Just Shrug It Off

In 1961, Walker Percy published his great Stoic-inspired novel The Moviegoer. Like all classics, the book's success was by no means guaranteed. In fact, it became the subject of one of the strangest controversies in publishing history. You see, even though the novel was brilliant, its publisher, Alfred Knopf, was no fan. He even fired the editor who acquired it and had been so instrumental in shaping it into the masterpiece it became. When it came time to nominate one of his titles for the National Book Awards that year, Knopf submitted The Château by William Maxwell, a now mostly forgotten book. It was only a bit of random luck for Percy that followed—the husband of a woman on the committee happened to have read a review of Percy’s book in the paper, read the book, loved it, gave it to his wife, who gave it to the other committee members a few days before the final decision needed to be made. Out of nowhere, Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer—the first novel of a doctor, not a trained writer—ended up winning the National Book Award. Again, you’d think that Knopf would have been ecstatic. One of his writers won book of the year! But he wasn’t. Even as the book started selling like crazy. He was too jealous. He thought it reflected badly on his judgement that he missed this, that he was obviously wrong. So he began to spread the rumor that the prize had somehow been fixed that year—that the husband (someone Knopf didn’t like) had forced his wife to vote for the book just to show him up. It was an ugly mess for everyone involved. Everyone, that is, except Walker Percy. Because, like a true Stoic, he just laughed at the whole thing. He accepted the award with gratitude, marvelling at all the good and bad fortune that had occurred beyond his control with this book. And then—as we should do today, whether we’re the recipient of a huge honor or an utterly unfair controversy—he got back to work on his next project. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at DailyStoic.com.

• 0:28Speaker 00

  Just shrug it off. In 1961, Walker Percy published his great Stoic-inspired novel, The Moviegoer. Like all classics, the book's success was by no means guaranteed. In fact, it became the subject of one of the strangest controversies in publishing history. You see, even though the novel was brilliant, its publisher, Alfred Knopf, was no fan. He even fired the editor who acquired it and had been so instrumental in shaping it into the masterpiece it became. When it came time to nominate one of his titles for the National Book Awards that year, Knopf submitted The Chateau by William Maxwell, a now mostly-forgotten book. It was only a bit of random luck for Percy that

• 1:10Speaker 00

  followed. The husband of a woman on the committee happened to have read a review of Percy's book in the paper, read the book, loved it, gave it to his wife, who gave it to the other committee members a few days before the final decision needed to be made. Out of nowhere, Walker Percy's The Moviegoer, the first novel of a doctor, not a trained writer, ended up winning the National Book Award. Again, you'd think that Knopf would have been ecstatic. One of his writers won the Book of the Year, but he wasn't. Even as the book started selling like crazy, he was too jealous. He thought it reflected badly on his judgment that he missed this, that he was so obviously wrong. So he began to spread the rumor that the prize had been somehow fixed that year, that the husband,

• 1:54Speaker 00

  someone Knomf didn't like, had forced his wife to vote for the book just to show him up. It was an ugly mess for everyone involved. Everyone, that is, except Walker Percy, because, like a true Stoic, he just laughed at the whole thing. He accepted the award with gratitude, marveling at all the good and bad fortune that occurred beyond his control with the book. And then, as we should do today, whether we're the recipient of a huge honor or an utterly unfair controversy, he got back to work on his next project.

• 2:27Speaker 00

  If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com/email.