Anais: The Erotic Life of Anais Nin [Hardcover]

Noel Riley Fitch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1993

Anais Nin (1903-1977) was the ultimate femme fatale, world-famous for her sexual exploits, most notably her simultaneous affairs with Henry and June Miller and her bigamous marriages. In the 1920s she fell in love with the creative circles of the Parisian Left Bank. She lived her long life as a liberated woman - author of 11 books of fiction and erotica, uninhibited lover of men and women, and independent figure within the avant-garde worlds of Paris, Los Angeles and London. This biography offers a portrait of her passionate, tumultuous, sometimes bitterly painful life. Setting out to demystify the image that she artfully crafted in her diary, it reveals that behind the coquetry was the desperate yearning of an abused and abandoned girl-child, and a life-long insecurity that resulted in an incestuous reunion with her father when she was 30. The author also wrote "Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties".

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anais Nin (1903-1977) projected the image of a free woman designing her own life and world into something beautiful, but the multiple selves of her diaries, in Fitch's estimate, are fictive constructs. Tapping hundreds of interviews, library archives and Nin's unpublished erotica and fiction, Fitch ( Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation ) convincingly portrays Nin as a complex, neurotic artist, alienated from her own anger and pain, who worked out her neuroses through her art. She traces the psychological damage inflicted by Nin's father, who photographed her nude, beat her and seduced her in childhood, then seduced her again in 1933. Fitch ably reconstructs Nin's simultaneous romantic involvement with Henry and June Miller in Paris, and her bicoastal, bigamous life divided between Hugh Guiler in New York and Rupert Pole in California. Written in the present tense, a risky device that wears thin, and occasionally marred by rose-tinted Nin-like prose, this remarkably intimate, hypnotic, probing portrait nevertheless helps explain the charismatic power and abiding appeal of Nin. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When Nin's diaries began appearing in the mid-Sixties, their popularity earned her a bigger audience than she had ever had. The question that always teased readers of the Franco-American novelist was whether and how her fiction depended on her life experiences. It is now generally acknowledged that her novels are pallid reflections of her own journey, detailed here by Fitch, author of Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation ( LJ 8/83) as well as literary guides to Paris. Fitch presents more than a sensational biography of a sensual woman, also depicting a tumultuous and harrowing life. From her early life, Nin suffered acutely, first after her father deserted the family, then during years of solitude and loneliness. As Fitch shows, her struggle to achieve as a woman and artist was arduous. Recommended for large collections and as a companion to Nin's diaries where they are popular.
- Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316284289
• ISBN-13: 978-0316284288
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #782,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She created her own life unhampered by truth, July 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Anais: The Erotic Life of Anais Nin (Paperback)

A scholarly biography need not be boring, and one written of the life of Anais Nin cannot be. Fitch's work is creditably balanced in an attempt to sort fact from fiction in Nin's writings. Though some considered her a pathological liar, Nin considered herself simply the creator of her own life. Her Diaries, the most widely known of her writings, suffered, some believe, from her extensive editing. Though Nin claimed the editing was for the purpose of protecting the many players in her life, there is evidence that much of it was simply so that she could be remembered as she wished to be. Sculptor Isamu Noguchi was among her New York circle, and legendary writer Henry Miller was her lover in youth and dear friend in age. These were only two among perhaps hundreds of important figures of her time in literature, art, and psychotherapy, whom she counted as friends and acquaintances and who give a broad appeal to a study of her life. Artists, writers, and those in the various ! fields of psychology and psychiatry can be informed by the way she lived her life and the people she drew into it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly Delicious, September 15, 2002

By 

K. "bookkitten" (CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anais: The Erotic Life of Anais Nin (Paperback)

This book is a thoroughly delicious read for the Nin fan. Noel Riley Fitch's fine scholarship, deft analysis, and solid writing make vivid what is surely one of the most fascinating lives of the 20th century. As the title indicates, this books focuses on Nin's love/sex life, but it uses all available diaries and fictional works to piece together what can sometimes be a real puzzle. And, unlike the biography by Deirdre Bair, Ms. Fitch has an obvious affection, admiration, and appreciation for Nin which does not compromise the objectivity of her analysis.

The one possible problem in Fitch's analysis is that she makes the presumption that Nin was physically violated by her father. There is no doubt whatsoever that Nin was emotionally abused by the man, but Fitch is the first to suggest actual sexual molestation. Though she makes an excellent case for this possibility, her daring thesis caused a bit of an uproar amongst Nin's family and close friends who believe Fitch played fast and loose with the facts. I can understand their concern; it is a serious thing to accuse someone of such a crime. Still, Fitch's argument is so compelling that I don't believe it can be easily overlooked.

For anyone interested in understanding Anais Nin, this book posits a provocative theory while also pulling together the facts of her life.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Biographer Dislikes her Subject; the reader suffers almost as much as Nin's reputation, March 28, 2006

By 

Zelda (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anais: The Erotic Life of Anais Nin (Paperback)

I've read several biographies of 20th century female writers, and this was the worst.

This was a frustrating read because the biographer seemed to dislike Nin, and I felt that Fitch somehow blamed her poor biographical work on Nin's so-called "double life." Fitch reacts to Nin's life as if it were far more pathological and complicated than any other artist a biographer ever had to deal with.

Fitch's telling of events is confusing. The story goes back and forth between decades, enemies, versions of what may or may not be truth- it's a mess. It goes on for pages mentioning this lover and that lover, and then there's little more than a tiny paragraph about a major career step Nin achieves, but little, if any credit, is given to Nin for her work and effort. Fitch never misses an opportunity to explain why Nin was not talented, not a true artist, not a good wife, not a true Parisian, not a true American, not a good daughter, and just does not deserve to be known, appreciated, published or even remotely liked.

The only redeeming point that Fitch can be proud of is sort of investigating a possibly incestuous relationship Nin experienced with her father. Even this uncovering is a half-baked attempt at taking a feminist point of view about sexual abuse and female artists and popularizing it into something salacious and one dimensional. Fitch's inclusion of this relatively new information about Nin is a transparent attempt at making this biography seem scholarly. Biographers who have delved into the lives of Anne Sexton, and other writers who may have been sexually abused should be offended by Fitch's treatment of this information.

Despite the fact that Nin helped and nurtured many artists, this book is full of catty swipes from several of those people. Robert de Niro's mother (a student who typed for Nin), for example, may well have meant her comments to be neutral, but hers and several others comments read as a mid-20th century, Greenwich Village, literary scene "Mean Girls." Gore Vidal is often quoted, without any mention to the fact that Nin helped his early career or even the slightest admission by the biographer that Vidal himself is one of the tallest tale-tellers and self-aggrandizers in American literature. Vidal's agenda was never noted. Fitch does not seem to try to balance them out with a different point of view or interpretation for the reader to try and understand why or what would make some so hateful of Nin. If you read this book, it seems you must blindly accept that Nin had overwhelmingly bad traits, and few, if any, good, or even neutral ones.

I learned nothing about Nin's true philosophy and ideas. Nin's explanations are even filtered through comments and actions by those who clearly dislike her.

What Fitch cannot account for is why Nin became so popular and beloved, yet the biographer does admit Nin had a following. There is no social context, no cultural context, nor objectivity to this biography.

This badly researched and poorly written bio left me with one thought: I must try to find a good, objective biography about Anais Nin.