So Much Success, So Little Joy

Abstract

This biography was published in 1989 as a tribute to C harles Schultz's fortiet h anniversary of publishing Peanuts. The longevity of his ca r too n and th e fact th at he has drawn eac h strip by himself is unique. His characte rs a re known in eve ry contine nt and their trials and tribulations a re translated into ove r twe nty la nguages every day. So why would I recommend this book to th e ge neral pu blic, and to psychiatrist s and m ental health professionals in pa rt icul ar? Becau se in this authoriz ed biography, Rheta Grimsley J ohnson, a nation ally ren owned syndicated columnist , shows how a man do es not hav e to be crippled by his mental illness and how thi s man in particul ar could not have becom e what he is today without coming to terms with agorophobia a nd depression . The ea rly chapte rs describe how Schultz grew up in Minnea polis as an only child who was close to his mother and fa the r. Significa n t mil eston es from his life are ment ioned , in pa rticul ar th ose whi ch see m to be reflect ed in Peanuts. For example, th e whole family moved to Nee dles, California during the Grea t Depression whil e his fa t he r looked for work , eve ntually moving back to Minneapolis whe re he graduated from high school. In sch ool he was a C stude n t with very few friends, spe ndi ng most of his lun ch hours by himself a nd feeling intimidated by th e others. A whole chapter is devot ed to th e woman on whom The Little Red H aired Girl is based. We see th at his popular charac te r Charlie Brown re flec ts som e of Schultz's own ex periences and feelings. The crit ica l point in his life, according to Johnson , was his draft in to World Wa r II th e same week that his mother died fr om ca nce r . H e never had th e opportunity to say goo d-bye to his mother and according to J ohnson, thi s was a n issu e he never succes sfully re solved. H e returned from th e war a nd soug ht work as a n a rt illust ra tor and as a fr ee lan ce ca r toonist for newspapers whil e waiting for his big chance to be publish ed in a major newspap er. The middle chapte rs furn ish more detail on how Schultz was ab le to get Peanuts publish ed and eventually known in every corner of th e globe. The remaining chapte rs show what day to day ope ra tio ns a re curre n t ly like with Schultz working in his stud io in Sa nta Clara, Califo rn ia . J ohnson mak es clear referen ces through out thi s boo k to th e fact that Schult z