WHY DID JOHN STEINBECK SPEND TWO MONTHS HAVING TO REWRITE 'OF MICE AND MEN'?
‘Of Mice and Men’ sold a whopping 500,000 copies in its first edition alone, and is one of the classic books taught and read in schools and universities across the world. But, its release to the public was delayed because of Steinbeck’s own dog.
In Steinbeck’s own words, “minor tragedy stalked. I don’t know whether I told you. My setter pup, left alone one night, made confetti of about half of my [manuscript] book. Two months of work to do over again.”
Just adding to the stat from the introduction, the book has since sold millions of copies since, 1999 “sales figures for the book in the USA alone were put at 7.5 million.” So it’s fair to say, the book has no doubt sold millions all over the globe.
Interestingly enough the book is also considered a ‘controversial book’ due to it’s “profanity”, “morbid and depressing themes”, “anti-business attitude” with others labelling it as “derogatory towards African Americans, women, and the developmentally disabled.”
But nobody can dispute the fact the book is widely popular. You’ll also be pleased to hear the dog was fine apart from receiving what was probably a good telling-off. And who knows, maybe if the dog hadn’t done that, the novel may not be what it is today…!
Whilst ‘Of Mice and Men’ has had enormous success, I don’t doubt Steinbeck probably kept his work where his dog couldn’t reach.