Last night I was feeling a little lonely after work and wanted to read and throw myself into someone else’s story. I had finished reading Pat Conroy’s The Lords of Discipline the day before and wanted to read something else by him. Before I read anything of his I had this prejudice against his books as being tacky or something, but then I read The Great Santini and then The Lords of Discipline, which both really spoke to me. During certain parts of the book I was really struck by feelings and experiences that were familiar to me. I felt like it was the kind of book I could have written in an alternate universe of my life, and it made me really want to write and express myself in the same way to other readers.
So, I went to the Half-Price books on Lamar looking for his other books. I found a copy of The Prince of Tides and Beach Music which I sheepishly bought. I also purchased a copy of Napoleon Hill’s Grow Rich! : With Peace of Mind. I am interested in “success literature”, and Napoleon Hill is a pioneer of this peculiarly American form. I think it would be nice to write a book about the genre.
When I cracked the book open for the first time, I noticed a chapter titled: “How to Transmute Sex Emotion Into Achievement Power” which has peaked my curiosity by virtue of its absurb seriousness. There are a lot of ideas common to success literature: noticing and seizing opportunities, acting in the moment, setting goals, and taking responsibility for your situation. The ideas and lessons put forth by success literature are dynamic and purposefully simplistic. Many times, the authors will refer to their ideas as “practical philosophy”. The idea being that these are self-evident laws of success that you can absorb, and if you fully grasp the significance of the lessons and apply them to your situation you are guaranteed to become more successful. I think there is a lot to study there, and a lot that is seductive and compelling especially because of the magnitude of its popularity. It is also interesting in its total contrast to most other types of literature due to its rather short shelf-life and target audience.
Napoleon Hill quotations:
- First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.
- Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.
- All great truths are simple in final analysis, and easily understood; if they are not, they are not great truths.
- Do not wait; the time will never be “just right.” Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
I saw the movie of “The Great Santini” once. That guy reminded me of my father, only my father was never that lovable.