I moved my Wednesday post to Thursday for this week due to the election. I wanted the results (of which I don't know at this time) to be able to sink in without much or any comments coming from us at HTH. I will say that today's excerpts from Steinbeck's, Journal of a Novel, seem very applicable to our current state of affairs.This shouldn't surprise me, but it always seems to. Truth when spoken clearly is timeless. Or better put by our favorite Miss O'Connor, “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” I hope that you, the loyal reader, are enjoying these excerpts and that they are helping you in either your writing life or in your thoughts. I know I am still gleaning so much from them. Well, without further adieu , let us delve back into Mr. Steinbeck.
"Reflection is no bad thing although I must say in this time it is not a popular pastime." pg. 60
"If a man has too pat a style, his reader can after a little time keep ahead of him. I mean the reader will know what is coming by how it is done." pg. 62
"I did not get far from the book. I have thought of little else. It's strange how one can become so obsessed that there is always the double thing--the book and whatever else is going on and both running parallel. I guess it has to be that way." pg. 64-65
"Since you told me what the girl said about wanting to get on with the story and not stop for comment, I have thought a good deal about that. It is going to be one of the most constant criticisms of this book. People are insistent to get on with their lives too and not to think about them." pg. 65
(This next one is long. Take the time to read it. Maybe even read it twice.)
"You have said and Harold has often said that a big book is more important and has more authority than a short book. There are exceptions of course but it is very nearly always true. I have tried to find a reasonable explanation for this and at last have come up with my theory, to wit: The human mind, particularly in the present, is troubled and fogged and bee-stung with a thousand little details from taxes to war worry to the price of meat. All these usually get together and result in a man's fighting with his wife because that is the easiest channel of relief from inner unrest. Now--we must think of a book as a wedge driven into a man's personal life. A short book would be in and out quickly. And it is possible for such a wedge to open the mind and do its work before it is withdrawn leaving quivering nerves and cut tissue. A long book, on the other hand, drives in very slowly and if only in point of time remains for a while. Instead of cutting and leaving, it allows the mind to rearrange itself to fit around the wedge. Let's carry this analogy a little farther. When the quick wedge is withdrawn, the tendency of the mind is quickly to heal itself exactly as it was before the attack. With the long book perhaps the healing has been warped around the shape of wedge so that when the wedge is finally withdrawn and the book set down, the mind cannot be quite what is was before." pg. 66-67
"I am learning how specialized I am and also that the degree of specialization is also the degree of limitations. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Let me give you an example of what I mean. When I work on a book to this extent and with this concentration, it means that I am living another life." pg. 67
"It has been a good day of work with no harm in it. I have sat long over the desk and the pencil felt good in my hand" pg. 68
"Then I forced the work and it was as false and labored and foolish as anything I have ever seen. I tried to kid myself that it only seemed bad, but it really was bad. So out it goes. and what do you suppose could have caused it? I just don't know." pg. 71
Happy reading and writing,
David
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