Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #808105 in Books
• Published on: 1971-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 327 pages

Customer Reviews

Anais Nin confronts New York City
Anais Nin began a letter to her father, on the ship that carried her, her mother and brothers, away from him, away from Europe and to New York City. She was 11. The letter was never sent, but instead developed into a diary that would become legendary by the time she reached her late 20s. Henry Miller helped feed the legend by stating that, once published, Anais Nin's diary would take its place beside the great literary revelations of the 20th Century. Upon publication in the 1960s, many felt that the acclaim was justified. Though original plans called for the publication of only one volume, demand was so great that seven volumes in all would be eventually be published.

In this present volume (1939-1944), Anais has taken refuge once again in the United States, escaping the war that has engulfed most of Europe and destroyed her much beloved literary community back home in Paris. This is the second time she has had to immigrate to the US, and its culture seems just as alien and unwelcoming as it did the first time. Nin finds the transition particularly difficult because her "European" writing style is not warmly received; American audiences are more interested in realism than sur-realism. Her work is deemed obscure and un-publishable. But Anais Nin does not cave to pressure. She forges a community with other artists in the Manhattan literary world, creating something close to what she had in Paris with Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell.

I enjoyed this volume because, well, I'm fascinated with Anais Nin's work, persona, and overall career. I enjoy its panoramic quality, and that it gives me insight into a world of which I would otherwise be totally ignorant, as I was merely two-years-old when Anais Nin died in 1977. But I think it would be true to say that general readership would probably stop at volume two of this series. In other words, unless you are heavily interested in Anais Nin, this volume and all future installments probably will not grab you. If you are like me, then you have four more volumes in this "expurgated" series to look forward to, then four volumes of the "unexpurgated" series, and yet four more volumes of "early diaries." See you then! :)

Andrew Parodi