s America.
NM: How long did it take to write?
RW: It took four years.
NM: Did you come to Kern County to research?
RW: I did a lot of research at Beale Library, the Local History room in particular. I also did a fair bit of interviewing here too. I was able to talk to Clell Pruett, who was the only surviving character when I wrote the book. I talked to Bill Camp’s sons. I also talked to then-young librarians who worked with Gretchen Kneif and others who made the trek from Oklahoma and Missouri.
NM: Has there been any controversy about your book?
RW: No. I’ve actually had very nice responses. When writing the book, I tried to be more than fair minded. I tried to understand the perspective of those who censored the novel, to understand what would compel someone to be so scared of a book. I tried to step into their boots and examine their fear. That is what became really interesting to me. The 1930s in America, particularly in California, was a strange and nervous time. What they were afraid of wasn’t just the novel, but what it represented. It threatened their way of life; it threatened the social fabric of America as they wanted it to be.
NM: Do you see similarities between 1939 and today?
RW: Yes, there are three parallels that I see. One is that censorship remains a real issue in this country. Some 2,000 books are challenged each year in this country. The second thing that struck me was the fields around here haven’t changed much. The only thing that has changed is the faces of those working. A lot of the fear, really, the xenophobia or fear of the outsiders those south of the boarder feel, is not too dissimilar than what the migrants who came in the 1930s felt. Lastly, we’re at a time where the economic parallels are striking. We’re going through the worst financial crisis that we’ve had since the ’30s. In my mind, he (Steinbeck) raised the question of capitalism and it isn’t much different than it was in the ’30s. How can we have so much want in a country with so much plenty?
NM: Did you look at the censorship of “The Grapes of Wrath” in other parts of the country?
RW: I looked at it and mentioned it in the book, but it wasn’t that interesting to me. Some readers wanted more of the censorship side of it and I was more interested in the politics side of it. In Kansas City, Buffalo, and East St. Louis it was banned on obscenity grounds. It was banned here by the board of supervisors on profanity, lewdness, among other things. It was the other things that interested me. I felt it was way more interesting here because it was more than obscenity. They (the board of supervisors) went on to say, “We don’t like how you depict our community.” It’s the class struggle of the ’30s that I think really is the root of the fear about the novel, at least here and in California. That’s what intrigued me. And that’s what I think is the story.
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