MSI Public Lecture Series

Dr. Bud Morris

Thursday, January 11th, 2007 at 7:00 PM
The University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Visitor Center Auditorium

Nobel winning author John Steinbeck as ethnographer: An Appreciative Analysis of "The Log from the Sea of Cortez"

American author, John Steinbeck, is best known for his novels and short stories, which included such masterpieces as Tortilla Flat, The Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, and The Red Pony. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Literary critics categorize Steinbeck as a naturalist, as opposed to a romanticist.  His interest was to portray life as it is, rather than to invest his scenes and characters with heroism and villainy, virtue or sin.

Marine scientists know of John Steinbeck through his association with his friend, the biologist Ed Ricketts, with whom he co-authored The Log from the Sea of Cortez. The Log is an account of an expedition the authors and four crewmembers took in 1940 to collect animals from shore areas of the Gulf of California. About half the book is a fairly standard and thorough checklist and bibliography pertaining to all the sea life they collected. The other half is a travel log in which the activities of the crew, those with whom they came in contact, the animals they encountered, and the shoreline, tidal and weather conditions in which they lived are all described in vivid, realistic detail.

Bud Morris is currently a professor in the Department of Communication, California State University, San Marcos.  He is also a former graduate of the University of Texas at Austin’s College of Communication and an analyst of everyday talk by training.  Bud will focus on John Steinbeck’s capacity to bring everyday scenes of the marine expedition to life.  Using photos of life around Port Aransas as a spur, Bud will encourage members of the audience to experiment with Steinbeck’s ethnographic approach to deepen their understanding and appreciation of the South Texas Coast.