#242 | ‘Letters of Note’—This Blog Turned Book Will Be One of the Coolest Additions to Your Bookshelf or Library
Quick SUMMARY:
Douglas Vigliotti delves into the nonfiction anthology "Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience," compiled by Sean Usher. Vigliotti highlights the anthology's significance, featuring letters from writers, artists, and historical figures like Hunter S. Thompson, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Einstein, and Queen Elizabeth. He shares his connection to the book and discusses some of his favorite quotes and passages, underscoring the value of personal letters in providing historical context.
Listen to the episode:
*Subscribe to The Books for Men Newsletter, a monthly round-up of every episode with full book and author info, all the best quotes, and newsletter-only book recommendations!
TOPICS COVERED IN the EPISODE:
Introduction to the Book (00:09) - Douglas introduces the nonfiction anthology "Letters of Note" and its significance.
About the Compiler (01:15) - Discussion about Sean Usher, the compiler of the anthology, and his blog's popularity.
Personal Connection to the Book (02:34) - Douglas shares his reasons for picking up the book, highlighting letters from Hunter S. Thompson and Hemingway.
Genre of the Anthology (03:40) - Exploration of the anthology genre and the value of firsthand accounts in understanding history.
Notable Letters in the Book (04:57) - Overview of various interesting letters included in the anthology, featuring famous figures.
Sharing Passages and Quotes (07:09) - Douglas begins sharing impactful quotes from the letters, starting with Hunter S. Thompson.
Hemingway's Advice to Fitzgerald (08:09) - Discussion of Hemingway's letter and his thoughts on authenticity in writing.
Bukowski on Censorship (09:20) - Insight into Bukowski's views on censorship and the importance of confronting reality.
Flannery O'Connor on Fiction (10:33) - Flannery O'Connor's perspective on the interpretation of fiction and its emotional impact.
Kurt Vonnegut on Free Ideas (11:43) - Vonnegut's quote emphasizing the importance of allowing diverse ideas to circulate in society.
Steinbeck's Letter to His Son (12:50) - Steinbeck's heartfelt advice about young love and the importance of patience.
Rainer Maria Rilke's Writing Advice (12:50) - Rilke's encouragement to delve deep into one's motivations for writing.
Ronald Reagan's Marriage Advice (14:22) - Reagan's reflections on the challenges of maintaining love and attraction in a long-term relationship.
Conclusion and Call to Action (15:28) - Douglas wraps up the episode, encouraging listeners to subscribe and engage with the podcast.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome back to “Books for Men”, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week I have a work of nonfiction to share with you. It is an anthology, so it is a book of letters. It is titled “Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience”. So it's around 380 pages or so, give or take. I think the paperback reads a little bit longer than the hardcover. I have the paperback version. It came out in 2013, and I will share a lot more about this, of course, along with more about the author or the compiler, I should say. Sean Usher, as well as some of my favorite passages and quotes. Before I do any of that, I want to quickly remind you about my new book that is out, “Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on the Art of Story”. If you are interested in learning more about the book, then all you have to do is visit the website AristotleforNovelists.com. All right, so back to the book that I am sharing with you today, “Letters of Note”.
01:15 - So the author, Shaun Usher, he started this popular blog back in 2009 of the same name, and it focused on bringing more attention to significant letters that were written throughout history by famous people, or in some cases, they're written to famous people, or in other instances, they're not written by famous people at all. But they were just interesting and relevant to something major that was happening culturally at the time. It's a pretty niche pocket of the literary community, I would say. But according to its own website, it's a website that has been visited over 100 million times since its inception, which is pretty remarkable. Four years after that, the website was founded in 2009. So, 2013 usher crowdsourced and then ultimately published the first volume of the book with the same title, “Letters of Note”. So I originally came to this book, and the reason why I picked it up was because I wanted this iconic Hunter S Thompson advice letter that he wrote when he was in his early 20s to a friend, and also this Ernest Hemingway advice letter to F Scott Fitzgerald on the book that he wrote following “The Great Gatsby,” “Tender Is the Night”.
02:34 - And I pretty much have everything that was ever written by these two men, so I just wanted to include it naturally. Once I got it, I read the entire thing, and there were just so many great, entertaining letters in there. I knew I had to share this book with you. On that note, this is a good lead-in. To turn more specifically to the book at hand. It's pretty straightforward in what it is as a collection of letters from interesting people about interesting things and time periods and events throughout history. Genre-wise, I believe it's the first anthology that I've ever shared on the podcast, which I thought was sort of interesting to me. The genre itself. So anthologies or letter collections are really an interesting way to learn about history. I personally love first-hand accounts, even if they're flawed because they are anecdotal. There's just something so personal about getting a first-hand opinion on something, and a letter is really just a highlight of that. And in this collection, you will get a full range.
03:40 - So some of the people that you will hear from are Queen Elizabeth writing to Eisenhower, which included her scone recipe. You'll also hear from a nice nin, who was writing to her employer at the time for trying to exploit sexuality in a way that ruins it. And just as an aside, it is one of the most interesting letter collections or anthologies that I've ever read. Is the extremely passionate NC 17 rated letter correspondence of Henry Miller and Anais Nin. It's titled “A Literate Passion”. It's not in this book, of course, but just as a matter of note, some of the other people that you will hear from in this book are a 14-year-old Fidel Castro who is writing to FDR. Of course, no one knew at the time who Fidel Castro would become. You also get the suicide notes of Virginia Woolf and Hunter S Thompson or Patrick Hitler, who is the nephew of Adolf, who actually fought for the US armed forces. Ironically, Raymond Chandler's poem to an editor, Nick Cave, on redacting himself from being included in the MTV Music Awards after he was nominated for artist of the year or something like that.
04:57 - It's a great meditation on artistry. Another interesting one was the love letter written by Katharine Hepburn to Spencer Tracy, 18 years after he died, and on the love letter note, Richard Feynman's love letter to his wife was pretty interesting. Or Dostoyevsky's love letter, I would say, in a form to his brother right after he almost got executed for organizing these groups in which they were reading banned books, believe it or not. So they decided last minute not to execute him. And before he got sent to prison, he wrote this letter that was really interesting. Or Iggy Pop's fan letter. Kurt Vonnegut—you'll hear from him multiple times. You'll also hear from Beethoven about the difficulty of not being able to hear well, that alone is really interesting when you consider the juxtaposition there or Da Vinci's employment request to Ludovico Sforza. This is something that I've covered on this podcast before with the Da Vinci episode. One of my favorites is someone else who has been featured on this podcast, both in name and an entire episode: Charles Bukowski on censorship.
06:04 - And John Steinbeck, someone who I've been wanting to share on the podcast and probably will in the future. His letter to his son about young love was pretty powerful. And of course, there's more on Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and their correspondence with each other. Einstein on religion. Another really interesting letter. Gertrude Stein. She's someone else you will hear from in this book. There are just so many interesting letters. I'm trying to think of the ones that I didn't include, but there are just so many o. The end of the book is Mick Jagger's request letter to Andy Warhol to design what is now the iconic album cover for Sticky Fingers, which of course, is a shot of someone's crotch. So that was pretty interesting. Having said that, I did want to share some passages and quotes with you. You all come from writers, so I chose to consolidate in that fashion. And actually, one at the end. The very last quote is from, of all people, Ronald Reagan. And I think it's a really powerful quote for a lot of men out there.
07:09 - But the first quote that I wanted to share with you actually comes from that iconic Hunter S Thompson letter, and he closes it out when he is talking to his friend with this quote. He writes, “It is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life as you know it. There is more to it than that. No one HAS to do something he doesn't want to do for the rest of his life. But then again, if that's what you wind up doing, by all means, convince yourself you HAD to do it. You'll have lots of company.” And why this letter was so profound and has become so iconic over the years is because he was talking about the power of choices that one has in their life, something that we sort of give up. And what he's really advocating to his friend is that the most powerful thing that you could do in this life is strive to be yourself. So, do not be a fireman. Not be a teacher, not be a writer, not be a doctor.
08:09 - You're striving to be who you are and trying to cultivate your life around that. It's really profound wisdom, especially for someone who was only 21 at the time. The next quote that I wanted to share with you comes from the Hemingway letter, and it's him really railing on Fitzgerald, which is pretty funny, but he has this quote in there where he says, “Scott for god sakes, write and write, truly, no matter who or what it hurts but do not make these silly compromises.” And of course, the whole write truly thing has sort of become the stereotypical cliche way that people talk about Ernest Hemingway. But that's only because he was very insistent about it. In this letter he is speaking a lot about believability and not allowing the external world to dictate what winds up on the page. And this is just a really powerful lesson. The third quote that I wanted to share with you comes from that Bukowski letter on censorship. He writes, “Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others.
09:20 - Their fear is only their inability to face what is real. And I can't vent anger against them. I only feel this appalling sadness somewhere in their upbringing. They were shielded against the total facts of existence. They were only taught to look one way when many ways exist.” And I think this has extreme relevance for the world we're living in today. It's pretty clearly stated, so I won't bastardize it by trying to explain it any further. The fourth quote that I wanted to share with you comes from Flannery O'Connor, which to me was one of the more powerful lessons on art or specifically reading fiction that I've read in a long time, and she's writing a response letter to a teacher, I believe, who wrote a letter to her talking about their interpretation. So they're being all of their students and some of the other teachers, their interpretation of one of her stories. And Flannery O'Connor writes, “The interpretation of your ninety students and three teachers is fantastic, and about as far from my intentions as it could be.”
10:33 - And then she goes on to say, “If teachers are in the habit of approaching a story as if it were a research problem for which any answer is believable, so as long as it's not obvious, then I think students will never learn to enjoy fiction.” And to me, the reason why I love this so much is because it's so easy to forget when you are analyzing a story that the thing that is most obvious in all of the themes and the analysis and the interpretations are all secondhand. Happens way outside of what the artist is actually trying to do. And by overcomplicating or overanalyzing, you miss the bigger point, which is many times just to make you feel something. And she goes on to elaborate that in the absence of feeling something, theory will not be able to replace that. And I think this is just a really powerful lesson and a really powerful letter, one worth reading. All right. So that brings me to quote five, which pairs nicely with the Charles Bukowski quote. And it comes from Kurt Vonnegut.
11:43 - He writes, “If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.” Again, I wanted to share this because I think it's important, given the times. Quote number six comes from John Steinbeck, and it's a little bit more emotional. Again, he was writing to his 11-year-old son at the time about young love, and he closes the letter with a really powerful quote. He says, “And don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—the main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.” How could you not love that quote? Number seven comes from and I'm probably going to butcher his name because I've never said it out loud, Rainer Maria Rilke. And he, of course, is a poet. And he was writing to another young poet who was asking for advice. He writes, “You are looking outward, and that above all, you should not do now. Nobody can counsel and help you, nobody.
12:50 - Search for the reason that bids you to write. Find out whether it is spreading out of its roots in the deepest places of your heart. Acknowledge to yourself whether you would have to die if it were denied you write. This above all. Ask yourself in the stiffest hour of your night, must I write? Delve into yourself for a deep answer. And if it should be affirmative. If you may meet this earnest question. With a strong and simple. I must then build your life according to this necessity. Your life, even into its most indifferent and slightest hour, must be a sign of this urge and a testimony to it.” I think most people might find this to be a little extreme, but I think it's worth asking yourself with anything that you are passionate about, if you must do it, if you have to do it, and if that is the case, then I think it is worthy advice. And so the final quote comes from, as I mentioned earlier, Ronald Reagan, he was writing to his son, who was getting married at the time, and he writes, “…let me tell you how really great is the challenge of proving your masculinity and charm with one woman for the rest of your life.
14:22 - Any man can find a twerp here and there who will go along with cheating, and it doesn't take all that much manhood. It does take quite a man to remain attractive and to be loved by a woman who has heard him snore, seen him unshaven, tended him while he was sick, and washed his dirty underwear. Do that and keep her still feeling a warm glow, and you will know some very beautiful music.” On that note, I think it's a good time for me to wrap this up. I think you understand quite clearly what you can expect in this book. If for nothing else, I think it's a good addition to your bookshelf, so consider picking it up. Of course, if you enjoyed this podcast or the podcast more broadly, please click subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on. It goes a long way in helping more people find the show and, in return, inspiring more men to read. If you want to tell me what you thought about this episode or the podcast more broadly, then you can reach out to me in two ways, either on Instagram @DouglasVigliotti.
15:28 - It's the only social media that I have or via my website, DouglasVigliotti.com. As I mentioned at the top of this episode, I do have a new book out called “Aristotle for Novelists,” and you can find out more information about that at AristotleforNovelists.com. All of these links will be in the show notes. And last but not least, I wanted to thank you so much for listening. And if you want more information on this podcast specifically, which includes signing up for the monthly newsletter, then all you have to do is visit the website BooksforMen.org.
