Miller, Henry. (1891 - 1980).
L i f e
- spent the money to support him on the university on travelling with his mistress, left without degree
- underwent a variety of odd jobs, including a post with a telegraph company, responsible for accepting employees > the knowledge of people, mostly odd and poor figures
- became convinced of the absurdity of society and life in general
- became a nihilist x but: desired to learn the European culture and people and spent a decade of bohemian life in Paris
W o r k
- produced largely autobiographical and rather unorganised mixtures of impressions and ideas
- boasted with his obscenity and sexual frankness, dismissed both literary and social conventions, and wrote a kind of anti-novels springing from the economical and political crisis
Tropic of Cancer (1931):
- an autobiographical account of his Paris years
- the rich historical heritage of Paris x the emptiness of America
Black Spring (1936)
Tropic of Capricorn (1939)
The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945):
- an attack on the American society
The Rosy Cruxifixion (a trilogy):
> Sexus (1949)
> Plexus (1953)
> Nexus (1960)
- a reconciliation with the American society and a shift from nihilism to a Transcendentalist optimism
Quote
"I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive".
From Tropic of Cancer (1931).
Basics
(Photo: Carl Van Vechten. 1940. Source: Wikipedia).
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Author
Henry (Valentine) Miller. (1891 - 1980). American. -
Work
Novelist. Author of Tropic of Cancer (1931). -
Genre
Modern fiction. Autobiography.
Literature
Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, 1995.
Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. The Cambridge History of American Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Cunliffe, Marcus. The Literature of the United States. London: Penguin, 1991.
Lauter, Paul, ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994.
McQuade, Donald, gen.ed. The Harper American Literature. New York: Harper & Collins, 1996.
Ruland, Richard, Malcolm Bradbury. Od puritanismu k postmodernismu. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997.
Vančura, Zdeněk, ed. Slovník spisovatelů: Spojené státy americké. Praha: Odeon, 1979.