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Henry Miller

Henry Miller on Writing (New Directions Paperbook) Paperback – January 17, 1964

by Henry Miller (Author)

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“A brilliant selection . . . it is in short a voyage of discovery, an adventure and this the log of that voyage in the life of a probing and powerful writer.” ―Robert R. Kirsch, Los Angeles Times

Some of the most rewarding pages in Henry Miller's books concern his self-education as a writer. He tells, as few great writers ever have, how he set his goals, how he discovered the excitement of using words, how the books he read influenced him, and how he learned to draw on his own experience.

Print length

217 pages
Language

English
Publisher

New Directions
Publication date

January 17, 1964
Dimensions

5.2 x 0.7 x 8.1 inches
ISBN-10

0811201120
ISBN-13

978-0811201124
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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Some of the most rewarding pages in Henry Miller's books concern his self-education as a writer. He tells, as few great writers ever have, how he set his goals, how he discovered the excitement of using words, how the books he read influenced him, and how he learned to draw on his own experience.

About the Author

Henry Miller (1891―1980) was one of the most controversial American novelists during his lifetime. His book, The Tropic of Cancer, was banned in the some U.S. states before being overruled by the Supreme Court. New Directions publishes several of his books.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Directions; 18TH edition (January 17, 1964)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 217 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0811201120
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0811201124
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.7 x 8.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #493,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #884 in Authorship Reference
- #1,351 in American Literature Criticism
- #3,504 in Literary Criticism & Theory

Customer Reviews:
75 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		76%
4 star		10%
3 star		10%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Morgan Owain Morgan-Jones

Write, not in order to convey something, but because you have something to convey.

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2020

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I read 'Henry Miller on Writing' as a writer, also multi-lingual and cultural, also in self-determined exile from the States No-Longer-United.

It is through the filters of several other languages and cultures, as Henry Miller, that I found my voice as a writer. Having escaped the tyrannical constraints of American society, puritanical in its Judeo-Christian ascendency – an assumed predominance that homogenizes and thus denies all the benefits of its original diversity – my voice, without the faintest apology, the scantest equivocation, the slightest supplication, again, as that of Henry Miller, courageously speaks aloud from its own heart.

Regarding profanity, obscenity, and all other liberties defying – in outrage – the painful imbecility, the sycophantic delusion, the moralistic repression of mass indoctrination and mass hysteria, again, like Henry Miller, my literary comrade-in-arms, I affirm, 'Rave on!'

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Charity

Any Praise I Give Here is Understated - This Book Rocks!!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2008

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I absolutely love, love, love, love, love, love, love this book! I agree with the person who said you don't have to be a writer to enjoy this book. I am a writer still "finding myself" in mid-50s and this book is absolutely MAGICAL to me. In the most atheistic and blissful sense of the word. I first got a hardback (New Directons Paperbook) copy at the local library. Then I had to renew it. And now I have had to order a copy for myself because I want to LIVE with this book -- touch it, read it, hold it, carry it, cherish it. Is it that good? Yes, it is that good. It is so good as a matter of fact I just spent all of next week's grocery money to get a copy in hardback. I feel as if I just bought a Ming vase or a rare coin collection. I cannot explain. Here is one of many awesome quotes in the book:

"By being crazy is understood losing one's reason. Reason, but not the truth, for there are madmen who speak truths while others keep silent,"

and

"'Je ne parle pas logique', said Montherlant, 'je parle générosité', I don't think you heard it very well, since it was in French. I'll repeat it for you, in the Queen's own language: 'I'm not talking logic, I'm talking generosity'. That's bad English, as the Queen herself might speak it, but it's clear. Generosity -- do you hear? You never practice it, any of you, either in peace or in war. You don't know the meaning of the word. You think to supply guns and ammunition to the winning side is generosity; you think sending Red Cross nurses to the front, or the Salvation Army, is generosity. You think a bonus twenty years too late is generosity; you think a little pension and a wheel-chair is generosity; you think if you give a man his old job back it's generosity. You don't know what the f**king word means, you bastards! To be generous is to say Yes before the man opens his mouth,"

and

"Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heart-ache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths."

28 people found this helpful

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Victoria

"Not to be missed..."

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2014

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A brilliant, fearless, writer of unique talent. I've long been a fan--his "semi"misogyny not withstanding--but had never read this book. If you are or aspire to be...a writer...then this one is not to be missed. Henry was a true Artist in every sense of the word; his depth and (self)honesty drew him into an unsuppressed and authentic being-ness...such that he came to a significant degree of true Self-Realization. Enjoy!

6 people found this helpful

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Rock Hound

SOLID MILLERESQUE BOOK ON HOW TO WRITE

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2014

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Of course, there is a lot of wit, humor, and flashes of insight [although oblique, since it's Miller!] as to (1) what makes a good writer and (2) what's called for to produce good written stories. "Good" in the sense of conveying characterizations and storyline in a way that moves the plot along from start to a logical ending.
A really good idea might be to order "Hemingway on Writing" as a clearer and more direct guide as to ideas of how to write stories and novels that are both real "page-turners" and "artistic."
I like to reading 7 or 8 pages of Hemingway 1st, then do the same for Miller.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

kat

inspired excellence

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2018

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I'm not actually a fan of Henry Miller's novels but this book is a fabulous and inspiring read. It encourages you to use your own voice and stop listening to the advice of others. He has some priceless advice for any new ore or struggling writer looking to find what makes them unique.

One person found this helpful

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peter

Great value

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2018

Verified Purchase

Thank you. The book was in excellent condition.

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

I have not finished reading this book yet. But already learned a lot. I enjoy reading it, as I do with practically any book by Henry Miller.

Helpful

Kindle Customer

Miller is always a good read

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2014

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There is nothing that henry miller writes that is not amazing. He was an amazing man who broke through standard convention. His advise on books, writing life, whatever are always a joy to read.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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Kristopher Cook

A great addition to any Henry Miller Fan's collection

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2018

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A great addition to any Henry Miller Fan's collection.

Offering a deeper insight into the mind of (in my opinion) one of the great figureheads of classic literature.

Each chapter offers essays, articles and opinion from Mr. Miller himself, as well as analysis on a few of his selected works. It's also a good read for anybody looking to get into writing as he (Henry) offers up his suggestions on sticking to a writing schedule and creating deadlines for the work you're undertaking.

Overall an interesting look into the mysterious, and sometimes far-fetched mind, of Henry Miller.

One person found this helpful

Shane K. Joseph

A Saint, Sinner, or Great Writer?

Reviewed in Canada on February 22, 2021

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Miller continues to defy the conventions of “literary writer.” He is easier to cast into the slag heap of pornography for his “Tropic” books and the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, but in reading this collection of extracts from his various works, including those two vilified collections, one begins to wonder whether a prophet lurks within. His erudition and insights are deep, there is no obscenity in this book, and he calls into question what we take to be traditional literature.

Miller had a late but tortuous start in writing. In his words: “I wrote for seven years in America without once having a manuscript accepted. I thought that a man, to be a writer, must do at least five thousand words a day. I thought he must say everything all at once—in one book—and collapse afterwards. I didn’t know a thing about writing As a foreigner in Paris, without friends, I went through an even worse ordeal. The naive English critics, in their polite, asinine way, talk about the “hero” of my book (Tropic of Cancer) as though he were a character I had invented. I made it as plain as could be that I was talking in that book about myself. I used my own name throughout. I didn’t write a piece of fiction: I wrote an autobiographical document, a human book.”

In fact, he writes only (and best) about himself. He believes in creation over literature. And he believes in living life to the fullest from its happiest to its seamiest, and then recording it. Yet he spent a lot of time procrastinating on the first Tropic book he was going to write, and there are plenty of brilliant stream of consciousness passages in this book written before he actually got down to the act of writing Tropic of Cancer. However, when he was writing Plexus, the second book in the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, he says, “Huge blocks—particularly the dream parts—came to me just as they appear in print and without any effort on my part, except that of equating my own rhythm with that of the mysterious dictator who had me in his thrall.” A Voice would possess him and spew buckets of words at him without a break, he says.

He is drawn to the great teachers: “For me the only true revolutionaries are the inspirers and activators, figures like Jesus, Lao-tse, Gautama the Buddha, Akhnaton, Ramakrishna, Krishnamurti, men who have experienced life to the full and who give life—artists, religious figures, pathfinders, innovators and iconoclasts of all sorts.” His take on literature, on the other hand, is: “A man writes to throw off the poison which he has accumulated because of his false way of life. He is trying to recapture his innocence, yet all he succeeds in doing (by writing) is to inoculate the world with the virus of his disillusionment.” Wasn’t his Tropic books about that? And about transcribing that Voice spewing buckets at him – wasn’t that also writing?

He is a the supreme egotist: “I have absolutely nothing to show for my labors except my genius. . I am a cosmological writer, and when I open my trap I broadcast to the whole world at once.”

Miller holds special opprobrium to those who tried to classify his writing as Obscene, for his work was banned in the USA for many decades, and for some years in Europe as well. “Nothing would be regarded as obscene, I feel, if men were living out their inmost desires. The cattle breeder may write his pamphlets and treatises; the physician may detail his psychopathic case histories; the anthropologist may describe his researches into the sexual habits of primitive peoples—but the writer who is interested purely in creative literature, the writer who would likes to describe the life about him fully and freely, is forbidden to speak.” Obscenity in art is a technical device intended to awaken and usher in a sense of reality, according to Miller.

Miller’s other target is Morality. “This word morality! Whenever it comes up I think of the crimes which have been committed in its name. There exists one morality for peace times and another for war. In times of war everything is permitted, everything condoned. That is to say, everything abominable and infamous committed by the winning side.”

I have quoted extensively from Miller in this review because his profundity is the highlight of this book. I wrote down many of these little gems for reflecting upon later. They are the thoughts of one who loved life and lived it in all its dimensions. And to quote him one last time: “If it isn’t literature, call it what you like. I don’t give a damn.”

Jyotiprokash Banerjee

Half Satisfied.

Reviewed in India on December 31, 2019

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I ordered two books: Henry Miller on Writing & Under the Egg.
I got a new and excellent copy of 'Henry Miller on Writing' but the other copy of 'Under the Egg' wasn't new: It was well maintained but used one.

Margery Digiandomenico

A must read for all true writers..

Reviewed in Canada on May 6, 2014

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Amazing discussions on writing that provides self references ... travelling through periods in his life and reflection in his works. Instills in writers the importance of writing what they truly feel and wish to express without society's restraints and inhibitions at the time.

claomico

Expériences et conseils d'Henry Miller

Reviewed in France on July 3, 2015

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Livre très intéressant et bien écrit, pouvant être d'une grande utilité à un écrivain en herbe... Je le conseille vivement!

One person found this helpful

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