"The object of these pages is to relate the genesis of a master-
piece. The masterpiece is hanging on the wall in front of me;
it is dry now. I am putting this down to remember the process,
because I shall probably never do another like it."
Above: Excerpt from Black Spring by Henry Miller. This copy was published by Grove Press in 1963.
Above: Excerpt from Black Spring by Henry Miller. This copy was published by Grove Press in 1963.
8 comments:
Thanks for posting this. As always it is a reminder.
Man I use to love me some Miller. My favorite was, i think, Quiet Days in Clichy. I read Capricorn and Cancer but Clichy was my favorite for some reason. Bukowski and Celine were favorites at the time. Have you read Celine?
@BMP: Yes, I agree.
@ Brian: I read almost everything by Miller some years ago and am just now re-reading Black Spring (one of my favorites). Have you read the Rosy Crucifixion Series? In it Miller revisits the Capricorn/ Cancer times through the eyes of an older man. A somewhat different perspective. I also liked Air Conditioned Nightmare.
I've never read Celine. Can you suggest a good introduction?
Thanks to you both for looking.
Celine wrote many books but the two I could recommend are Death on the Installment Plan and Journey to the End of the Night. I read Night first and then Journey. Celine's writing style is kind of odd and takes a little getting use to but blew me away in my mid 20's. They are full of craziness and vulgarities but are poetic none the less. Bukowski counted him as a huge influence. Although his books, from what I can remember, had no anti-Semitic tones he apparently wrote anti-Semitic pamphlets. I didn't know this at the time and probably wouldn't have picked up on it at the time.
Meant to also reply that I had a copy of Coloss. and I think Nightmare but can't be to sure of it. I will have to check it out. Thanks for the suggestion. Rosy had a De Kooning painting on the cover, right?
Thanks for the Celine suggestions. I will check them out.
Yes, One of DeKooning's Women I think.
I started reading Black Spring recently after finishing Anais Nin's Incest diary. Henry was writing some of this stuff during the period covered by Nin's diary. I love The Angel is my Watermark, since it is mine as well.
Ola Thumb
Thanks for reading Gary.
Black Spring is maybe my favorite Miller book!
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