"The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true"
About this Quote
Steinbeck is smuggling a small, ruthless truth about art into what sounds like encouragement: the writer’s engine is not pure inspiration but disciplined self-deception. The line hinges on “must” and “illusion,” words that refuse romantic fog. Writing, for Steinbeck, isn’t a pastime waiting to be validated by success; it’s an act that demands total seriousness even while the author retains the adult knowledge that the world will keep spinning, indifferent.
The subtext is about survival. To sit alone and arrange sentences while history, labor, hunger, and war churn outside the window takes a kind of arrogance. Steinbeck doesn’t condemn that arrogance; he prescribes it. The “illusion” is a protective fiction that converts doubt into stamina. You can’t draft a novel on the fuel of “maybe this matters.” You need the private, slightly absurd conviction that it matters more than laundry, more than errands, more than other people’s urgency. Then you need enough clarity to recognize that conviction as a tool, not a metaphysical claim.
Context matters: Steinbeck wrote in an era when the “writer” was often asked to be a witness and a conscience, yet he also understood the sheer craft grind behind the myth. This sentence splits the difference. It gives permission to be grandiose at your desk and modest in your worldview. The wit is dry, almost Protestant: believe with fanatical intensity, but don’t confuse that intensity with truth. That’s how you get the work done without becoming insufferable about it.
The subtext is about survival. To sit alone and arrange sentences while history, labor, hunger, and war churn outside the window takes a kind of arrogance. Steinbeck doesn’t condemn that arrogance; he prescribes it. The “illusion” is a protective fiction that converts doubt into stamina. You can’t draft a novel on the fuel of “maybe this matters.” You need the private, slightly absurd conviction that it matters more than laundry, more than errands, more than other people’s urgency. Then you need enough clarity to recognize that conviction as a tool, not a metaphysical claim.
Context matters: Steinbeck wrote in an era when the “writer” was often asked to be a witness and a conscience, yet he also understood the sheer craft grind behind the myth. This sentence splits the difference. It gives permission to be grandiose at your desk and modest in your worldview. The wit is dry, almost Protestant: believe with fanatical intensity, but don’t confuse that intensity with truth. That’s how you get the work done without becoming insufferable about it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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