Burning Bright: A Play in Story Form by Steinbeck, John - 1950

New York: The Viking Press, 1950 First edition, first printing. A fine copy, bound in the publisher's beige cloth, with red lettering to the front board and spine, a slight hint of offsetting to the endpapers, else bright, in an unclipped dust jacket, with slight wear to the spine head and tail and the corners, small abrasion to the bottom edge of the rear panel, light rubbing and soiling, some fading to the spine. Burning Bright is John Steinbeck's third and most complete attempt at a new hybrid literary genre, the "play-novelette," following similar attempts to write a play in story form in Of Mice and Men and The Moon is Down. Steinbeck hoped that the novel format would expand the audience for a play to readers outside of the theater world, and that the play format would increase character development for theater productions outside of immediate dialog. He was enthusiastic about this new genre: "Despite its difficulty, the play-novelette is highly rewarding. It gives a play a wide chance of being read and a piece of fiction a chance of being played without the usual revision. I think it is a legitimate form and one that can stand a great deal of exploration." However, Burning Bright receives only moderate success as a play and novel, and Steinbeck did not produce any subsequent play-novelettes.. 1st Edition.. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Dust Jacket Included.