John Steinbeck

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John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
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John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. enrolled at Stanford University in 1919; however, it was a decision to please his parents. He felt having a career in writing has nothing to do with college. He had his ups and downs in the university and eventually dropped out of school in 1925 without having a college degree.

Following his drop out he decided to be a freelance writer and briefly moved to New York. There, he worked as a construction worker and also as a newspaper reporter. After a few years, he moved down to California, where he took up the job of a caretaker in Lake Tahoe and began writing books. Over the course of his career, he wrote 31 books and the best among them are Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath.

Steinbeck served as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune during World War II He also took a trip to Mexico alongside his friend to collect marine life. Their trip resulted in his writing of the book Sea of Cortez, which talks about Marine life.

Personal life

Steinbeck had two sons and married 3 times. He met his first wife, Carol Henning, in 1930, and she helped him financially in his writing career until they separated in 1942. He got married to his second wife, Gwendolyn, in 1943; they had two sons together but divorced in 1948. In 1950 he got married to his third wife, Elaine Anderson. They remained together until he died in 1968. Steinbeck died on December 20, 1968, of heart disease in his New York City Home. He was 66.

Conclusion

Of Mice and Men was a hit in those days. It sold 500,000 copies of its first edition alone. Up till now, it is still a perfect educative piece of art as is popular in schools and universities. The worldwide sale of the novel is around 12.5 million and will be more according to estimates.  John Steinbeck got the inspiration for Of Mice and Men working during the Great Depression of the 1930s in the United States. He has won numerous awards, such as Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize for literature.

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