I don't know that I'd be able to make it through an entire Henry Miller novel, but I ripped through this selection (which Miller himself had a hand in) of passages from Miller's works that focus on the act of writing/creation and on Miller's development as a writer. Miller is often infuriating (there are many "I am a god" moments in this book) but his insights into embracing and accepting the present moment and the uncertainties and unknowns of our lives are piercing ones, and I found something of value on almost every page.

There is no one like Miller.

A Saint, Sinner, or Great Writer?

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.”

Bitvis magisk autobiografisk bok om Millers tankar kring författande och livet som helhet. Bitvis långsam, lösryckt, repetitiv och svårläst.

Inga skrivtips, inga regelgenomgångar, inga livsråd. Bara öppna tankar om livets varande.

Blev väldigt inspirerad av Millers syn på vad en författare är och hur han såg på sin livsgärning. Vill själv våga släppa lös som han gjorde, våga lyssna på den inre rösten kring vad man innerst inne vill skapa utan någon hänsyn till form, stil eller kulturella önskningar eller krav utifrån.

Visste ingenting om mannen innan jag blev rekommenderad den här boken om författande. Men jag är glad att jag läst den.

Really good. Banned literature versus the atomic bomb, he makes a really good point.

A real “whale” of a tale.

The selections were a little uneven and not always as focused on writing as the title would have you believe, but Miller remains wonderfully Miller, a distinct and often misunderstood voice in literature.

4.5/5

Book 49 of 50 for 2024

This book was a digestible look into some of Millers most lucid writing. I have struggled with his writing in the past but this copy made his already exciting writing accessible by portioning it into bite sized sections. This book contains a wide range of topics that are adjacent to censorship and explicitness in writing.

And now for a favorite quote, a quote of a quote, from Romans xiv: “I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." (P. 177)

Qualche spunto interessante, ma troppo poco per la fatica che richiede.
Il beneficio di qualche pensiero ben congeniato non è proporzionato a tutto il resto del libro che non sono riuscito a capire se non in qualche passaggio (per mie mancanze, naturalmente).

“…when each thing is lived through to the end, there is no death and no regrets. Neither is there a false springtime. Each moment lived pushes opens a greater wider horizon from which there is no escape, save living…”
A beautiful reflection of the writer and his style. It also ends with a beautifully comprehensive evaluation of the evils of censorship and book banning.

Loved it. Recommend it for anyone. Should be titled The Essential Henry Miller.