This portrait of one of John Steinbeck's closest friends illuminates the life and work of a figure central to the development of scientific and literary thought in the 20th century. Marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts is perhaps best known as the inspiration for John Steinbeck's most empathic literary characters Doc in Cannery Row , Slim in Of Mice and Men , Jim Casy in The Grapes of Wrath , and Lee in East of Eden . The correspondence of this accomplished scientist, writer, and philosopher reveals the influential exchange of ideas he shared with such prominent thinkers and artists as Henry Miller, Joseph Campbell, Ellwood Graham, and James Fitzgerald, in addition to Steinbeck, all of whom were drawn to Ricketts's Monterey Bay laboratory, a haven of intellectual discourse and Bohemian culture in the 1930s and 1940s. The 125 previously unpublished letters of this collection, housed at the Stanford University Library, document the broad range of Ricketts's interests and accomplishments during the last 12 and most productive years of his life. His handbook on Pacific marine life, Between Pacific Tides , is still in print, now in its fifth edition. The biologist's devotion to ecological conservation and his evolving philosophy of science as a cross-disciplinary, holistic pursuit led to the publication of The Sea of Cortez . Many of Ricketts's letters discuss his studies of the Pacific littoral and his theories of “phalanx” and transcendence. Epistles to family members, often tender and humorous, add dimension and depth to Steinbeck's mythologized depictions of Ricketts. Katharine A. Rodger has enriched the correspondence with an introductory biographical essay and a list of works cited. "The letters do not disappoint. They are especially rich in the type of free-ranging discourse on art, literature, and music that attracted Ricketts's coterie, as well as in his special qualities as a friend, chief among them his self-deprecating humor and his deep and compassionate interest in the problems and motivations of others."--Susan Beegel, coauthor of Steinbeck and the Environment and editor of The Hemingway Review Katharine A. Rodger is a Steinbeck Fellow at San José State University where she continues work on Rickett's scientific achievements and personal life. Renaissance Man of Cannery Row The Life and Letters of Edward F. Ricketts By Katharine A. Rodger, Edward F. Ricketts Jr. The University of Alabama Press Copyright © 2002 The University of Alabama Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8173-5087-1 Contents Acknowledgments, Editor's Note, Introduction, Biographical Essay, 1936 — 1938, 1939 — 1940, 1941 — 1942, 1943 — 1945, 1946 — 1948, Works Cited, Index, Illustrations, CHAPTER 1 1936 — 1938 On November 25, 1936, a power surge in the Del Mar Cannery caused a fire on Cannery Row that destroyed Pacific Biological Laboratories, including all of Ricketts's personal and professional records and correspondence. Ricketts escaped, saving only his car, the clothes he was wearing, and a portrait of him by James Fitzgerald (see letter dated March 31, 1937; in "About Ed Ricketts," Steinbeck asserts Ricketts also saved his typewriter, but in The Outer Shores, Hedgpeth notes that Ricketts's own inventory of lost property did not include his typewriter or car). While rebuilding the lab, Ricketts stayed with Fred and Frances Strong at their home in Pacific Grove. Friends and family members surprised Ricketts at Christmas by giving him some of his favorite books in order to help rebuild his lost library. His gratitude is apparent in his letters. The following is the earliest letter found after the fire. To V. E. Bogard and Austin Flanders December 16, 1936 Dear Bogard and Austin: You will be interested to hear what's been happening. We have the lot almost entirely cleaned up, still one large pile of wood and debris stacked together. Most of the concrete seems to be alright. Rough plans have been drawn for a shack-like board and bat structure to house office and labs, 28 × 33'. Estimated cost, top $981, plus $100 for rough in plumbing and $75 for conduit, or vice versa. Labor and material plus 5%. Estimate by builder who does much of the cannery work and who was sent up into Oregon by 3 of the local canneries to build 5 plants there. We have saved lots of conduit, cast iron pipe (all of which is good), and some valves and galvanized pipe that seems alright; this will reduce the cost. Galv. iron too expensive. As soon as insurance company pays up (they are investigating criminal carelessness) I will have this part erected. Then Roy and I will get busy with 2 × 4s and erect galvanized iron roof over shark tanks, run the conduit and water pipe out there for immediate start on shark preparing. The balance of the $3000 will have to go for equipment, stationary, such few items of stock as we have to buy (maybe none, can trade for most), a bit to Rodriguez, and small truck