In an attempt to record the composition details of his short story “The Snake”, John Steinbeck wrote about the events in the essay “About Ed Ricketts” which was published in the 1951 edition of The Log from the Sea of Cortez. In his memoir, Steinbeck recalls the events of the story and relates actual historical occurrences that happened in Ricketts’ biological laboratory, and which his close friend told to him “just as it happened”. As the author tries to set down the event, he claims its accuracy and simultaneously asserts a non-teleological approach that refuses to speculate either on the causes or the effects of what Ricketts told him. Nonetheless, other eye-witnesses to the event suggest that some of the …
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Citation: Meyer, Michael J.. "“The Snake”". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 November 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=25293, accessed 25 November 2024.]
