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62-506: Of Mice and Men is a 1937 novella written by American author John Steinbeck . It describes the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, as they move from place to place in California , searching for jobs during the Great Depression . Steinbeck based the novella on his own experiences as a teenager working alongside migrant farm workers in

124-547: A TV movie version was released, starring Randy Quaid as Lennie, and Robert Blake as George, and directed by Reza Badiyi . Another theatrical film version was made in 1992, directed by Gary Sinise , who was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes . Sinise played George, and the role of Lennie was played by John Malkovich , both reprising their roles from the 1980 Steppenwolf Theatre Company stage production. The 1992 Malayalam film Soorya Manasam directed by Viji Thampi

186-483: A novel , yet more complicated ones than a short story . The conflicts also have more time to develop than in short stories. Novellas may or may not be divided into chapters (good examples of those with chapters are Animal Farm by George Orwell and The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells ), and white space is often used to divide the sections, something less common in short stories. Novellas may be intended to be read at

248-568: A "best novella" award and sometimes a separate "best novelette" award, separately from "best short story" or "best novel". The distinction between these categories may be entirely by word count . Fixation (psychology) In Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), Freud distinguished the fixations of the libido on an incestuous object from a fixation upon a specific, partial aim , such as voyeurism . Freud theorized that some humans may develop psychological fixation due to one or more of

310-562: A "grand little book, for all its ultimate melodrama". In the UK, it was listed at number 52 of the "nation's best loved novels" on the BBC 's 2003 survey The Big Read . The novella has been banned from various US public and school libraries or curricula for allegedly "promoting euthanasia ", "condoning racial slurs", being "anti-business", containing profanity, and generally containing "vulgar", "offensive language", and containing racial stereotypes, as well as

372-482: A Broadway production, Steinbeck adapted and slightly revised his original text and this version, produced by Sam H. Harris and directed by George S. Kaufman , opened on November 23, 1937, in the Music Box Theatre on Broadway and ran for 207 performances. It starred Wallace Ford as George and Broderick Crawford as Lennie. The role of Crooks was performed by Leigh Whipper , the first African-American member of

434-444: A book's length, saying that "any distinctions that begin with an objective and external quality like size are bound to be misleading." Stephen King , in his introduction to Different Seasons , a 1982 collection of four novellas, notes the difficulties of selling a novella in the commercial publishing world, since it does not fit the typical length requirements of either magazine or book publishers. Despite these problems, however,

496-469: A musical theater adaptation by Ira Bilowit (1925–2016) was produced Off-Broadway in New York City. The cast included several in-demand performers of their day, including Art Lund and Jo Sullivan , re-teamed after performing together in the hit musical The Most Happy Fella , as well as Leo Penn . However, a newspaper strike negatively affected the production and it closed after six weeks. A revival of

558-568: A new transference fixation in place of the old one. The new fixation   —   for example a father-transference onto the analyst   —   may be very different from the old, but will absorb its energies and enable them eventually to be released for non-fixated purposes. Melanie Klein saw fixation as inherently pathological – a blocking of potential sublimation by way of repression . Erik H. Erikson distinguished fixation to zone – oral or anal, for example – from fixation to mode, such as taking in, as with his instance of

620-749: A novella embodies." Sometimes, as with other genres, the genre name is mentioned in the title of a single work (compare the Divine Comedy or Goethe 's Das Märchen ). Austrian writer Stefan Zweig 's Die Schachnovelle (1942) (literally, "The Chess Novella", but translated in 1944 as The Royal Game ) is an example of a title naming its genre. This might be suggestive of the genre's historicization. Commonly, longer novellas are referred to as novels; Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899) are sometimes called novels, as are many science fiction works such as H. G. Wells' The War of

682-429: A novella is a fictional narrative of indeterminate length—a few pages to hundreds—restricted to a single, suspenseful event, situation, or conflict leading to an unexpected turning point ( Wendepunkt ), provoking a logical but surprising end. Novellen tend to contain a concrete symbol, which is the narrative's focal point. The novella influenced the development of the short story and the novel throughout Europe. In

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744-480: A range between 17,500 and 40,000 words is commonly used for the novella category, whereas 7,500–17,500 is commonly used for novelettes. According to The Writer , a novelette is approximately between 7,000 and 20,000 words in length, anything shorter being considered a short story. This list contains those novellas that are widely considered to be the best examples of the genre, through their appearance on multiple best-of lists. Some literary awards include

806-498: A sense of respect as he is employed as a ranch hand. However, his intellectual handicap undercuts this and results in his powerlessness. Economic powerlessness is established as many of the ranch hands are victims of the Great Depression . As George, Candy and Crooks are positive, action-oriented characters, they wish to purchase a homestead, but because of the Depression, they are unable to earn enough money to fulfill their dream. Lennie

868-403: A set of exquisite little tales, novels in the original meaning of the word)". But when the term novella was used it was already clear that a rather short and witty form was intended: "The brief Novella has ever been a prodigious favorite with the nation…since the days of Boccaccio." In 1902, William Dean Howells wrote: "Few modern fictions of the novel's dimensions…have the beauty of form many

930-419: A single sitting, like short stories, and thus produce a unitary effect on the reader. According to Warren Cariou , "The novella is generally not as formally experimental as the long story and the novel can be, and it usually lacks the subplots, the multiple points of view, and the generic adaptability that are common in the novel. It is most often concerned with personal and emotional development rather than with

992-645: A story to be considered a novella, a short story or a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association defines a novella's word count to be between 17,500 and 40,000 words; at 250 words per page, this equates to 70 to 160 pages. See below for definitions used by other organisations. The novella as a literary genre began developing in the Italian literature of the early Renaissance , principally by Giovanni Boccaccio , author of The Decameron (1353). The Decameron featured 100 tales (named novellas) told by ten people (seven women and three men) fleeing

1054-475: Is a significant factor in several characters' lives. Candy is lonely after his dog is gone. Curley's wife is lonely because her husband is not the friend she hoped for—she deals with her loneliness by flirting with the men on the ranch, which causes Curley to increase his abusiveness and jealousy. The companionship of George and Lennie is the result of loneliness. Crooks states the theme candidly as "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got anybody. Don't make any difference who

1116-474: Is also based on the novel. Of Mice and Men was adapted by Donna Franceschild as a radio play directed by Kirsty Williams starring David Tennant and Liam Brennan broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 7 March 2010. Earlier BBC productions were aired in 1966 and 1992. Novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels , but longer than most novelettes and short stories . The English word novella derives from

1178-399: Is intended to be both a novella and a script for a play. It is only 30,000 words in length. Steinbeck wanted to write a novel that could be played from its lines, or a play that could be read like a novel. Steinbeck originally titled it Something That Happened (referring to the events of the book as "something that happened" because nobody can be really blamed for the tragedy that unfolds in

1240-414: Is short enough and straightforward enough to qualify as a novella. However, historically, it has been regarded as a novel. Dictionaries define novelette similarly to novella , sometimes identically, sometimes with a disparaging sense of being trivial or sentimental. Some literary awards have a longer "novella" and a shorter "novelette" category, with a distinction based on word count . Among awards,

1302-404: Is that the opera features The Ballad Singer, a character not found in the book. A new version of the play opened on Broadway at The Longacre Theater on March 19, 2014 for a limited 18-week engagement, starring James Franco , Chris O'Dowd , Leighton Meester and Jim Norton . A ballet adaptation was created by Cathy Marston with original music by Thomas Newman. It debuted on April 27, 2022 at

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1364-494: Is the only one who is basically unable to take care of himself, but the other characters would do this in the improved circumstances they seek. Since they cannot do so, the real danger of Lennie's mental handicap comes to the fore. Regarding human interaction, the evil of oppression and abuse is a theme that is illustrated through Curley and Curley's wife. Curley uses his aggressive nature and superior position in an attempt to take control of his father's farm. He constantly reprimands

1426-524: The Actors' Equity Association . (Whipper repeated this role in the 1939 film version.) The production was chosen as Best Play in 1938 by the New York Drama Critics' Circle . In 1939 the production was moved to Los Angeles, still with Wallace Ford in the role of George, but with Lon Chaney, Jr., taking on the role of Lennie. Chaney's performance in the role resulted in his casting in the movie. In 1958,

1488-623: The American Library Association 's list of the Most Challenged Books of the 21st Century . During the Great Depression in California, two migrant field workers – George Milton, an intelligent but uneducated man, and Lennie Small, a bulky, strong but mentally disabled man – are on their way from Soledad to another part of the state. They share a dream of settling down on their own piece of land. Lennie's part of

1550-582: The Black Death , by escaping from Florence to the Fiesole hills in 1348. This structure was then imitated by subsequent authors, notably the French queen Marguerite de Navarre , whose Heptaméron (1559) included 72 original French tales and was modeled after the structure of The Decameron . The Italian genre novella grew out of a rich tradition of medieval short narrative forms. It took its first major form in

1612-552: The 1910s, before the arrival of the Okies whom he would describe in his novel The Grapes of Wrath . The title is taken from Robert Burns ' poem " To a Mouse ": "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley" ("The best-laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry"). Although the book is taught in many schools, Of Mice and Men has been a frequent target of censorship and book bans for vulgarity and for what some consider offensive and racist language. Consequently, it appears on

1674-456: The Italian novella meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts. The Italian term is a feminine of novello , which means new , similarly to the English word news . Merriam-Webster defines a novella as "a work of fiction intermediate in length and complexity between a short story and a novel ". There is disagreement regarding the number of pages or words necessary for

1736-649: The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. The first film adaptation was released in 1939, two years after the publication of the novella, and starred Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie, with Burgess Meredith as George, and was directed by Lewis Milestone . It was nominated for four Academy Awards . A TV version , produced by David Susskind in 1968, starred George Segal as George, Nicol Williamson as Lennie, Will Geer as Candy, Moses Gunn as Crooks, and Don Gordon and Joey Heatherton as Curley and his wife, respectively. In 1981,

1798-409: The Worlds (1897) and Philip Francis Nowlan's Armageddon 2419 A.D. (1928). Less often, longer works are referred to as novellas. The subjectivity of the parameters of the novella genre is indicative of its shifting and diverse nature as an art form. In her 2010 Open Letters Monthly series, "A Year With Short Novels", Ingrid Norton criticizes the tendency to make clear demarcations based purely on

1860-570: The anonymous late 13th century Libro di novelle et di bel parlar gentile , known as Il Novellino , and reached its culmination with The Decameron . Followers of Boccaccio such as Giovanni Fiorentino , Franco Sacchetti , Giovanni Sercambi and Simone de' Prodenzani continued the tradition into the early 15th century. The Italian novella influenced many later writers, including Shakespeare . Novellas were also written in Spain. Miguel de Cervantes ' book Novelas ejemplares (1613) added innovation to

1922-623: The book. George aspires to become independent, to be his own boss, to have a homestead, and, most important, to be "somebody". Lennie aspires to be with George on his independent homestead, and to quench his fixation on soft objects. Candy aspires to reassert his responsibility lost with the death of his dog, and for security for his old age—on George's homestead. Crooks aspires to a small homestead where he can express self-respect, security, and most of all, acceptance. Curley's wife dreams to be an actress, to satisfy her desire for fame lost when she married Curley, and an end to her loneliness. Loneliness

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1984-418: The concentrated focus of the short story and the broad scope of the novel. In his essay, "Briefly, the case for the novella", Canadian author George Fetherling (who wrote the novella Tales of Two Cities ) said that to reduce the novella to nothing more than a short novel is like "insisting that a pony is a baby horse". The sometimes blurry definition between a novel and a novella can create controversy, as

2046-442: The dream is merely to care for and pet rabbits . He loves touching soft animals, although he always accidentally kills them by petting them too hard. George constantly retells the dream, which is one of Lennie's favorite stories. They fled from Weed after Lennie grabbed a young woman's skirt because he thought it was pretty. He would not let go, because he holds on tighter when stressed. This led to an accusation of rape . Throughout

2108-411: The dream, although he now knows it will never happen. George hears the lynch mob coming and shoots Lennie, giving him a more merciful death than the one he would receive at the hands of the mob. Curley, Slim, and Carlson arrive seconds later. Only Slim understands what has happened. He leads George away, trying to console him. Curley and Carlson look on, neither understanding why Slim and George are feeling

2170-518: The farm hands and accuses some of fooling around with his wife. Curley's Napoleon complex is evidenced by his threatening of the farm hands for minuscule incidents. Curley's wife, on the other hand, is not physically but verbally manipulative. She uses her sex appeal to gain some attention, flirting with the farm hands. According to the Penguin Teacher's Guide for Of Mice and Men , Curley and Curley's wife represent evil in that both oppress and abuse

2232-440: The following: As Freud's thought developed, so did the range of possible 'fixation points' he saw as significant in producing particular neuroses. However, he continued to view fixation as "the manifestation of very early linkages   —   linkages which it is hard to resolve   —   between instincts and impressions and the objects involved in those impressions". Psychoanalytic therapy involved producing

2294-498: The genre with more attention to the depiction of human character and social background. Not until the late 18th and early 19th centuries did writers fashion the novella into a literary genre structured by precepts and rules, generally in a realistic mode . At that time, the Germans were the most active writers of the novelle (German: "Novelle"; plural: "Novellen"). For the German writer,

2356-471: The guy is, long's he's with you." The author further reinforces this theme through subtle methods by situating the story near the town of Soledad , which means "solitude" in Spanish. Despite the need for companionship, Steinbeck emphasizes how loneliness is sustained through the barriers established from acting inhuman to one another. The loneliness of Curley's wife is upheld by Curley's jealousy, which causes all

2418-459: The heron shifts from a beautiful part of the scenery from the beginning of the novel to a predator near the end. The ending chapter has the heron return, preying upon snakes that get too curious in a repetitive nature, symbolic of the dreams of men constantly being snatched away. Of Mice and Men was Steinbeck's first attempt at writing in the form of novel-play termed a "play-novelette" by one critic. Structured in three acts of two chapters each, it

2480-450: The introduction, it becomes clear that Lennie relies on George because he is unable to function independently. After they are hired at a farm, Curley, the Boss's small, aggressive son, confronts the pair. Curley, who has a Napoleon complex , dislikes larger men, and targets Lennie. Lennie is instantly attracted to Curley's flirtatious and provocative wife, which also poses a problem. In contrast,

2542-406: The larger social sphere. The novella generally retains something of the unity of impression that is a hallmark of the short story, but it also contains more highly developed characterization and more luxuriant description. The term novel , borrowed from the Italian novella , originally meant "any of a number of tales or stories making up a larger work; a short narrative of this type, a fable", and

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2604-400: The late 19th century Henry James was one of the first English language critics to use the term novella for a story that was longer and more complex than a short story, but shorter than a novel. In English speaking countries the modern novella is rarely defined as a distinct literary genre, but is often used as a term for a short novel. A novella generally features fewer conflicts than

2666-403: The man who "may eagerly absorb the 'milk of wisdom' where he once desired more tangible fluids from more sensuous containers". Eric Berne , developed his insight further as part of transactional analysis , suggesting that "particular games and scripts, and their accompanying physical symptoms, are based in appropriate zones and modes". Heinz Kohut saw the grandiose self as a fixation upon

2728-448: The migrants in different ways. Fate is felt most heavily as the characters' aspirations are destroyed when George is unable to protect Lennie (who is a real danger). Steinbeck presents this as "something that happened" or as his friend coined for him "non-teleological thinking" or "is thinking", which postulates a non-judgmental point of view. Of Mice and Men can be associated with the idea that inherent limitations exist and despite all

2790-592: The negative impact of these stereotypes on students. Many of the bans and restrictions have been lifted and it remains required reading in many other American, Australian, Irish, British, New Zealand and Canadian high schools. As a result of being a frequent target of censors, Of Mice and Men appears on the American Library Association 's list of the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000–2009 (number five) and Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2010–2019 (number 28). Of Mice and Men has been proposed for censorship 54 times since it

2852-487: The novella's length provides unique advantages; in the introduction to a novella anthology titled Sailing to Byzantium , Robert Silverberg writes: [The novella] is one of the richest and most rewarding of literary forms...it allows for more extended development of theme and character than does the short story, without making the elaborate structural demands of the full-length book. Thus it provides an intense, detailed exploration of its subject, providing to some degree both

2914-416: The other ranch hands find the corpse, they form a lynch mob intent on killing him. They do send for the police before beginning the search. George quickly realizes that their dream is at an end and hurries to find Lennie, hoping he will be at the meeting place they designated in case he got into trouble. George finds Lennie at the meeting spot, and the two sit together while George retells the beloved story of

2976-407: The pair meets Candy, an elderly ranch handyman with one hand and a loyal dog, and Slim, an intelligent and gentle jerkline-skinner whose dog has recently had a litter of puppies. Slim gives puppies to Lennie and to Candy, whose loyal, accomplished sheep dog was put down by fellow ranch-hand Carlson. In spite of problems, their dream leaps towards reality when Candy offers to pitch in $ 350 toward

3038-435: The purchase of a farm, in return for permission to live with them. They will be able to buy a farm at the end of the month. The trio are ecstatic, but their joy is overshadowed when Curley attacks Lennie, who defends himself by easily crushing Curley's fist while urged on by George. Nevertheless, George feels more relaxed. He even leaves Lennie behind on the ranch while he goes into town with the other hands. Lennie wanders into

3100-491: The ranch hands returning, and she leaves. The next day, Lennie accidentally kills his puppy while stroking it. Curley's wife enters the barn and tries to speak to him, admitting that she is lonely. Her dreams of becoming a movie star have been crushed. She finds out about Lennie's love of soft things and offers to let him stroke her hair, but when she feels his strength, she panics and begins to scream. Lennie becomes frightened and unintentionally breaks her neck. He runs away. When

3162-402: The ranch hands to avoid her. Crooks's barrier results from being barred from the bunkhouse by restraining him to the stable ; his bitterness is partially broken, however, through Lennie's ignorance. Steinbeck's characters are often powerless, due to intellectual, economic, and social circumstances. Lennie possesses the greatest physical strength of any character, which should therefore establish

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3224-404: The squirming and struggling, sometimes the circumstances of one's existence limits their capacity to live the fairy tale lives they wish to. Even the title of the novel itself references this "the title is, of course, a fragment from the poem lay Robert Burns, which gives emphasis to the idea of the futility of human endeavor or the vanity of human wishes". Animals play a role in the story as well;

3286-532: The stable, and chats with Crooks, the bitter, yet educated stable hand, who is isolated from the other workers because he is Black . Candy finds them and they discuss their plans for the farm with Crooks, who cannot resist asking if he can hoe a garden patch on the farm, even though he scorns the possibility of the dream coming true. Curley's wife makes another appearance and flirts with the men, especially Lennie. However, she shows her spiteful side when she belittles them and threatens to have Crooks lynched . They hear

3348-572: The story). However, he changed the title after reading Robert Burns 's poem " To a Mouse ". Burns's poem tells of the regret the narrator feels for having destroyed the home of a mouse while plowing his field. Steinbeck wrote this book and The Grapes of Wrath in what is now Monte Sereno, California . An early draft of Of Mice and Men was eaten by Steinbeck's dog. As he explained in a 1936 letter: My setter pup [Toby], left alone one night, made confetti of about half of my [manuscript] book. Two months [sic] work to do over again. It sets me back. There

3410-490: The way they are. In every bit of honest writing in the world there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other. Steinbeck emphasizes aspirations throughout

3472-649: The work was mounted at the Western Stage in Salinas, California in 2019. The play was revived in a 1974 Broadway production in the Brooks Atkinson Theatre starring Kevin Conway as George and James Earl Jones as Lennie. Noted stage actress Pamela Blair played Curley's Wife in this production. In 1970 Carlisle Floyd wrote an opera based on this novella. One departure between Steinbeck's book and Floyd's opera

3534-490: Was a bindlestiff myself for quite a spell. I worked in the same country that the story is laid in. The characters are composites to a certain extent. Lennie was a real person. He's in an insane asylum in California right now. I worked alongside him for many weeks. He didn't kill a girl. He killed a ranch foreman. Got sore because the boss had fired his pal and stuck a pitchfork right through his stomach. I hate to tell you how many times. I saw him do it. We couldn't stop him until it

3596-424: Was no other draft. I was pretty mad, but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically. In the introduction to Penguin's 1994 edition of the book, Susan Shillinglaw writes that Steinbeck, after dropping out of Stanford University , spent almost two years roaming California, finding work on ranches for Spreckels Sugar where he harvested wheat and sugar beets. Steinbeck told The New York Times in 1937: I

3658-516: Was published in 1936. However, scholars including Thomas Scarseth have fought to protect the book by arguing its literary value. According to Scarseth "in true great literature the pain of Life is transmuted into the beauty of Art". As a "playable novel", it was performed by the Theater Union of San Francisco as written. This version opened on May 21, 1937 – less than three months after the novel's publication – and ran for about two months. To create

3720-523: Was the case with British writer Ian McEwan 's On Chesil Beach (2007). The author described it as a novella, but the panel for the Man Booker Prize in 2007 qualified the book as a "short novel". Thus, this "novella" was shortlisted for an award for best original novel. A similar case is found with a much older work of fiction: The Call of the Wild (1903) by Jack London . This book, by modern standards,

3782-469: Was then many times used in the plural, reflecting the usage as in The Decameron and its followers. Usage of the more italianate novella in English seems to be a bit younger. The differentiation of the two terms seems to have occurred only in the 19th century, following the new fashion of the novella in German literature. In 1834, John Lothrop Motley could still speak of "Tieck's novels (which last are

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3844-465: Was too late. Attaining the greatest positive response of any of his works up to that time, Steinbeck's novella was chosen as a Book of the Month Club selection before it was published. Praise for the work came from many notable critics, including Maxine Garrard ( Enquirer-Sun ), Christopher Morley , and Harry Thornton Moore ( New Republic ). New York Times critic Ralph Thompson described the novella as

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