“In support of his job application, he lectured at at the Unisersita del Popolo on Robinson Crusoe. That talk may be the single greatest lecture on an individual novel ever given. Its final lines are as loaded with treasure as anything in his novels: ‘Saint John the Evangelist saw on the island of Patmos the apocalyptic collapse of the universe and raising up the wall of the eternal city splendid with beryl and emerald, onyx and jasper, sapphires and rubies. Crusoe saw but one marvel in all the fertile creation that surrounded him, a naked footprint in the virgin sand: and who knows if the latter does not matter more than the former?’ He wrote that and it didn’t matter. The invigilators in Padua denied him the diploma beause they didn’t recognize his Irish degree.” (p. 25-26)
The “he”–as you might have guessed–is James Joyce. Joyce struggled to get his work published because few people understood his masterpieces.
From Dostoevsky–who was almost executed in front of a firing squad–to Hemingway and Fitzgerald–who drank themselves into depression–to Nabokov who had Lolita rejected so many times he had to agree to let a French pornography publisher print it, Stephen Marche illustrates his link between failure and writing with all of these sanity-crushing examples of great writing and great writers dealing with disappointment and disinterest.
Legendary rejections (multiple times!) of Harry Potter, Animal Farm, Herman Melville’s work. Jane Austen never saw her name on one of her novels…only identified as “By a Lady.”
I was most moved by Marche’s description of Samuel Johnson’s grueling life of never making enough money to support himself and his wife so he took every writing assignment that came his way–no matter how trivial–in order to pay his bills and stay alive.
On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer proves to me at least that Writing is, and always will be, an act defined by failure and rejection. GRADE: A
Yes, writing is a nasty habit, and I’d quit it if I could, but when I think about it, it’s no worse than compulsive gambling, alcoholism, or drug addiction, and, may, if properly managed, be less harmful than some of these. I’m not afraid to share the road with a driver who’s written one too many books.
Dan, Samuel Johnson wrote: “no man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.” So I’m a blockhead.
As one who does not write and merely scribbles on the internet, I don’t mind failure. In the rest of my life, failure is sometimes expected; I just let is wash over me and cleanse me. It seems to me that people who concentrate on success and/or failure are missing out on the best parts of life.
Jerry, failure and rejection can teach us a lot…if we pay attention.
Hope my library has bought it. Looks great.
Patti, ON WRITING AND FAILURE is the best book I’ve read in 2023 so far!
Sounds really interesting. I’m with George and Jerry.
Jeff, ON WRITING AND FAILURE captures the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in publishing. This is a brilliant book!
Sounds like a fascinating read. Writers (and artists in a variety of media) have spent their whole lives creating work that never saw the light of day in their lifetimes. Some did so with no desire beyond the need to create. I sympathize with anyone who’d like to make a living from their work but I have a special respect for those who practice art for art’s sake. These days more than ever.
Byron, same here. I respect artists and singers who persist in their creative endeavors even though the commercial Marketplace ignores them…until a segment realizes their greatness! Then, everything changes.
Or doesn’t change, if the segment is rather small.
Your spell-“checker” changed Crusoe to Cruise (raising the image in mind’s eye of Scientology Tom having a revelation) in your extended quote.
I would take small issue with the citation of Melville, if only because so many refused MOBY DICK as Not what the audience for his work was looking for back in those days of his big hits with relatively light reading. Also, Maurice Girodias the porn guy was publishing some of the most sophisticated work he could find when he published LOLITA; Barry Malzberg edited and wrote for him about a decade later. Some things need to be put in proper perspective. A lot, and often.
All art risks failure and rejection, as does most of the rest of life.
And, by me, Harry Potter deserved every rejection it saw…at least that first novel, which bored me enormously in its first chapters, Roald Dahl and water. Gave up then and haven’t attempted to read anything by her since…and this before I was to learn that she’s as big a jerk as Dahl, a better writer, was.
Todd, money changes everything. Once the writers you cite achieve success and the money that goes with it, some of their worst aspects emerge.
Todd, WORDPRESS can be maddening with its “corrections” like Crusoe to Cruise. I change many of the WORDPRESS gaffs, but some slip past me. Thanks for the heads up!