[Link] Yes, Steinbeck Wrote a Werewolf Novel. Don’t Expect to Read It.

A scholar of American literature at Stanford says it’s worth publishing. The agents representing the Steinbeck estate strongly disagree. 

by Heather Murphy

Nine years before John Steinbeck published his Pulitzer Prize-winning historical masterpiece, “The Grapes of Wrath,” he was working on a lighthearted detective novel featuring a werewolf.

The manuscript, “Murder at Full Moon,” was completed in 1930 but was never published. A single copy has been sitting, mostly forgotten, in an archive in Texas since 1969. It includes drawings by Steinbeck himself.

A scholar of American literature at Stanford University is pushing for the book to be published, but the agents for Steinbeck’s estate vehemently refused this week, after the effort was featured in The Guardian.

The professor, Gavin Jones, is undeterred. He dug “Murder at Full Moon” out of the archive at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin while working on a book about Steinbeck. “I’d love to see it published,” he said.

Read the full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/books/steinbeck-werewolf-novel.html