Fire: the Unexpurgated Diary, 1934-37 Pb [Paperback]

Anais Nin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 13, 1997

In this “erotically charged”(Publishers Weekly) diary that picks up where Incest left off, Nin chronicles a restless search for fulfillment that leads her to New York City-”that brilliant giant toy” -then back to Paris and Henry, and eventually into the arms of a passionate new lover.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As this gushing, erotically charged journal opens in late 1934, Nin, having left France for New York, records her complex love life with her adoring husband, American banker Hugh Guiler; her psychoanalyst, Otto Rank, whom she seduced; and writer Henry Miller, whose muse and disciple she had been during their affair in Paris. Bored and sexually unfulfilled with Guiler, Nin returns to Paris with Miller in 1935, and this diary, which extends to 1937, finds her again divided in her passions between Miller and another lover, Gonzalo More, a Peruvian communist. She describes other affairs as well, including the incestuous relationship with her father, a Spanish pianist. Although Nin (1903-1977) portrays herself as overflowing with love and maternal tenderness, one is left with the impression of overwhelming narcissism and confusion. Fans will find her mercurial prose intoxicating, in a self-portrait as distorted and self-serving as Henry and June (1986) and Incest (1992). Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Less shocking than Incest (1992), the third volume of Nin's provocative and provoking uncensored diaries finds our madly scribbling femme fatale in New York, where she's gone to get away from her doggedly loyal husband and from adored lover Henry Miller and indulge her fancy for analyst Otto Rank. Once again, Nin is blithely honest about her profound dishonesty, admitting that she loves telling "marvelous lies" to the men who desire her. She tires of Rank just as Miller and her husband catch up with her, then, suddenly, enters a whole new realm of potent romance with a fiery man of Inca descent, Gonzalo More. More, a man of conscience and lyrical intensity, inspires Nin to new poetic and mystical heights. These unexpurgated volumes are of particular interest to readers of the original published versions because they fill in so many puzzling omissions, but they are also remarkable for their audacity and prolificity. Just one page of Nin's extraordinary diaries contains more sex, melodrama, fantasies, confessions, and observations than most novels, and reflects much about the human psyche we strive to repress. Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: P Owen (February 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0720609933
• ISBN-13: 978-0720609936
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,599,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) was born in Paris and aspired at an early age to be a writer. An influential artist and thinker, she wrote primarily fiction until 1964, when her last novel, Collages, was published. She wrote The House of Incest, a prose-poem (1936), three novellas collected in The Winter of Artifice (1939), short stories collected in Under a Glass Bell (1944), and a five-volume continuous novel consisting of Ladders to Fire (1946), Children of the Albatross (1947), The Four-Chambered Heart (1950), A Spy in the House of Love (1954), and Seduction of the Minotaur (1961). These novels were collected as Cities of the Interior (1974). She gained commercial and critical success with the publication of the first volume of her diary (1966); to date, fifteen diary volumes have been published. Her most commercially successful books were her erotica published as Delta of Venus (1977) and Little Birds (1979). Today, her books are appearing digitally.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ANAIS NIN BRAVERY SHE FREELY WROTE ABOUT EROTICISM, February 28, 2000

By 

"derisorluscus" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fire: From "A Journal of Love" The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1934-1937 (Paperback)

As follower of Anais' Diaries (expurgated or not) and her novels I would like to express my admiration and my curiosity for her amazing literature and her rare personality, motivated again by "Fire". I believe that Anais was able to enjoy sex simultaneously with several men, each one of them however, playing an appropriate , no transferable, role: Hugh (husband),Joaquin Nin (father-lover),Eduardo Sanchez (cousin-brother), Henry Miller (friend-lover), Gonzalo More (lover-friend) and others. Occidental society usually attribute this promiscuous behavior only to men.As Anais shows, this may happen also among ladies, perhaps more often than accepted . Indeed, these "faults" may be heavily damned and punished by society when perpetrated by ladies. Probably Anais was the first woman , brave and courageous enough , to describe her own experiences and feelings about eroticism and sensuality written from a female point of view. Actually, looking at her inner mirror she describes herself with delicacy , ever avoiding disgusting pornography. I believe that Anais spent her life searching a Big One Love . As a result she found many "Love" and many Lovers . The sum of them never reached totality. Her Love was her fantasy and her invention, hence endless and inaccessible. On the other hand, in this and other books Anais masterly present unknown, almost domestic features and characteristic of the personality of several men and ladies who were outstanding representatives in art, literature, theatre, politics as Neruda, Alberti, Dali, Allendy, Rank, Gore and others.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring the Inner Bad Girl, September 8, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: Fire: From "A Journal of Love" The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1934-1937 (Paperback)

Anais Nin was raised a devout Catholic and to earn her family's love she was expected to be demure, self-sacrificing, hard-working, and chaste. When her father abandoned the family she assumed, as children sometimes do, that he had left because she wasn't "good" enough. She played the role of "good girl" for twenty years in response. Then all hell broke loose.

What I believe is different about FIRE is that it reveals Anais's explorations and experiementation with her inner "bad girl" in a way that she had only just begun in HENRY AND JUNE and INCEST. In it she is still married to Hugh and involved with Henry Miller, but in FIRE she has a relationship with the famous analyst Otto Rank that takes some treacherous twists and turns. Her writing is as wonderful as ever. For the Nin fan, this diary is yet another must-read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still poetry in human form, May 14, 2007

By 

Katharine Coldiron (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire: From "A Journal of Love" The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1934-1937 (Paperback)

This book is not as compelling as "Incest", but it's still Anais: still burning, still feeling, still wholly human, with all flaws and wishy-washiness included. But again, I warn away people who may not be down with heavily sexual content. If you are, though...