Pigasus

The Pigasus was used by John Steinbeck as a personal stamp with the Latin motto Ad astra per alia^[1] porci (to the stars on the wings of a pig). The pigasus was supposed to symbolize Steinbeck as "earthbound but aspiring.... A lumbering soul but trying to fly...(with)...not enough wingspread but plenty of intention."

Coincidentally, Pigasus was a character in the Oz books written by Ruth Plumly Thompson in the 1930s.^[2] Her Pigasus was also a winged pig. As with Pegasus, his riders gained the gift of poesy, speaking in rhyme while on his back. The character first appeared in Pirates in Oz.

John Steinbeck occasionally drew this on books that he signed at book signings. These books are now worth considerably more than ones with just his signature on it.^{[citation needed]}

The Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose University has put online a wonderful note from Steinbeck's third wife, Elaine (they married in 1950) explaining the origin of the "flying pig" which summarized his self-description as "earthbound but aspiring." In a 1983 letter (John Steinbeck had died in 1968), she wrote that early on when he did book tours and signed his books, he would often draw a fat little pig named "Pigasus." As she says, "the Pigasus symbol came from my husband's fertile, joyful, and often wild imagination." She went on to say that he wouldn't have been so vain or presumptuous to have adopted Pegasus, the winged horse, as his symbol; the pig always represented to him that "man must try to attain the heavens even though his equipment is meager." He must aspire even though "he is earth-bound."

Then, as time went on, she says he began to write "Pigasus" in Greek letters, and he added the motto "ad astra per alia porci." This motto means "to the stars on the wings of a pig." The playful imagination of Steinbeck suffices to explain the origins of the motto, even though several internet sources say that it emerged after he was told by a college professor that he, Steinbeck, would only become a writer "when pigs flew." Elaine's story isn't inconsistent with the "college professor" origin, but she makes no reference to it. Finally, she says that one time in the 1950s, when they were living in Florence, they became friends with a Florentine nobleman who drew a picture in the "Rafael"-style of a pig, which then became the "official" symbol of John Steinbeck. The phrase ad astra per alia porci, then, reflects his idea that we simply are ill-equipped for the longings in our heart. We want to reach the stars, but we are often too "heavy" to do so. Yet we try, and our efforts are just the efforts of "pigs flying."

References

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