Quiet Days in Clichy [Paperback]

Henry Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 1994

This tender and nostalgic work dates from the same period as Tropic of Cancer (1934). It is a celebration of love, art, and the Bohemian life at a time when the world was simpler and slower, and Miller an obscure, penniless young writer in Paris. Whether discussing the early days of his long friendship with Alfred Perles or his escapades at the Club Melody brothel, in Quiet Days in Clichy Miller describes a period that would shape his entire life and oeuvre.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This tender and nostalgic work dates from the same period as Tropic of Cancer (1934). It is a celebration of love, art, and the Bohemian life at a time when the world was simpler and slower, and Miller an obscure, penniless young writer in Paris. Whether discussing the early days of his long friendship with Alfred Perles or his escapades at the Club Melody brothel, in Quiet Days in Clichy Miller describes a period that would shape his entire life and oeuvre.

"There is nothing like Henry Miller when he gets rolling.... One has to take the English language back to Marlowe and Shakespeare before encountering a wealth of imagery equal in intensity.... Nobody has ever written in just this way before, nobody may ever write in this style so well again. A time and a place have come to focus in a writer's voice.... [Miller is] a wildwater of prose, a cataract, a volcano, a torrent, an earthquake...a writer finally like a great athlete, a phenomenon of an avatar of literary energy."--Norman Mailer

"That Henry Miller is a great artist, a great American artist, and perhaps the last one we can be proud of--that he is one of the last of our literary giants who rose up during that marvelous period from 1890 to the 1940s--there is no doubt in my mind."--Maxwell Geismar

"The only imaginative prose writer of the slightest value who has appeared among the English-speaking races for some years past."--George Orwell

"American literature today begins and ends with the meaning of what Miller has done."--Lawrence Durrell

Henry Miller was born in December 1891 in New York City. He spent most of his life in Brooklyn, Paris, and Big Sur, California, where he died in June 1980. Widely acknowledged as one of the most influential writers in American literature, he gained fame with Tropic of Cancer, which was banned in the United States until 1961. His other works include Tropic of Capricorn, Black Spring, Under the Roofs of Paris, the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy (Sexus, Plexus, and Nexus), and Crazy Cock.

Product Details

• Paperback: 154 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (January 13, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080213016X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802130167
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #767,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

HENRY MILLER (1891-1980) was an American writer and painter infamous for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of "novel" that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is distinctly always about and expressive of the real-life Henry Miller and yet is also fictional. His most characteristic works of this kind are "Tropic of Cancer," "Tropic of Capricorn," and "Black Spring." His books were banned in the United States for their lewd content until 1964 when a court ruling overturned this order, acknowledging Miller's work as literature in what became one of the most celebrated victories of the sexual revolution.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another side of Henry Miller, July 13, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quiet Days in Clichy (Paperback)

I've been a huge Henry Miller fan since I was a teenager in the late 50s, but his infamous and banned books (the Cancer and Capricorn ones) are not my favorites. I far prefer this one, along with The Colossus of Maroussi and Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch.
Quiet Days in Clichy is a memoir, a nostalgic love story of life in Paris before WW II, a celebration of the Bohemian life Miller lived when he was a poor unknown writer. It's wonderful, rollicking, hilarious, and introduces fans to a whole cast of characters who became Miller's lifelong friends, people who influenced his writing and his art forever.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LIvely and Fun!, January 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Quiet Days in Clichy (Paperback)

In Quiet Days, we have a re-written "Paris Days" story which reads smoother and faster (it's also very short) than many of Miller's other novels. It's also hilarious and full of the expected (infective) Miller exhilaration. Parts are deliberately "erotic" and those part (for me) often seem like pandering. Parts almost read like a literary version of Porkies or American Pie. Still, I enjoyed the polished writing and would recommend this short, funny, lively novel to anyone. I also agree with the other reviewer who recommended, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez. These two novels Quiet Days and The Losers' Club are my favorite Amazon picks of the last month.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There was only one real problem - and that was food., January 16, 2005

By 

Shawn M. Matthews "Korea Life Blog Author" (Seoul, Korea) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quiet Days in Clichy (Paperback)

"When I think about this period, when we lived together in Clichy, it seems like a stretch in Paradise. There was only one real problem, and that was food. All other ills were imaginary. I used to tell him so now and then, when he complained about being a slave. He used to say I was an incurable optimist, but it wasn't optimism, it was the deep realisation that, even though the world was busy digging its grave, there was still time to enjoy life, to be merry, carefree, to work or not to work."

This quote was enough to inspire me to quit my awful job and start living my life. Since then I moved overseas myself and I haven't looked back.

Quiet Days in Clichy, amazing as it sounds after reading the book, was written originally in 1940. At that time, Henry Miller was 49 years old. He rewrote it 16 years laters. At 65 years old, Miller, was able to recapture with mastery the magic of his youthful adventures with his hilarious and memorable sidekick, Carl, during the Paris years. Even now, some 60 years later, the book is still as relevant and inspiring as it ever could have been.

For anyone remotely interested in Miller but have been put off by the intense tangent-rambling in the Tropic books, I would suggest picking up this lesser-known edition. It's straightforward, hilarious, and at times shocking, but undoubtedly it will continue to be an inspiration to those who long to live life to the fullest.