of mice and men penguin modern classics john steinbeck

An exception was his first novel Cup of Gold which concerns the pirate Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child. Most of his earlier work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. Steinbeck moved briefly to New York City, but soon returned home to California to begin his career as a writer. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place. Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley region of California, a culturally diverse place of rich migratory and immigrant history. In 1962, Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, and the novella, Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.Ī unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films. While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing 'Of Mice and Men' (1937), creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. Yet they have formed a 'family,' clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.

They are an unlikely pair: George is 'small and quick and dark of face' Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's

Of mice and men penguin modern classics john steinbeck