Henry Miller
Did you see this past Sunday’s New York Times Book Review section? The famous (and some considered infamous) Tropic of Cancer is 50 years old. Wow! Remember the first time you picked up and perused through that?
Read the story by Jeanette Winterson of the New York Times.
(If you have trouble with the link below and it takes you to the New York Times sign in page, simply google “The Male Mystique of Henry Miller, New York Times.)
I read this too! I’m happy for the information, but the critique didn’t highlight the actual book on Miller at all, but gave her own history of Miller. And the last sentance of the article irked me. Paraphrasing it is said something like ‘the real question is why men want to mistreat woman?” Is she really judging Miller that much on today’s standards of sexism? That book is so much more then sex with themes about starving, and philosohpy. The reviewer seemed a little harsh, but I wonder what the book’s opinion of Miller was. I find that a lot of NYT reviews. I’ll read a review, and not really know much about the book being reviewed.
Posted by matt | February 2, 2012, 7:06 pmIt did seem to be a diatribe about the man/author — more about that than the actual book! I think it’s known as a kind of “fictional” autobiography. I’m sure he did go through some of those trials and tribulations (and magnified those experiences), but it is known as a revolutionary book. But I agree, the title was misleading — I thought it would be more about the book, not so much Miller, the man. Didn’t get the last sentence myself; seemed a bit out of place to me as well.
Posted by Brigitte | February 2, 2012, 7:33 pm