The One Thing You Must Avoid

Imagine this. You’ve worked for years on this novel—one that is indisputably the best thing you’ve ever done. You manage to get a publisher to buy it. You start to get rave reviews. You sell out your first printing. Then suddenly, all the momentum evaporates. You talk to the clerk at a bookstore and he tells you the publisher has just stopped resupplying them. Within months, what should have been a beloved bestseller, slips into obscurity. Why? Well, according to your editor it’s because they’ve been sued by Hitler over the rights to Mein Kampf...and a US Federal Court sided with the Nazis. And that is basically the end of your career as an author—at least it was for John Fante. You can read the full story, which Ryan wrote in an original piece for Medium, but one would expect this would make a person pretty bitter and angry right? Not Fante.“I think the one thing that a writer must avoid is bitterness,” John Fante told the writer Ben Pleasants in an interview in 1979. “I think it’s the one fault that can destroy him. It can shrivel him up… I’ve fought it all my life.” His son, many years later, would reflect on how his father dealt with this incredibly unlucky and ill-timed setback. I’m not naive enough to think good work always wins out in the end. There are plenty of painters who died in Auschwitz. I don’t necessarily think there is justice in the world, it’s that he had the strength of character not to let it break him. No one would say John Fante was Stoic. He was often egotistical and vain and could hardly be called self-disciplined. But John Fante did respond to that those strokes of misfortune in his life with a poise that Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus couldn’t have helped but admired. It’s a good lesson for the rest of us: We can work really really hard on something. We can do everything right and more. And we can still get royally screwed. But we have to resist the temptation to see things that way, we can’t nurse a sense of aggrievement or bitterness. Because it will shrivel us up. That is what will break us. Besides, as you’ll see in the Fante story, his bad luck was, many decades later, compensated for with almost unimaginably good luck. Which is just how life goes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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  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.

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  The One Thing You Must Avoid. Imagine this: You've worked for years on this novel, one that is indisputably the best thing you've ever done. You manage to get a publisher to buy it. You start to get rave reviews. You sell out your first printing. Then, suddenly, all the momentum evaporates. You talk to the clerk at a bookstore, and he tells you the publisher has just stopped resupplying them. Within months, what should have been a beloved bestseller slips into obscurity. Well, why? According to your editor, it's because they've been sued by Hitler over the rights to Mein Kampf, and a US federal court has sided with the Nazis. And that

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  is basically the end of your career as an author, or at least it was for John Fonte. You can read the full story, which Ryan wrote in an original piece for Medium. You can just look up Medium, Ryan Holiday, and you'll see it there. I believe the title is "How Hitler Nearly Destroyed the Great American Novel." The point is, one would expect that the person that this happened to would become pretty bitter and angry, but not John Fonte. "I think the one thing that a writer must avoid is bitterness," he told the writer Ben Pleasants in an interview in 1979. "I think it's the one fault that can destroy him. It can shrivel him up. I fought it all my life." His son,

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  many years later, would reflect on his father's unlucky break. "I'm not naive enough to think that good work always wins out in the end," he said. "There are plenty of painters who died in Auschwitz. I don't necessarily believe there is justice in the world. It's that he had the strength of character." Not to let it break him. No one would say that John Fonte was Stoic. He was often egotistical and vain and could hardly be called self-disciplined. But John Fonte did respond to those strokes of misfortune in his life with a poise that Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus couldn't have helped but admire. It's a good lesson for the rest of us, too. We can work really hard on something. We can do everything right and more, and we can still get royally screwed.

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  But we have to resist the temptation to see things that way. We can't nurse a sense of aggrievement or bitterness because it will shrivel us up. That is what will break us. Besides, as you'll see in the Fonte story, which I hope you read, his bad luck was, many decades later, compensated for with almost unimaginably good luck, which is just how life goes. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. And if you don't get the Daily Stoic email, go to dailystoic.com/email.