Customer Reviews

Always Merry and Bright: The Life of Henry Miller an Unauthorized Biography

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I have been a fan of Henry Miller since the early 1960's, when to read his banned work meant trekking up to the Treasure Room of Columbia University's library and having the book delivered to your carrel, a la the research scene in Citizen Kane. When Jay Martin's bio of Henry was published in 1978 I read it immediately with great pleasure. On Henry's birth centenary in 1991 two more biographies came out, which I read, and I'm writing to say Martin's is the best. Incidentally, in June 2002 while driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles on a little tour, in Big Sur I passed a Henry Miller institute/library, and did a u-turn after a few seconds of realization that this was probably my last chance to pay homage. What a throwback to the '60's (which, btw, I don't think Henry was a fan of.) Anyway, I recommend the pilgrimage for all of Henry's fans.

This was the first major biography of this great writer. Unfortunately, Miller felt it was so poor that he tried to block its publication and it stands as an UNAUTHORIZED biography. Those who are deeply familiar with Miller's later writings already know this. I suffered through it and can understand his point of view: it represents everything that Miller objected to in writing: the dry academic tone, the lifelessness of prose, the net effect of taking the magic out of his extraordinary life and making it sound boring, and paraphrasing the biographical material from Miller's own writings with some additional, mostly non-essential details. I remember how disappointed I was when I was unable to find something as basic as his parent's birth dates.

In short, Miller was indeed important enough to be written about as a major literary figure, but not in such a dry academic tone that appears to completely miss the point of Miller's life: joy, aliveness, creativity and acceptance. I think it's important to illuminate Miller's character without pulling the wings off the butterfly.