STEINBECK, JOHN. Autograph letter signed ("John S.") to Dennis Murphy, n.p. [probably Sag Harbor], 9 July [1956]. 3 pages, folio, in light blue ink on two sheets of lined white legal-pad sheets, some light staining, slight rubbing along folds; with typed transcript . "IF YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER...YOU MUST DEVELOP CALLOUSES OF RUTHLESSNESS" "...A very wise woman, years ago told me to do my apprenticeship in Europe. 'You are going to be poor for a long time, maybe always,' she said. 'In Europe poverty is a misfortune. In America it is a disgrace. Very few people can stand disgrace.' It does seem true that our people have a contempt for failure and writing, good writing is largely failure. It must be...I knew everything I wanted to tell you about writing when I started and then I had to learn them. Two years ago I felt I had learned them and I had to tear down the whole structure and start again. When it becomes easy, it is not only not fun, it isn't good. One thing I do want to tell you very sharply. People are not destroyed by tragedy or violence or cataclysm. They stand these very well and even grow great under them. Erosion is the destroyer -- the black tie on Saturday night, the endless conversation of a loving wife, the two percent interest, the horrible plateau in our country that makes a man plan for his children thereby destroying both himself and his children...If you want to be a writer or an artist of any kind, you must develop callouses of ruthlessness...Let no critic tell you what to do or think or write. And friends and critics are most dangerous when they are flattering..." "If you can avoid marriage you are fortunate because marriage is the antithesis of art. Marriage thrives on the ordinary, the usual, the safe, the conservative. A woman properly tries to stun the creativeness out of a husband because it is dangerous both to her and to the marriage. Don't avoid women. Without marriage they bring violence and electricity. I've been married three times, out I suspect, of a kind of laziness. But do believe me -- a woman who pretends to understand the creative is a liar. If she really understands it, she isn't a woman. And never under any circumstances expect kindness from a woman. Love, yes, but never kindness...Do you have the feeling of hurry? I've always had it -- a race against time. Mine has probably gone on too long but I don't feel through. I am driven still as I was so long ago. It still seems important to me and that is part of the process, I guess...Get your work done. That's what matters most. You have to serve your three million word apprenticeship. There isn't any other way..." In his letter Steinbeck also discusses his daughter's upcoming wedding, mentions Jean Cocteau (he encloses a clipping quoting the French writer), and notes that he will be attending both 1956 political conventions and hopes to see Dennis in San Francisco.
STEINBECK, JOHN. Autograph letter signed ("John S.") to Dennis Murphy, n.p. [probably Sag Harbor], 9 July [1956]. 3 pages, folio, in light blue ink on two sheets of lined white legal-pad sheets, some light staining, slight rubbing along folds; with typed transcript . "IF YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER...YOU MUST DEVELOP CALLOUSES OF RUTHLESSNESS" "...A very wise woman, years ago told me to do my apprenticeship in Europe. 'You are going to be poor for a long time, maybe always,' she said. 'In Europe poverty is a misfortune. In America it is a disgrace. Very few people can stand disgrace.' It does seem true that our people have a contempt for failure and writing, good writing is largely failure. It must be...I knew everything I wanted to tell you about writing when I started and then I had to learn them. Two years ago I felt I had learned them and I had to tear down the whole structure and start again. When it becomes easy, it is not only not fun, it isn't good. One thing I do want to tell you very sharply. People are not destroyed by tragedy or violence or cataclysm. They stand these very well and even grow great under them. Erosion is the destroyer -- the black tie on Saturday night, the endless conversation of a loving wife, the two percent interest, the horrible plateau in our country that makes a man plan for his children thereby destroying both himself and his children...If you want to be a writer or an artist of any kind, you must develop callouses of ruthlessness...Let no critic tell you what to do or think or write. And friends and critics are most dangerous when they are flattering..." "If you can avoid marriage you are fortunate because marriage is the antithesis of art. Marriage thrives on the ordinary, the usual, the safe, the conservative. A woman properly tries to stun the creativeness out of a husband because it is dangerous both to her and to the marriage. Don't avoid women. Without marriage they bring violence and electricity. I've been married three times, out I suspect, of a kind of laziness. But do believe me -- a woman who pretends to understand the creative is a liar. If she really understands it, she isn't a woman. And never under any circumstances expect kindness from a woman. Love, yes, but never kindness...Do you have the feeling of hurry? I've always had it -- a race against time. Mine has probably gone on too long but I don't feel through. I am driven still as I was so long ago. It still seems important to me and that is part of the process, I guess...Get your work done. That's what matters most. You have to serve your three million word apprenticeship. There isn't any other way..." In his letter Steinbeck also discusses his daughter's upcoming wedding, mentions Jean Cocteau (he encloses a clipping quoting the French writer), and notes that he will be attending both 1956 political conventions and hopes to see Dennis in San Francisco.
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