About book Henry And June: From "A Journal Of Love"--The Unexpurgated Diary Of Anaïs Nin (1931-1932) (1990)
How does one review published diaries? According to literary merit? Though Anais Nin is a beautiful, insightful writer, I feel strange talking about her "writing style" when discussing a section of her journal. What I will talk about instead is the way that books often come into your life at a time when you need them. It happened to me once with 1984 (when I needed to crystalize exactly why writing was so important to me), then again with Everything is Illuminated (when I needed to be encouraged back into writing after I'd stopped for a long time). I was inspired to walk into a bookstore and purchase Henry and June a week or two ago, because I've been doing a lot of self-examination recently, and having heard a lot about Anais Nin I thought her journals would be the best thing to accompany me on the beginning of my journey. Originally, I'd wanted a full volume of her journals, but everything was sold out, so I ended up buying Henry and June...and since I'd never read her before, I thought it would be a good introduction.I am so grateful that this book came into my life when it did. All I knew about Nin before reading it had to do with the sex she had. People love to sensationalize, and so when one hears the name, Anais Nin, one automatically thinks "sexual awakening", "deviance", "erotica." What amazed me was how much we had in common outside of that - the insecurities, the way in which we see men and the world, the positive and negative aspects of a Catholic upbringing, and most importantly: the ongoing battle between loving submission and intellectual assertiveness; how difficult it is to be a strong woman while still holding on to one's emotional vulnerability. I learned so much from her insights...and while I won't be having three or four lovers any time soon (heh), I appreciate the spirit of adventure with which she tried to live her life. It's something I hope to emulate in my own way.I cried (wept) as I read the last paragraph of Henry and June, because it magically captured exactly where I am at this moment in my life:"Last night, I wept. I wept because the process by which I have become woman was painful. I wept because I was no longer a child with a child's blind faith. I wept because my eyes were opened to reality - to Henry's selfishness, June's love of power, my insatiable creativity which must concern itself with others and cannot be sufficient to itself. I wept because I could not believe anymore and I love to believe. I can still love passionately without believing. That means I love humanly. I wept because from now on I will weep less. I wept because I have lost my pain and I am not yet accustomed to its absence."How did she know?
Having first read this book at the age of 22, I have to say that my perspective on it 7 years later is dramatically different. I did not experience the profound liberation that I did when reading Henry & June the second time around. I once considered Nin to be a strong, sexually heroic figure, but now my opinion is that, during this time of her life, she was mostly confused, self-destructive and pawned her behavior off on the idea of naivity. Don't get me wrong, I feel that the love she experienced for Henry Miller was beautiful, although unfortunately damaging to herself and to the people around her. I also feel that she was indeed naive and that many of her experiences were necessary for personal growth, but she was also fully aware of her behavior and the effects of it.Perhaps my 29 year old self is not able to relate to her thoughts, emotions & behaviors on the same level as my 22 year old self was as an effect of my own sexual experiences and life lessons learned from mistakes made. Hopefully this means I am less confused now than I was 7 years ago. (Side note: If it is true that our cells completely regenerate every 7 years, creating a new physical self, then this could be an epic moment for me.) I will always hold Nin in high regard and I still want to read the remaining volumes of her unexpurgated diaries to see how she progresses (or regresses). If anything, the unbelievably gorgeous tone of her writing is well worth the time spent reading.
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O mundo de Anais Nin é um mundo de fantasia, sensualidade e erotismo.Anais era uma figura frágil, física e psicologicamente. Carregava a sombra do abandono do pai, e isso perseguiu-a toda a vida. Procurava a figura paterna em homens mais velhos que a fizessem sentir-se amada e protegida.Anais era insegura, não se sentia atraente aos olhos dos homens, mas sentia uma enorme curiosidade por novas experiencias sexuais. Quando conheceu Henry e June, foi por esta que sentiu uma forte atração. Quando June viajou aproximou-se de Henry, primeiro pela partilha da escrita, depois pelo homem. É com ele que passa de menina a mulher e perde todos os preconceitos e pudores. Rende-se à entrega para de seguida mergulhar na incerteza e no sofrimento. Anais vivia tudo com uma intensidade exagerada. Amava o marido com ternura, Henry com paixão, de Eduardo tinha pena, por Fred nem sei o que sentia. Na verdade, sentia necessidade de provocar os homens e de se sentir admirada por eles. Alternava momentos de exaltação com outros de profundo sofrimento. Fez psicanálise mas acabou envolvida com o terapeuta.Talvez não quisesse desistir de nenhum deles porque cada um à sua maneira a completava de alguma forma. Mas era inconstante. Um dia amava Henry, outro dia não amava, tinha ciúmes de June, mas a seguir já amava June e tinha ciúmes de Henry, depois tinha raiva do marido mas logo de seguida tinha pena e virava a raiva para Henry...amava demais, e sofria demais. Gostei da escrita delicada e emotiva, revela bem a mulher que Anais era, deixando escorrer das palavras paixão e dramatismo de forma intensa.
—Carmo Santos
What have I learned from Henry and June? I have learned that if I am going to have a flaming affair with Henry Miller, to avoid the crap out of his narcissistic, borderline-personality wife June. But that would be a fairly boring diary. After all, what's a diary about 30s Paris without a highly charged emotional and sexual menage? 28 year old Anais Nin yearns for creative and sexual awakening. Her eight year marriage to Hugo Gullier has become stale. Enter, Henry Miller, stage left. Henry is crude, brash, intelligent, loving, and the total antithesis of Hugo. Henry is also having serious issues with his bisexual, femme fatal wife June. Anais jumps into the messy relationship with a psychic splash, and before you can say "earth mother", begins nurturing June and competing with Henry to write the "truth about June." The books would become Anais's "House of Incest" and Henry's banned classic "Tropic of Cancer." Of course, Henry and Anais fall madly in love, thus jumpstarting an affair that would become a literary legend and last, on and off, for the next three decades.Excellent, if rambling, tale about awakenings of all kinds.
—Marissa
The journal entries selected showcasing Anais Nin's affair with Henry and June Miller make any woman inflamed with desire.So as not to hurt her husband, Anais removed these portions from her diary to be published originally and I can see why. What she wrote here is very sensual and very sexually freeing. I was born and raised Catholic so I was personally sexually repressed and this book opened up a whole new world for me. I had no idea that you could enjoy sex as a woman and that sex could be anything more than for reproduction. Any curious reader will find the writings both interesting and sensual.
—Rosalía
