"Toby Ate My Manuscript!"

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We all probably know the comical excuse given to who knows how many teachers down through the years. "My dog ate my homework!" In the spring of 1936, John Steinbeck was enjoying the commercial success of his 1935 novel Tortilla Flat. He was working on another work tentatively entitled Something That Happened. A mishap occurred and relayed the situation in a note to his literary agent. On May 27, 1936, he wrote: "My setter pup left(alone?) one night made confetti of about half of my manuscript. Two months work to do over again....there was no draft." Steinbeck's dog Toby's shredding of the author's work can be thanked for what was then created. The author then restarted his story of the two migrant workers, George and Lennie which became the Mice and Men novella. Upon publication in February 1937, his latest work became still another critical and commercial hit. The picture is from Pinterest.com