Henry Miller Tapes (1 Viewer)

Years ago I bought Nexus, Sexus and Plexus in French along the banks of the Seine. The books had been read but in excellent condition, the covers still wrapped in plastic. Has anyone here read these books?
 
I do this thing where I intentionally don't read some books from dead writers, mainly because I don't want it to end. I've never read Pulp for the same reason. Of course I have the books and will read them someday...but, I don't know, I guess I want to know I've always got something to look forward to. Hell, maybe I'm nuts.
 
I've read Sexus, Plexus and Nexus.
Classic Miller if you like Cancer and Capricorn..but I haven't read anything by him I didn't thoroughly enjoy
 
Before I ever read Bukowski, I disliked Miller for the same reason Bukowski did: I couldn't possibly like some little prick who bragged about ripping off widows and other people who had more money than brains. Miller is a guy who'd rather blow someone than do an honest day's work. To me he's a talented panhandler and a rather average writer.
 
Charles Bukowski said:
Henry Miller Lives in Pacific Palisades and I Live on Skid Row, Still Writing about Sex
:DD

BTW, I (kinda) liked HM's Tropic of Cancer when I read it (thirty-two years ago).
Can't remember a thing from it now, just a general topsy-turvy feeling.
 
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There are passages in Miller that I love more than anything. Then there's whole chunks where it gets a bit too wishy-washy for me (a bit too much about the stars etc as I think Bukowski once alluded to). I have a similar relationship to Kerouac. Moments where he touches brilliance and then a whole chunk of meandering. I don't hold it against either of them. I think they had to plough on with their writing style in that way to strike the gold. And when it's good it's good in a way that other people can't touch.
 
Years ago I bought Nexus, Sexus and Plexus in French along the banks of the Seine. The books had been read but in excellent condition, the covers still wrapped in plastic. Has anyone here read these books?

I borrowed one of these from the library, it might have been 'Sexus' I think, I read the first few pages and thought it was good but, sometimes, even though something can make me laugh I'm not really in the mood to read it. A friend loaned me 'Black Spring' many years ago but I couldn't get into it. The writing just didn't grab me in any way, but the reflective novel about his times in Paris, 'Quiet Days in Clichy', I loved that book. A great read for me when I was younger. I also loved the film of the same name.
 
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I've read Black Spring and Tropic of Capricorn and Cancer, as well as Nights of Love & Laughter. The latter being my favorite one. I think of that sampling, Miller was much better at the short story than the long novel. I enjoyed the other three to a degree, for one of the reasons I started reading up Bukowski; I was really sheltered the first half of my life, and discovering writers like these, with their gritty lives, and penchant for drugs and loose women was a way for me to feel something I never did when I would have/could have had the chance to do so. Now I know Bukowski says life beings as 50, but I don't think the gods gave me a good of a shield as they did Bukowski, so I will have to settle to living vicariously through their writings.

I also agree with Pogue Mahone assessment of Miller now that I see it in print. It might be why I own Sexus but haven't read it or sought out the rest of the Rosy Crucifixion. But I have read Nights of Love & Laughter more than once, so I'll stand behind that one as a good selection.
 
...I have read Nights of Love & Laughter more than once, so I'll stand behind that one as a good selection.

Never heard of that title before by Miller, will keep an eye out for that one.

I've spotted a biography of Henry Miller in my local library: "The Happiest Man Alive" by Mary Dearborn, and I'm not sure what this one is like but can anybody recommend a really good biography of Henry Miller?.
 
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Would like to see this come to light
Same here - Miller is my favorite writer, can't get enough of him. I Like Buk too, but he never quite reached the level of Miller - for me - never thought he quite had the diversity and growth that Miller had in his career. If you read Miller's first book, then his last, you can't even believe it's the same writer - and I mean that in the best sense possible. Buk doesn't really have that one legendary book, that universally acclaimed classic, masterpiece, that book that changed writing forever. Tropic of Cancer is that book - On the Road is that book - The Sun Also Rises is that book - Ulysses is that book, know what I mean? I've always liked Buk, but never quite put him on the same level as Miller, or the other writers that wrote these books. But all the power to him, the o'l boy certainly gave me a lot of good times and interesting reads in my lifetime.
 
Fair enough, but none of the writers you've mentioned excelled in all three fields: novel, short story, poem. Your opinion is, of course, fine to hold and I've no issue with it. But I would point out that none of the writers you mention via the books you cite, were masters of the poem. This is primarily the reason why we are here. Sure, Kerouac wrote them and I think I own all of the published versions out there. But Kerouac was no master of the poem; he was very much a cliched product of his time when it comes to poetry. So, although you didn't ask, here's my assessment:

Miller - great novelist and he gets points for nailing various expatriates in Paris. Wrote some good letters too.

Kerouac - good to great novelist (the Dharma Bums blows On The Road out of the water, but that's the subject of another thread (mjp hopes not)); poems are of highly variable quality.

Hemingway - great novelist who had some ups and downs; too much flower in the mix at times (as opposed to too much flour in the mix, but the result is the same; get to the goddamn point, would you?). Also, it's my opinion that Hemingway executed character development too heavily based on an explanation of the character as opposed to simply allowing the reader to understand a character based on the verbal passages. Here is where Bukowski excelled in the novel. He allowed the reader to understand the character through dialog rather than through description.

Bukowski - Master poet, funny novelist and solid short story writer.

Again, you make valid points, but I think I do also. Subjectivity only matters on the Internet. Bob Dylan said that. I'll ride your horse if you ride mine. I said that.
 
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Well said, and good point - I really was only thinking of prose, novels and such, should have mentioned that...I just always found that Bukowski had a solid body of works, but no single piece that ever, historically speaking, could be considered history-changing. He is, in my opinion, a greater poet than a prose writer, but you are right, personal opinion is all this is, everyone has their own tastes. Kudos to you for a point well-made, though I disagree about Kerouac and Hemingway - along with Miller (and a few others), I believe they are among the greatest American writers of the 20th century - I can't quite bring myself to say that about Bukowski, though I do love his writing.

Cheers to you!

Tony Nesca
 
just always found that Bukowski had a solid body of works, but no single piece that ever, historically speaking, could be considered history-changing.

I have to agree with you to some extent, but it's the "body of work" part where I do think he is historic -- only because he was so unique for so long, without anyone being able to successfully jump on his coatails and become successful themselves. They tried and failed.

People may say Post Office, but I agree there is no historical piece or moment in time. Was it because he didn't have an agent in New York? I might say no, except there was this one German fellow who sold a shit load of Bukowski books.

Also, remember that he didn't jump on any bandwagon, so he never was part of some historical movement. He was Bukowski and Bukowski was enough for him -- probably too much.
 
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I have to agree with you to some extent, but it's the "body of work" part where I do think he is historic...
I was just about to post something very similar. Post Office and Ham on Rye (and possibly Women) are probably his best-known works but I wouldn't hold those up to the greats of literature. I come back to not just his body of work, but that it covered the novel, the short story and the poem. Let's face it, in the 20th or 21st century, no poet is going to receive the same status as a great novelist or short story writer.

So while Buk didn't really have a single piece that changed history, certainly his body of work did. And certainly a collection of poems such as Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame or Love is a Dog from Hell stands up to many of the great novels, society be damned if they can't appreciate that.
 
Well said people - we're all fans of good, kick-ass writing, after all. I think what's saddest is how little there is of it today. If I see one more goddamn book about zombies, vampires, space heroes, superheroes, I'm throwing in the towel and declaring myself certifiably insane!

Cheers -
Tony
 
Never heard of that title before by Miller, will keep an eye out for that one.

I've spotted a biography of Henry Miller in my local library: "The Happiest Man Alive" by Mary Dearborn, and I'm not sure what this one is like but can anybody recommend a really good biography of Henry Miller?.
Yes - I recommend "A life" by Robert Ferguson, great, great work - and also, if you want a tender, affectionate and beautiful telling of his final years, check out, "What dontcha know about Henry MIller" (I think I got the title right), by Twinka Theibaud - beautiful, quite touching and nails everything that made Miller great - his endlessly interested mind and his refusal to let the pains of old age and approaching death interfere with it. Exactly what Bukowski said bothered him about MIller ( that he "strayed" from street-writing, so to speak) is what I find so damn interesting about the man and the writer.

Cheers!
Tony Nesca
 

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