Author awarded the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes. Works include The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men. ALS, one page, on a 3.25 x 5.5 government postcard, no date, but postmarked January 19, 1937. Letter to Los Angeles Times literary critic Paul Jordan-Smith. In full, “Thank you for your very kind letter. I’m glad you like the new little book. It is pure experiment of course. I was trying to build a new form, a play like novel which would leave the advantages of both, the ease of reading of the novel and the external compactness of the play. The description is stage set. The thing is timed and secured to play from the dialogue just as it stands. In fact, Theater Union in S.F. is going to play it soon. Then we’ll see whether the experiment is valid and if it is, I’ll go on and develop it. St. Katy was written some time ago and has probably more rejection slips than any pig in the world. We never seem to get to Los Angeles. Haven’t been there for several years. But if we do it will be fine to call on you. This is a sad day - dental day and I have drill cowardice to an overwhelming degree. Do come by when you can. The taxi driver in Los Angeles will lead you. You couldn’t find it for yourself. Luis Garnett looked for two days.” Of Mice and Men was published in 1937 and Steinbeck originally structured it like a play with lengthy stationary scenes, stage-like descriptions and large blocks of dialogue. Of Mice and Men tells the tragic story of George and Lennie, two displaced Anglo migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression. The story is set in the Salinas Valley, a few miles from Soledad (Spanish for solitude). Steinbeck had written the novel primarily in dialogue, and had given the unpublished manuscript to Wellman Farley, president of a labor drama group in San Francisco called the Theatre Union. The theater company staged a dramatic version which ran for 16 performances at the Green Street Theater in North Beach in May 1937. The novel’s success was quick and Steinbeck worked on a stage version with playwright George Kaufman. The play opened on Broadway in New York City on Nov. 23, 1937, starring Wallace Ford as George and Broderick Crawford as Lennie. In fine condition. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
