There is no doubt that when Henry Miller walked into Anais Nin’s life, he became a lightning rod for many of the thoughts, desires and previously hidden ambitions that had been quietly percolating beneath the surface of her life. Miller through his own presence, and the introduction of his wife June, would open the door which would allow Nin to give full reign to her inner core on both a creative and an erotic level. Nin’s writing is beautiful, lyrical and seductive. One can also watch it change as Henry enters her life and their affair commences – her writing metamorphoses from a pure romantic quality, to embracing elements of Miller’s own fiery language and idiom. Her gift for introspection and imagination knows no bounds. She is a deep romantic at heart, and the reader plays witness to her erotic evolution as she transforms from the wife of a banker, to a seductress who is in love with three people at once.
In some sections of the book, it is almost as if Nin is conducting an experiment, where she has sat down and taken a drug, and is now documenting the effect of it on her mind and body. That drug of course is Henry Miller. She almost stands aside from herself and observes, making notes on what is occurring. The coming upon her of lust, multiple partners, the ability to have sex without love, the physical sensations she is feeling. The writer is observing the emergence of the erotic hedonist. Nin knows she has become an experience junkie, and that it is only her elaborate web of lies which prevent all of the worlds she is inhabiting from colliding. Nin had a multiplicity of needs and desires, which no one man could never fulfil. She recognised this, but still struggled with the amorality of her actions, even if she rationalised it as logical behaviour for a writer seeking new experiences.
The key to remember about “Henry and June”, is that it is not a novel which Nin sat down and wrote. It is a book which consists of edited extracts from her diary published posthumously. So whilst its contents are undoubtedly “Anais Nin”, the construction of it belongs to an editor. Still the contents of the writing shines through. The language and imagery is beautiful, and Nin succeeds in drawing the reader into her world. It is also full of genuinely human complications and contradictions. Nin admits, that she “embellishes”, so it is difficult to know where truth dissolves and imagination ascends. But then, at the end of the day does it matter if it is more a work of fiction, rather than a novel based on fact? The reality probably falls midway between journal and fiction. What is clear, is that once Henry Miller enters her life, she is never the same again, and she sets out exploring the world, erotic and otherwise, in terms of new experiences.
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Disturbing and liberating authenticity
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I expected better.
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