Tag Archives: Henry Miller

“Try going in reverse”: Henry Miller’s advice to writers

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Lee

“For him who is obliged to dream with eyes wide open all movement is in reverse, all action broken into kaleidoscopic fragments. I believe, as I walk through the horror of the present, that only those who have the courage … Continue reading →

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Cloud Mind Shadow

Posted on September 21, 2016 by Lee

“I believe that only a dreamer who has fear neither of life nor death will discover this infinitesimal iota of force which will hurtle the cosmos into whack – instantaneously.” What do you do when you have no fear of … Continue reading →

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When is it Life? Part 3. Final Part: “Life Presents Itself”

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Lee

Something is wrong with Henry Miller, as he wanders Broadway, lost, unable to write. This is what we’re really seeing when Miller gives us his picture of impersonal Broadway. Broadway reflects Miller himself: inhuman, sleepwalking, living dead, an abyss for … Continue reading →

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When is it Life? Part 2: Miller at Epidaurus

Posted on July 23, 2016 by Lee

A day for relaxation, spent reading The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller. I’m in a pleasant, empty bar where I can drink wheat beer as I sink into a comfortable chair, absorbed. “The road to Epidaurus is like the … Continue reading →

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When is it Life? Part 1: Henry Miller on Broadway

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Lee

Henry Miller is looking around at Broadway, all the people not themselves but one great mass “cackling with a thousand different human tongues, cursing, applauding, whistling, crooning, soliloquising, orating, gesticulating . . .” Each of these individual persons is alive, … Continue reading →

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A Smokestack or a Button

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Lee

“What strikes me now as the most wonderful proof of my fitness, or unfitness, for the times is the fact that nothing people were writing or talking about had any real interest for me. Only the object haunted me, the … Continue reading →

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Note to Myself

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Lee

In letters to Lawrence Durrell, Henry Miller writes about the struggle of the writer: “Expression seems such a natural, God-given thing – and yet it’s not either. It’s a lifelong struggle to find yourself.” (August 1936) Just writing the truth: … Continue reading →

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Henry Miller, Weird Ideas, and “Damned Facts”

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Lee

Joshua Buhs’ essay in the latest Nexus: The International Henry Miller Journal (“‘One measures a circle, beginning anywhere’: Henry Miller and the Fortean Fantasy”) begins with a casual reference to Charles Fort, made by Henry Miller in Big Sur and … Continue reading →

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Gnashing my teeth at the silence

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Lee

“If you insist on gnashing your teeth you can gnash them at the wild waves, at the silent forest, or at the stony hills. One can get desperate here in a way that no city man understands. Sure, you can … Continue reading →

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Truth and Wonder in “Henry and June”

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Lee

Taken from her diaries, Henry and June is Anaïs Nin’s account of her relationship with Henry Miller and his wife June Mansfield. During the course of the relationship, we see Anaïs and Henry grow, learning from each other. And all … Continue reading →

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