Burning Bright in 1942, but, of the three, "Burning Bright" was the most complete attempt at the form. Steinbeck believed that he may have been the first person to attempt the style. At the time of writing the introduction, in which he explained his intentions, he believed it was a form that would bear further experimentation. In a continuation of the experiment, a stage production was planned to open at the same time the book was published. The original title of the book, "In the Forests of the Night", was a line from "The Tyger" by William Blake, but complaints that it
Burning Bright performances. One of the co-producers admitted that he had known the production was doomed after the first night. Steinbeck was later upbeat about the failure of the play and stated he was still keen to continue working in the theatre: Despite his apparent continued enthusiasm after the failure of "Burning Bright", Steinbeck never made another attempt at producing anything for the theatre. In reality he had been deeply hurt by its failure and some of the acerbic notices it had received from the New York critics: "Burning Bright" was turned into an opera by American composer Frank Lewin. The reviews