Product Description
The diary which Anais Nin would eventually call Fire begins when she is newly arrived in New York City. Chronicling her unfulfilled marriage, affairs with Henry Miller and psychoanalyst Otto Rank, she confesses to her diary: "I'm awaiting a lover. I'm restless." "Erotically charged."--Publishers Weekly. of photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A. Nin
Bought this book for a friend and have not read it, so I cannot review it.

Anything by Anais Nin is a great read.
Anais Nin has some incredible books. Everyone one I have read I certainly have enjoyed. Her works are a little difficult to keep up with as far as the story line, but when you begin to see the larger picture unfold, each one turns into a wonderful story, that makes you feel like she is writing about her own life. A must read, but be prepared to really concentrate to keep up with all the story entails. Also, if you read one of her books I suggest you read others. Each of them kind of ties into her life, and where her journey takes her.

Still poetry in human form
This book is not as compelling as "Incest", but it's still Anais: still burning, still feeling, still wholly human, with all flaws and wishy-washiness included. But again, I warn away people who may not be down with heavily sexual content. If you are, though...

Interior decorating of the heart
"This is not a lie. I was starting to tell lies and struck a truth! Very often I tell lies that are deeply true."
-Anais Nin, January 17, 1937

Diary opening with a visit to New York accompanying Dr Otto Rank. Searches for release from Rank. Back to Paris, Henry, Hugh, and to find Gonzalo More. Desriptions of interior worlds built for Hugh, Gonzalo, and Henry. Beautiful. Houseboat on the Seine, "Nanankepichu", Villa Seurat, Louveciennes.

Exploring the Inner Bad Girl
Anais Nin was raised a devout Catholic and to earn her family's love she was expected to be demure, self-sacrificing, hard-working, and chaste.When her father abandoned the family she assumed, as children sometimes do, that he had left because she wasn't "good" enough.She played the role of "good girl" for twenty years in response.Then all hell broke loose.

What I believe is different about FIRE is that it reveals Anais's explorations and experiementation with her inner "bad girl" in a way that she had only just begun in HENRY AND JUNE and INCEST.In it she is still married to Hugh and involved with Henry Miller, but in FIRE she has a relationship with the famous analyst Otto Rank that takes some treacherous twists and turns.Her writing is as wonderful as ever.For the Nin fan, this diary is yet another must-read. ... Read more

Product Description
This celebrated volume begins when Nin is about to publish her first book and ends when she leaves Paris for New York. Edited and with a Preface by Gunther tuhlmann; Index.
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Customer Reviews (17)

A bubble punctured
It took me a long time, but I finally tracked down and read all the volumes of Nin's autobiography. The first time was in the days before Amazon, so it was not easy. At first I loved them. I had already read her novels and short stories. But gradually I got the sense of a person who rewrote her history to make herself look better. That was a disappointment. Then I discovered that she had omitted so much, lied about so much. If she had admitted that this was a reworking of her life I'd have accepted it. But her great claim was that, like Henry Miller, she wrote unadorned truth. I remember Miller and Durrell once describing her as a pathological liar. Then, later, even her sympathetic biographers discovered the same. We did not accept the hoax of J T Leroy (I saw through that one straight away) or James Frey. I now wonder why we should be any kinder to Nin. They are still an interesting read. But they require not a pinch, but a barrel of salt. Sometimes her fiction was more truthful than her journals.

Yes, I know this will be marked down as unhelpful. I do that to less than positive reviews too. But I am a disappointed fan.

No wonder she's in the canon
Never had time to read Nin in college or grad school. She's everything her reputation promises:exquisite style, honesty, love, literacy. What an accomplishment...!

the magic of the internet is working!
I bought this book while being in costa rica and send it overseas to asia as a birthday gift!
what else can I say?
it arrived on time and now I believe there is magic all around hehehe
thanks!

Beautiful scrutiny, a work of art
The first of seven volumes that have been produced so far, this is probably the best-known of Anais Nin's diaries.The first three-quarters of it centers largely on her relationship with writer Henry Miller and his wife June.I've never seen the movie "Henry and June", which was adapted from these diaries, but I mean to get to it someday.

Nin, the daughter of Cuban pianist Joaquin Nin and singer Rosa Culmell, started keeping a diary when, as a young girl, she traveled with her mother and brother to New York from Europe after her father abandoned the family for one of his mistresses.On the ship she began a letter to her father describing their experiences, which was never sent and instead marked the beginning of a lifelong project of meticulously documenting her life.

At the beginning of this diary, in 1931, Nin is back in France, where she was born, and has just finished her biography of D.H. Lawrence, whose writing she felt had so profoundly changed her life that she wanted to pay homage to him.She writes:

"You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living.Then you read a book (Lady Chatterley, for instance), or you take a trip...and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating.The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable:first, restlessness.The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure.That is all.It appears like an innocuous illness.Monotony, boredom, death.Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it.They work in offices.They drive a car.They picnic with their families.They raise children.And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death."

Soon after this she meets Henry Miller, and the beginning of a relationship that would last decades, long after each of their marriages had ended (and others still lay ahead).They inspired each other in part because their writing was so vastly different:his stark, brutal and crude, hers veiled and baroque, but both probing and sensual in their own fashions.

Towards the end of the diary, in 1933-34, Anais becomes fascinated with psychoanalysis, which as a practice and theory had steadily become more popular in the decades since Freud.It seems a natural progression for a woman who had spent so many years scrutinizing the lives and experiences of everyone around her to finally turn the mirror around on herself, and she does this in a way that is admirable without being punishing or overly neurotic.The way she examines herself is unflinching but not melodramatic:

"My greatest fear is that people will become aware that I am fragile, not a full-blown woman physically, that I am emotionally vulnerable, that I have small [...] like a girl.And so I cover all this up with understanding, wisdom, interest in others, with my mind's agility, with my writing, my reading:I cover the woman up, to reveal only the artist, the confessor, the friend, the mother, the sister."

"I have always been tormented by the image of multiplicity of selves.Some days I call it richness, and other days I see it as a disease, a proliferation as dangerous as cancer.My first concept about people around me was that all of them were coordinated into a WHOLE, whereas I was made up of a multitude of selves, of fragments.I know that I was upset as a child to discover that we had only one life."

Through analysis she also finally faces the deep trauma her father's abandonment had caused and its influence on her adult life.Although they had actually become quite close as adults, she realized that they had forever lost something irretrievable:

"My father comes when I no longer need a father.I am walking into a Coney Island trick house.The ground gives way under my feet.It is the ironies which swallow the ground and leave one dizzy and stranded.Irony of loves never properly timed, of tragedies that should not be tragedies, of passions which miss each other as if aimed by blind men, of blind cruelties and even blinder loves, of incongruities and deceptive fulfillments.Every realization is not a culmination but a delusion.The pattern seems to come to an end and it is only another knot.My father comes when I have gone beyond him; he is given to me when I no longer need him, when I am free of him.In every fulfillment there is a mockery which runs ahead of me like a gust of wind, always ahead."

As this volume ends she has begun her own brief career as an analyst, but soon realizes that she wants to concentrate full-time on her writing.Miller's `Tropic of Cancer', considered his magnus opus and something Nin was deeply involved with (she was Miller's primary muse and editor), has just been accepted for publication, and this inspires her further.She writes intensely and painfully about a pregnancy and stillbirth experience, and makes plans to return to New York to work with Otto Rank, the famed analyst under whom she'd first been a patient, then a student.Volume Two picks up at this point.

I'm not usually quite so verbose with my reviews.I was just very moved by Nin's writing and her way of expressing herself, which could so easily come across as neurotic but never does because she never exudes self-pity or obsesses narcissistically about herself.She just is who she is, and I love the way she doesn't want to miss anything, refuses to draw a box around herself, lives a life outside of conventional norms, and isn't afraid to face her own demons.Or rather, she might be afraid, but does it anyway.

Cult Memoir
This is truly one of the cult pieces of literature, right up there with Tropic of Cancer and even Fight Club. The writing is beautiful and erotic, and Nin comes across as a mature individual with special needs and insights. While every woman should read this book, guys will enjoy seeing things from the "other side." ... Read more

Product Description
In Delta of Venus Anaïs Nin penned a lush, magical world where the characters of her imagination possess the most universal of desires and exceptional of talents. Among these provocative stories, a Hungarian adventurer seduces wealthy women then vanishes with their money; a veiled woman selects strangers from a chic restaurant for private trysts; and a Parisian hatmaker named Mathilde leaves her husband for the opium dens of Peru. Delta of Venus is an extraordinarily rich and exotic collection from the master of erotic writing.




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Customer Reviews (80)

Stories you won't forget
Anais Nin fills the pages of this book with well-spun stories all about our favorite subject, sex.From young virgins discovering their sexual impulses to dashing travelers engaging in exploits around the world, these stories are unforgettable.What's more, because Nin puts such great detail into the psychology behind sexuality, such as jealousy and pride, it paints a picture of human's sexual nature.Her feminine sensibilities allow her to explore risque sex in a way that feels almost clean enough to discuss over dinner... well, maybe dessert.

No good!
Apparently these pornographic novels was a commissioned work for an unknown book lover in Paris. Anaïs Nin seems to have an inclination towards describing sexual scenes bordering on tabu areas like violence and incest.

Delta of Venus.
This is my first foray into classic erotica and Anais Nin is the best classic eroticist--??--known. I found the work to be very good, though some might say that it is a bit flowery--but then again, it was a different time when she wrote it. I really liked it and would recommend it to others, esp. those new to erotica as this is a good one to start with. I'd also recommend her other, more famous work, Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love" -The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin (1931-1932). (Also watch the movie starring Uma Thurman--it's fantastic!!)

A Humanist's Guide to the Human Body
With other kinds of literature, we might say that a story is successful if it entertains, if it strikes us as realistic, if we recognize ourselves and our lives in the characters and events, or any number of other characteristics.With erotica, the temptation is strong to assume that it's only successful if we read it and get horny.And with "Delta of Venus," with its intended female point of view, we might be inclined to say that it's only successful if it makes women horny.

Still, that seems an unlikely criterion.This is not sheer pornography, after all, even though Anais Nin claimed that she wrote these stories for an anonymous collector who constantly demanded more sexual content and less literary quality.Whoever the original audience was, collector of smut or otherwise, Ms. Nin at the time hung around with a group of extremely inventive and daring writers, including Henry Miller.The likelihood that she would write without at least intending to do so with quality is pretty slim.So the question remains - if the intention of these stories is at once to arouse the reader and to satisfy the author's writerly ambitions, how can we tell if they are successful in their intent?Particularly if we are a man reading erotica allegedly aimed at women?(Which is exactly what we are, by the way, in case you were wondering.)

One way in which these tales stumble is the odd and very noticeable tendency to refer to body parts in the abstract.Surprisingly often, a character will be looking at or touching the body of another, and the narrative will refer to "the breasts" or "the hair", not to mention "the" other things.I found this a little surprising.In many essays on the politics of writing about sex, feminists protest that sort of dissociation, advising that tearing the body apart in words is exactly the opposite of erotic and recommending that we find a way to appreciate the entire body, and the mind and heart while we're at it, in our erotica.Given that, I would not have expected a woman writing for women to use the article "the" quite so often.But maybe I'm being unfair to Ms. Nin - she was exploring an area of erotic writing that had barely been touched upon in her day.And besides, however uncomfortable it makes me personally, why shouldn't a women objectify a partner from time to time if she wants to?

Thus we bump up against one useful element in "Delta of Venus" - as it did when first published, it can provoke some very useful debate to this day.Which is all very well, but you could say the same thing about any controversial piece of junk; "The Turner Diaries" might provoke useful debate, for goodness' sake, but it's still a piece of fascist propaganda and artistically illiterate besides.Political usefulness does not necessarily make for good fiction.

The same can be said for the erotic quality of these stories.I, for one, found some of the later ones arousing, and many of the early ones not at all.Ms. Nin had the courage to explore a wide variety of sensual expressions, and I'm a trifle surprised to find that in many of these stories the female protagonist ends up unsatisfied or discovers her greatest joy in utter submission to some man.Sensibly, however, the author expanded her repertoire of sensual plotlines to include a good many other possibilities, including tenderness and violence, voyeurism, domination, love and anger, even more troubling activities - everything, indeed, except monogamy and marriage.Oh well.

None of this addresses the question yet of what may make "Delta of Venus" good fiction, rather than only erotic fiction, but it does begin to get at the point.As I said, regardless of what her personal tastes may have been, Ms. Nin was careful to include almost as much variety of experience as she could in her stories, which necessarily required her to include as much variety of character as possible.In other words, the narrative takes an obvious interest in the sexuality of these people, but it also takes an equally intense interest in the other parts of their lives, although without the same emphasis.So "Delta of Venus" approaches the whole person as a sensual being, and is all the more sensual for that.It's a lovingly humanist approach to the erotic.Yep, it's good fiction.

Some of the psychology seems a little elementary in this day and age, and as with most erotica the characters are all impossibly attractive, but I for one find myself grateful to read stories about people enjoying each other's bodies with their minds and hearts fully functional.Whether they turn me on at that moment or not.

Benshlomo says, The body is holy.

Classic erotica
After reading Anne Rice's horrible Sleeping Beauty series, I looked around for true erotica, and based on reviews and recommendations, tried out Anais Nin. This is the first (and so far) only book of hers I've ever read. Some of the writing might be a bit dated due to the time period this book was written in, but it's still a classic, with tasteful and exciting stories and descriptions that don't leave one feeling all depressed/disturbed/squicked out. A definite must for anyone who wants a nice piece of erotica reading. ... Read more

Product Description
Beginning with Nin's arrival in New York, this volume is filled with the stories of her analytical patients. There is a shift in emphasis also as Nin becomes aware of the inevitable choice facing the artist in the modern world. "Sensitive and frank...[Nin's] diary is a dialogue between flesh and spirit" (Newsweek). Edited and with a Preface by Gunther Stuhlmann; Index.
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Customer Reviews (3)

A Nin
I bought this book for a friend and never read it. Thus,I cannot review this book.

A coherent extension of the first volume
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 at the time. The letter was never sent (her mother did not think it appropriate), 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 century. Upon publication in the 1960s, many critics, and audiences alike, 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; then, of course, the "unexpurgated" versions would be published in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In the first volume of the diary, we meet Anais Nin living outside of Paris with her husband, banker Hugh Guiler. She has just published her study of DH Lawrence and is about to meet Henry Miller and his fascinating and dramatic wife, June. All characters from the previous volume factor into this second installment, but many new people are introduced. Gonzalo, a Peruvian Marxist, and his wife Helba, are the most interesting new characters. Famous Freudian analyst Otto Rank is also depicted. Anais works with Rank in New York; she struggles to understand whether she is meant to be an analyst or a writer. Yes, in what strikes me as an odd occurence, Anais Nin - with no formal training - is allowed to take on patients.

Of the first two volumes, I'd have to say that this is my favorite. There is more movement, and with World War II as a backdrop, there is more social conscience on display. "Politics, all of them," Anais writes in an astute observation that, sadly, is still true 70 years later, "seemed rotten to the core and all based on economics, not humanitarianism." Indeed, in this volume Anais seems more aware of the world around her and less preoccupied with herself, well, a little less so. But, as with all other volumes in this series of diaries, and just about all of Anais Nin's literature, the reader is wise to look more for poetic truth than literal reality. What I mean is, the diaries of Anais Nin are most likely not verbatim transcriptions of the manuscript versions (the difference between this original series and the unexpurgated versions pretty much proves this point). They are something closer to being stylized, masterfully edited "memory books" and persona self-creation. But it's an entertaining, romantic, and often beautiful persona.

Andrew Parodi

Anais is always searching
This book has so much wisdom. I find myself reading it very slowly to stop and really think about what she has to say. This volume of her diary is more disconnected than the one prior, but the insight is much more profound. ... Read more

Product Description
Evocative and superbly erotic, Little Birds is a powerful journey into the mysterious world of sex and sensuality. From the beach towns of Normandy to the streets of New Orleans, these thirteen vignettes introduce us to a covetous French painter, a sleepless wanderer of the night, a guitar-playing gypsy, and a host of others who yearn for and dive into the turbulent depths of romantic experience.



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Customer Reviews (34)

Unimaginative erotica
Well this is a collection of erotic tales, a fare share of them circulate around lesbianism and impotence themes. In the books introduction Nin describes how she is commisioned to produce these writings with her friends and thus become a madam of a literary house of prostitution. Well the books daring words doesn't help to make it much interesting, on the contrary it reveals a stunning lack of imagination and talent. One really gets the sense of that the sole reason why Nin rose to intellectual fame, was her good looks. And thus she was able to arouse the interest and patronisation of lewd partners in intellectual Paris and New York.

Not Plot Laden Poke and Jab...
This little book of short stories is by far some of the finest erotica ever written. Nin is a true master of love, lust, and the body's betrayal of our innermost desires. Nin writes with a simple elegance. Never overdoing the imagery, we get just what we need to feel the work without a crass microscopic examination. Nin plunges deeply into the psyche of her characters, and we get more than an up-close and personal intimate glimpse of their inner turmoil as they struggle to break free of their self-imposed sexual limitations. Her characters awaken, blossom like flowers covered in the morning dew, and perfume the pages before our very eyes.

Nin is not merely writing about sex or sexual taboos in these stories; she is writing essays on humanity's constant battle to reconcile our inner longings and emotional conflicts concerning sex and death. She definitely pushes the boundaries, but she does it with such nuance and such poetry and such innocence that the disturbing subject matter feels tempered in order for us to achieve a greater understanding of themes presented.

This is a wonderful introduction to Nin's work. I highly recommend that all authors read her work, specifically authors who are interested in exploring sexuality in their own material. Her approach is genuine: voyeuristic without being intrusive. Those who are already familiar with the great erotic enchantress know this. This book is a must have for the collection. It is a book to return to with a blush and a smile over and over again. However, if you are looking for graphic depictions of sex, you will not find it here, for this is true erotica, and it takes a deeply subliminal approach.

SUPERBLY WRITTEN SHORT EROTICA
I enjoyed this little book of erotic short stories. I had never read anything by Anais Nin before, so to me, it was a completely new reading experience. Be advised, however, that it is exactly what its title says it is: pure x-rated erotica.

Little Birds is a short book, only 148 pages, and includes thirteen short erotic stories that were written from a woman's point of view. And that is exactly the perspective Anais Nin wanted to convey--the feminine side of erotica. Up until her book was published, most erotica was from a male's perspective. I haven't read much erotica either way. Right now I'm trying to get through Lolita, only because I wanted to know what all the hoopla was about. And I did buy Anais Nin's other book, Delta of Venus, at the same time I bought this book. So I'm guessing that by the time I finish all three of theses books, I'll be pretty much burned out when it comes to erotica. But as far as the writer's viewpoint goes, I haven't read enough of this genre to make an informed comment. Male authors of erotica tend to be graphic. I know that. But Anais is certainly graphic in her portrayal of erotic scenes too. I do like her writing style, though. She tends to write in short, fast-paced paragraphs, and her descriptions and action scenes come across as smoothly as any book I have ever read. So I enjoyed the book. I have heard that her diary published as The Diary of Anais Nin Volume One: 1931-1934 and The Early Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 2. (1920-1923) contains her finest work.

I won't comment on the erotica itself, because such things are dependent on personal taste. But as to the writing style and general level of drama and interest, I give Little Birds five stars. Anais Nin is, after all, a highly acclaimed author.

fancy porn
How on earth Anais Nin got to be so popular is beyond me. Her storytelling skills are poor and her style self-indulgent. (Unbelievably, her diaries are now being "taught" in some college courses. Go figure.) If you like stories about incest, pedophilia and sexual arousal at public hangings, then Anais is for you. Call this erotica if you like, I call it porn. Look elsewhere for hardcore jollies.

Wonderful writing, fascinating scenes, truly a Nin-fan's must!
I love this book for many reasons; it's a wonderful example of Nin's amazing and artistic grasp of human sexuality, and a joy to read. In between reading The Diaries, it is nice to have something a little 'lighter' now and then! ... Read more

Product Description
This bestseller covers a single momentous year during Nin’s life in Paris, when she met Henry Miller and his wife, June. “Closer to what many sexually adventuresome women experience than almost anything I’ve ever read....I found it a very erotic book and profoundly liberating” (Alice Walker). The source of a major motion picture from Universal. Preface by Rupert Pole; Index.
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Customer Reviews (32)

Excruciating
Put me out of my misery now.

The only good think about this books is that i learned a new word - omphaloskeptic; which is what Anais Nin is. Seriously lady, get a job and stop analyzing your emotions, they are really not at all interesting.

Great reading.
Having read Delta of Venus, I wanted more Anais Nin and decided on this one. It's great. I liked it better than the first and that's because it deals with the love affair between her and Henry Miller and, of course, his wife, June. While some might think it's a bit stogy, I really enjoyed it for the prose and intense romance between them. I highly recommend this one, along with Delta of Venus.

I didn't enjoy this book at all
Well written but boring. I think watching paint dry would be more entertaining than reading this book. I never made it to the end.

Froid et faux
Anais Nin and Henry Miller are minor writers, the former considerably more minor than the latter.However, I daresay Anais Nin is more widely read nowadays than is Henry Miller.The interest in them is gosspiy - that whole Americans in Paris in the thirties schlock - and nicely seasoned by the erotic.This book is actually a rather revolting self-portrait of a self-obsessed woman with too much time on her hands.Her writing is Lawrence without the passion for truth, and her living is all words. Everything is affect.There seems not an ounce of tenderness in her.She (and this book) is cold and false.

Wow!
From the very first few pages you know that you have entered a fascinating world -- if you are reading these reviews and haven't yet purchased the book, don't wait any longer.It's an easy read -- you should be able to read it in one setting -- maybe one weekend, and you may be totally transformed in the way you think about human relationships.

I would recommend starting with Nin's edited diaries (Vol I: 1931 - 1934) and Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer" before reading "Henry and June."

"Henry and June" covers only one year, perhaps the most important year in her life, and is clearly her "coming-of-age" year.

For those who are troubled by Nin's infidelities and lies, one turns to the answer Marcel Proust gave on a questionnaire during his adolescence:"For what fault have you the most toleration?""For the private life of geniuses." ... Read more

Product Description
Disquieting yet magnetic, Incest continues the story begun in the best-selling Henry and June to reveal a woman's struggle to come to terms with herself for the "ultimate transgression"--and to find salvation in the very act of writing. 15 duotone photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

A. Nin
Bought this book for a friend and have not read it.Thus I cannot do a review on it.

seductively addictive
Anais simply put was a grand master artist and her medium was words. I fell in love with her writing within the first two pages. She just lulls you, comforts you, titillates you and completely entertains you in this volume of her diaries.

Not for the easily offended
I have read this two or three times in the past five years, and I never tire of Anais's breathless, poetic style and the amazing fluidity with which she exposes contradictory sides to her personality. This is a real diary written by a real woman, and memoirs and other published diaries seem diluted and prepackaged in comparison.

However, the sexual content here is highly charged and not for the squeamish. Only open minds need apply.

I LOVE Anais Nin's honesty and ability to divulge!
Wow!! what a LOVELY review!! thanks K. for your boldness and clear audacity and intelligence! i haven't read this one yet but i will. Anais is a phenomenal being who brought to life the inner life so honestly. She should be studied as part of a way to be a better human in my oppinion...

Why???

Because it is only through deep reflection, through willing honesty that we can actually IMPROVE ourselves as human beings.... i.e. EVOLVE. She is an unending inspiration of self-acceptance and shear divulgence that can awaken our society to become more enlightened instead of hiding behind the lies of dominance birthed only by pathological insecurities.

Let us all write our own diaries so that we can see ourselves for what we are actually doing instead of hide behind pretense and the perpetuation of initimidation that keeps the secrets alive and in the shadows... out them through self-acceptance and the desire to change!

Read Anais Nin to know yourself better, even if you think you have nothing in common with what seems so outrageous. Many children are concieved in rape with their "lawful" mates... Wake up and understand humanity still further than you ever imagined!! ENJOY!!

Perhaps the best of Nin's writing is here
In general I find Anais Nin's work to be self-indulgent and her subject matter (largely herself) trivial.Her portraits of others are frequently lightweight and lack perceptiveness.Her Diaries are overwrought and sometimes unintentionally funny but in general aren't worth the time it takes to read them.These previously unpublished sections of her Diaries, in which Nin describes her incestuous relationship with her father, are however the most compelling segments of her writing in the whole canon.

She describes with great insight her father's character, and she sketches his physical attributes with great economy yet enables us to see the man as she saw him - frail, a hopeless narcicist and an aging dandy, yet compelling and vital despite the betrayals of his body (and his betrayals of all those who ever got close to him).Her account of her own feelings is also economical for once, and we don't have to labor through over-written descriptions of her emotional condition in order to get to the point.

While the subject matter may not be to everyone's taste, I would argue that if you have any interest in Nin's work and times, this is the book above all others that you should read. ... Read more

Product Description
Nin continues her debate on the use of drugs versus the artist's imagination, portrays many famous people in the arts, and recounts her visits to Sweden, the Brussels World's Fair, Paris, and Venice.  ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A. Nin
I bought this book for a friend and have not read it. Thus, I cannot provide you with a review.

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! :)

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! :)

all female writers/readers should read about
anais was so frank & true to her feelings& what she wrote was warm& sweet,though her erotic story was still a bit leg-behind than henrymiller's, she's still a very good female writer.

Descoveryof an excellent diarist!!!
I found out some volumes of A.Nin's series of Journals some months ago and I was really amazed : how precise and how many literary encounters! Being a student in American Literature and an apprentice diarist myself, I think Nin's skill for autobiography and her sense of time are optimal points to last longer in diaries! ... Read more

Product Description
Under a Glass Bell was self-published by Anaïs Nin in 1944, using a manual press. This collection of thirteen short stories, beautifully crafted in a style influenced by French surrealism, but uniquely Nin’s, brought her national attention when Edmund Wilson of The New Yorker reviewed it. Considered one of Nin’s most successful works of fiction, the tales attain psychological realism through illusory symbolism.

Among the titles are “Houseboat,” “The Mouse,” “Ragtime,” “The Labyrinth,” and “Birth.”

Under a Glass Bell is a celebration of the passionate language of Anaïs Nin.
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Customer Reviews (6)

A. Nin
I bought this book for an older friend and have not read it. Cannot give you a review on something I have not read.

Nin's Narcissistic Short Stories
Anyone familiar with Nin knows she is one of THE most narcissistic authors of all time. Throughout each and every story, we get a feel each and every story HAS to relate to Nin in some way...its almost a book of staccato self-realization stories rather than pure fiction. It is almost silly at some times, all stories have the small heroine envying the larger-than-life male figure(s) and having a feeling of displacement.
I recommend this book only if you are a Nin-lover and ready for some stories that could come from nowhere but her own pen (or typewriter).

The Fruits of Surrealism
Anais Nin did not adhere to the traditions of story-telling.Formulaic plots, character arcs, and realistic descriptions didn't interest her.She was a master of character analysis and description -- instead of watching her characters move through the story, you, as the reader, move through the characters.This was because Nin was experimenting with a new artistic movement called surrealism and she ended up being one of its brightest stars.

Because of Edmund Wilson's favorable review (and he was, of course, the king of critics) this was the collection of stories that finally brought Nin's work to the attention of public.Her writing style is simply stunning.Imagine distilling a story, as one distills a liquid, down to the final crystals.Or creating a beautiful and poetic ritual out of somethingmundane (such as the Geisha's tea ceremony).

I think my personal favorites in this collection are "Ragtime," an amazing description of the poverty-stricken rag-picking community in 1930s Paris, "The Mouse," about Nin's fearful maid, and "Birth," the now notorious story about Nin's abortion.Seem like ugly topics?You'd be amazed at how beautiful Nin can render them.

It takes a sensitive reader to understand Anais Nin's writing, but if you are that, I think you will find value in these stories.

"it had perfume of rich lives.heavily impregnated furniture"
The descriptions Anias Nin uses are extremely detailed and the stories seem to be more focused on the descriptions than an actual plot. there is obviously symbolism being used to express a message through thesedescriptions. Almost like another subliminal story going on at the sametime. The descriptions seem as if they are being used to subconsciouslycontrol the reader's emotions.

Disapointment
After reading all of the early journals of Anais Nin, I was very disapointed in her fiction.Her writing is thin and relies on constant metaphysical emotion to create any sense of depth.Her early journals areexceptional, possibly the best diaries ever published, however, her fictionis consistently slow, often painfully dull, and self-absorbed.Incomparison to her contemporaries she is almost unreadable.Hers are amongthe very few books thatI have ever not finished. ... Read more

Product Description
The author's experiences in Mexico, California, New York, and Paris, her psychoanalysis, and her experiment with LSD. "Through her own struggling and dazzling courage [Nin has] shown women groping with and growing with the world" (Minneapolis Tribune). Edited and with a Preface by Gunther Stuhlmann; Index.
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Customer Reviews (4)

A. Nin
Sorry, I bought this book for a friend and can't review it.Never read it.

The Rich and Continuing Saga
I just finished a book I didn't want to read, The Journals of Anaïs Nin: Volume Five (1947-1955). I had planned to read it, and its time came, but I just didn't feel like it. Happily, it took me about two pages to change my mind and enjoy this book in a little less than a week.

Anaïs Nin was born Angela Anais Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell in France in 1903 to composer Joaquin Nin, who was of Cuban and Spanish background, and his wife, Rosa, who was Cuban, French and Danish. After Joaquin abandoned the family, the family moved to the United States in 1914. With the disapproval of her mother, Nin began work as an artist's model to help pay the family bills, and then returned to Europe in 1923. She studied psychoanalysis under Otto Rank, practiced as a lay analyst and underwent therapy with Carl Jung for a time. Nin is also well known her for lovers, Henry Miller, Otto Rank, Gore Vidal and Edmund Wilson. She was married, I believe, twice, once to Hugh Guiler, who looked the other way regarding her affairs, and once, bigamously, to Rupert Cole.

Nin's fame these days is primarily as a diarist, and there seem to be two veins of her diaries, those she published in an expurgated form in ten volumes, which remain popular, and another five-volume series of unexpurgated journals that focus on a shorter window of time around the decade of the 1930s. This book is from the former series, and is copyrighted in 1974. I have no idea where I got it.

Nin also wrote fiction, and I've read two of her fictional works, Spy in the House of Love and Delta of Venus. I also have read a biography, Anaïs: The Erotic Life of Anaïs Nin by Noel Riley Fitch. She was a peripheral literary figure during most of her lifetime and she died in 1977.

The main focus of her work seems to be psychological realism, and as she grew older, she seemed to see her diaries as the primary outlet of that stream of thought. As she writes in a letter to Max Geismar, copied into her journal in the winter of 1954-1955, "I only need to continue my personal life, so beautiful and in full bloom, and to do my major work, which is the diary. I merely forgot for a few years what I had set out to do."

This diary focuses on various themes of her life during this time, her struggle to get Spy published (she ends up self-publishing it), her travels and time spent living in Mexico, her friendships with Geismars and Jim Herlihy, her psychoanalysis with a Dr. Inge Bogner, and a return to the focus of her work as a diarist. She includes wonderful interludes about her life in Acapulco; a return trip to Paris, which is deliciously recounted with her nostalgic expectations sometimes being born out and sometimes failing; letters to and from Henry Miller; the fruit of her work with Bogner; and the story of her last days with her mother before Rosa's death from a heart attack.

This last is touchingly told, and she follows her feelings about both her parents to see how she reclaimed their characteristics with pride once they were lost to her, the same characteristics she sought to reject in herself while her parents were living.

Nin's writing is rich, like a filling meal, so the episodic and brief passages of the expurgated journals are suitable, somewhat "bite-sized," so to speak. In many ways she is very likable, and her descriptions of her life, travels, lectures and parties (she attends a costume party for which attendees were to dress as their own madness. She went bare-breasted with a bird-cage on her head...!) are fascinating, a look at her social circle and those who influenced her.

And sometimes, I thought, "Wow! I really would not like her!" especially when she wrote about meeting a very bizarre woman in New York, Nina Gitana de la Primavera, whom Nin admired for living even less in reality than Nin herself did. From Nin's diary description, I thought, "This woman is just crazy!" but Nin and Herlihy had a brief friendship with her, even though they had at first a deep visceral negative reaction to her. Herlihy attributed this reaction to his fear that Primavera was living as he would have liked, but was too afraid to do, so they forced themselves to spend time with her.

The book ends with Nin recounting an LSD trip she experienced at the behest of a psychologist who was trying to study its effects. He wanted her to participate because as a writer, she could better articulate the experience, which is clearly drawn in the journal. She seems to come to the conclusion that the drugs merely heightened what was in her own mind, as symbols appeared real to her that she had previously used in her work.

While the book is an enjoyable interlude, there is an underlying loneliness to it, as Nin fights the sadness of being rejected for her work and her dedication to creating a reality that links intellect and emotion in a fiction that she finds truer than literary realism. " I have raged at the wall growing denser between myself and others. I do not want to be exiled, alone, cut off. I wept at being isolated, at the blockade of the publishers." I found the book very interesting and readable. I recommend it.

Beautiful writing that I use as meditations
THE DIARY OF ANAIS NIN: VOLUME FIVE 1947-1955 contains beautiful writing. Anais (pronounced "anna - EESE" ["EESE" as in "lease"]) has a very unique writing style, a result of her Spanish and French background, her fondest for extremes, and frequent disregard for correct grammar and punctuation.

The downside to her beautiful prose is that often it is hard to follow what she is talking about. Though I am a huge fan of Anais Nin, I always struggle with her writing, particularly these "expurgated" diaries; because they were so heavily edited they seem very choppy at times. Anais also was not in the habit of sticking to one topic per paragraph. And it is common for one paragraph to be completely unrelated to the previous. I often become so bewildered that I have to put the book down. (It also doesn't help that I was only two when Anais died in 1977, meaning I am often completely unfamiliar with the topics she discusses.)

I now use her diaries as meditations, and am content to read a passage or even paragraph at a time. It no longer bothers me that I often get lost. One paragraph, or even one sentence, often contains enough beauty to make it unimportant that I have no idea what she's talking about (many things I have understood have not been nearly as beautiful). She just had an awesome command of language! My favorite passage in Volume Five is on the very first page where she describes her time in Acapulco. It's stunning poetry! I've never seen anyone else write like this.

I would certainly agree that previous knowledge of Anais's life is helpful in appreciating her diaries and all other works. I am currently reading ANAIS NIN: A BIOGRAPHY by Deirdre Bair. Ms. Bair's book has been incredibly helpful in understanding Nin's work. I recommend Bair's biography of Nin in addition to THE DAIRY OF ANAIS NIN: VOLUME FIVE 1947-1955.

Anais's Excellent Adventure
This volume is number five in the original series of Nin's published expurgated diaries. (As the major players in Nin's life have passed away, and libel suits have become a lessening concern, her literary executor has begun releasing additional volumes from the same time periods as the expurgated works containing previously suppressed material, which makes talking about a "series" confusing at times.) Volume Five finds Nin in America after World War II, during the era of the Feminine Mystique, living what has to have been a fairly expensive lifestyle on both coasts, plus Mexico, with no visible means of support. Knowing more of Nin's actual biography than she is willing to divulge in this volume helps in understanding this puzzle--she was married to two men at the time, one in New York, one on the West Coast.

This volume appears to have been written with more care than the 1944-47 volume, perhaps because with Nin's second marriage she was no longer spending as much time compulsively "ensorcelling" younger men. Nin dates her entries by the month or season of the year, and they appear to be written with reflection, rather than in the heat of the moment. This suggests also that the entries may have been more heavily edited, either before they were ever incorporated into the diary or later, for publication. This raises an interesting question for which there is no answer:If a diary is edited by the alteration of text, as opposed to the deletion of uninteresting or controversial matter, should it still be considered a diary? How much editing can be done before a work becomes no longer a diary but a series of essays? It depends on what the definition of "diary" is, of course, but I think there is a good argument that this volume is no longer a bad diary, as volume four was, but a fairly good series of essays.

A number of interesting events happen in Nin's outer life in this volume that are engagingly described. She goes to Mexico and describes her exotic life there quite beautifully. She copes with the death of her mother. She has an interesting literary friendship with James Leo Herlihy more than a decade before his great success as the author of the book _Midnight Cowboy_. She drops acid under laboratory conditions (in 1955!).

Nin doesn't seem as whiny about her inner life as she did in volume four of this series. Her ongoing struggles with lack of literary recognition are thus easier for at least this reader to take in stride than in volume four. Nin also appears to achieve some sort of psychological breakthough with her therapist of that period, Dr. Inge Bogner, and, as Nin describes it, achieves objectivity. Whatever it was, she seems less frantic at this juncture in her life.

Because Nin has a track record of being somewhat slippery, it is always a great temptation to read her diary volumes in tandem with her letters, biographies...and fiction. Therein lies the rub with her constant complaints about her lack of literary recognition. Although I respect her ambition to show psychoanalytic process in her characters, I just find that she mastered the diary genre much more than the fiction forms she attempted. Read Amy Bloom's and Peter Kramer's fiction, not Nin's, if you want intense psychological fiction, but do read Nin's diary.

Verdict: pretty good, but hard to appreciate fully unless you know a lot about Nin and her work. ... Read more

Product Description
Collection of short stories written by Ms. Nin and some of her friends written for Roy Johnson back in the '40s. Contains six stories in all, and may actually have been written by Ernest Dowson. Also attached: an Edwardian guide to lovemaking. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Vintage Erotica at its Best
If you love to read the prose style of popular books in the earlier part of the 20th Century, you'll especially enjoy being in the middle of these naughty scenarios with full on sexual and hot writing, yet find it quaint and old timey all at once. Delicious! Fun! Take a bubble bath and gobble it up, page after page.

Luscious lovers
Anais Nin's erotica is legendary. I heard rumours of it long before I ever got my hands on a copy of this difficult-to-find book. When I finally did, I found myself entranced--both by her words and those of her friends, whowrote and assembled these fierce and delicate works for a privatecollector.This is, simply put, a beautiful book--erotic and often blunt,but never caught in the common web of sexual guilt and shame. It's astunning work, and well worth owning.

Nin falls short
White Stains was a sexy and intriguing book, but after reading Delta of Venus, I expected more from Anias Nin.I was also curious, since the author is listed as Anias Nin and friends, which authors were responsiblefor which works.The book fell short on the oh-so-critical graphicdescriptions, leaving the reader to her own imagination.If my imaginationcut it, I wouldn't buy the book.

I also felt that White Stains wasdirected to a male audience more than a female one, which disappointed meafter Delta of Venus's abiguity.White Stains was also much less daringand provocative than Nin's other work.

This is certainly a quality workof erotica, just not up to snuff compared to Nin's other sexy tales. ... Read more

Product Description
The author's experiences in Greenwich Village, where she defends young writers against the Establishment, and her trip across the country in an old Ford to California and Mexico. "[Nin is] one of the most extraordinary and unconventional writers of this century" (New York Times Book Review). Edited and with a Preface by Gunther Stuhlmann; Index.
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Customer Reviews (2)

A. NIn
Bought this book for a friend and never read it.Sorry , I can't review it.

Offers No Sense of Artistic Evolution
This volume was the fourth in the published series of expurgated diaries beginning with the 1931 manuscript diaries of the prolific Anais Nin.

Unfortunately, although this volume begins with diary entries written some thirteen years after those in the first published volume, the reader has no sense that Nin's craft of diary-keeping as an art form evolved or matured in those thirteen years. It is impossible to tell whether this stems from Nin's habit of editing and reworking her material over the years, thus possibly refining early entries until they were on a par with her later work, or whether Nin was simply never able to improve on her first work inspired by her meeting Henry Miller.

Deidre Bair's biography of Nin reveals the interesting tidbit that Nin stopped keeping diaries in volume form some time during 1946, partway through this volume. After 1946 (particularly since Nin soon found herself living with two men, one on each coast), she jotted down notes on whatever papers were handy and tossed the notes into manila folders. The decrease in quality associated with this apparent lack of care shows, I think, as this volume progresses.

The life she was then leading, although distracting her from the diary, hardly constituted a work of art in and of itself. Nin spends much of this volume "ensorcelling" teenage boys as a woman in her forties. She declares frequently that she identifies with the young, and surrounds herself with them in preference to the rigid folks her own age. A more jaded view of Nin's behavior at this time is that men her own age were able to see through her games in a way that boys did not have the life experience to do. Although she frequently claims tremendous insight and understanding of psychoanalysis, she is ultimately blind to the uglier aspects of the larger patterns of her life at this time.

Because this is the expurgated version of the diary, this volume omits a critical event: Anais's meeting Rupert Pole, whom she would later marry, in 1947.

Verdict: only for hardcore Anais Nin fans. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Author's first novel, a dream-like reverie, stands among her most-challenging.With illustrations. First published by the Villa Seurat Press (Henry Miller'sshort-lived imprint in Paris.) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Background research may be necessary
HOUSE OF INCEST is a very slim volume of 72 pages. Naturally, I expected to be done with this oddly titled book in one sitting. After reading the brief introductions, with references to the author spitting out her heart and an Indian making a flute out of the bones of his dead wife, I realized this was a book unlike any other I'd seen. I struggled to relate and to understand, but after about 10 minutes on one page, I had a headache. I put the book down, but was determined to figure out what the heck Anais Nin was talking about.

I turned to many other sources for clarification. ANAIS NIN: A BIOGRAPHY by Deirdre Bair was the first outside source. Bair explains that the main supporting character of "Sabina" is none other than June Miller, the notorious second wife of Henry Miller (who appears as "Mona" in Miller's TROPIC OF CANCER). Then I turned to ANAIS NIN READER, which contains introductory essays explaining that the incest referred to in the title is not literal but symbolic. But far, far above the rest, the most helpful was ANAIS NIN: AN INTRODUCTION by Benjamin Franklin V and Duane Schneider; I learned here that HOUSE OF INCEST is not a conventional story by any means. Rather, HOUSE OF INCEST is an exploration of the narrator's subconscious state (very few passages in this book, the two introductory pages for example, reveal the narrator's conscious state). The main theme of HOUSE OF INCEST is the relationship between the narrator and Sabina; but the narrator eventually realizes that her fascination with Sabina is merely a fascination with an aspect of herself, hence the metaphorical incest for which this volume is named. Finally, I understood this book! Finally, I enjoyed it! Now, I love it and think it's brilliant and am glad it was not so easy to get through at first.

If labyrinths, puzzles, and psychology interest you, then you may find HOUSE OF INCEST has something to offer. But a word of caution: even though the over-riding theme is not of literal incest, there is one instance where it is: "... there sat Lot with his hand upon his daughter's breast," Anais writes on page 52, "while the city burned behind them." HOUSE OF INCEST was Anais Nin's first work of fiction, published in 1936 - nearly 40 years before the publication of the famous diaries. Deirdre Bair explains that Nin was already publishing aspects of her diary as fiction, though attempting to disguise the more painful details. Bair writes that in this instance Nin was not successful.

A Wonderful Dream
This book was a captivating dream.I've read it over and over again and enjoy it each time.

I would give this a 0if I could
This is a nothing book, I mean literally, this book contains NOTHING.No story. No plot. No ending.INCEST?.....there is none, there are not even any people in it.

Nin's powerful language
Anais has such a command of the language found in the undercurrents of our existence.I found each page to move me more, and more deeply.Agreed, this book is not for everyone.It will at best, confuse the simple-minded. It can intoxicate, inspire, and evoke extrodinary compassion for the restof us.

PERFECT!
The most nearly perfect book I have ever read in my entire lifetime.It's like reading a drug: hypnotic, mesmerizing, dream-like.A prose-poem from heaven. . . ... Read more

Product Description
The final volume ends as the author wished-not with her last two years of pain but at a joyous, reflective moment on a trip to Bali. "One of the most remarkable diaries in the history of letters" (Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times). Edited and with a Preface by Gunther Stuhlmann; Index; photographs.
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Customer Reviews (1)

a beautiful book
I read it some time ago... but I do remember the equanimity of Anaïs when she faced suffering, cancer, and death. In this diary, - as in most of her last diaries - the writer is hidden in a specific way. She does not speak to much directly about herself... her feelings. etc., She writes about art, the movies she liked, books, her correspondence with artists or writers (like the argentinian Julio Cortázar), or her trips to Japan, and Bali. She tried to think of death as a "joyous transformation", a release of the spirit, so it can visit all other lifes. A beautiful book. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

excellent
This used book was in excellent condition. I was told it would come in 4-6 weeks. It arrived in a couple of days!!Just when I finished the first volume!

a woman searching
Anais Nin here begins her series of beautiful, thought-provoking diaries. The seeds of her long journey of self-discovery begin here. Although the reader will not encounter the germination until much later, a look at thepath Nin set out for herself provides interesting insights into humanbehavior, the nature of international relationships and challengingperceptions. Whatever your personal opinion of Nin's life might be, hers isa story well worth reading--if only for the beautiful manner in which sheconstructs it. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

A. Nin
I bought this book for a friend and have not read it.I cannot review a book I have not read.

Anais Nin deserves more attention!
As a graduate of an English Lit program, I was very disappointed to have discovered Anais Nin so late.Her writings, though accessible to the average reader, are significant in terms of the subjects of gender-identity and -role theories, feminism, and other concepts discussed in the realm of academia.Aside from that, this collection of Nin's essays covers a range of topics and reminds readers of the progress women (specifically, but not only) have made over the past several decades.Nin also reminds us that we are not where we should be in terms of equality.Her words are certainly food for thought for anyone interested in what it means to live as an artist or creative soul in a world where ideas are only as successful as their marketability.

For fans of Anais Nin
This is a little collection of essays, each about 3 - 5 pages long. The essays are divided into three sections: Women and Men (essays on feminism, and the eponymous essay, etc.); Writing, Music, and Films (tribute to Ingmar Bergman, a review of a Henry Jaglom film, etc.); and, Enchanted Places (Fez, Bali, etc.).

Two types of people will purchase this slim book: a) admirers of Nin who want every publication of hers on their shelves; and b) admirers of Nin who happen to stumble across it while looking for remaindered books at discount book stores, and make an impulse purchase.

I was the latter. The best thing about the book is that for very little investment in time, I can be exposed to myriad of topics. Her essays on Henry Jaglom and Edgar Varese have piqued my curiosity; the tribute to Ingmar Bergman opened my eyes to films I had not seen (if that makes sense); and the essay on Fez brought back great memories of my one incredulous day there some years ago.

I did not pay much attention to the essays on feminism; as I started to read them, they either felt dated, or I had long since absorbed the mantra.

If nothing else, it's a great conversation opener without taking up much space. Even though I gave it only three stars, I would buy it again; there are some 3-star books that everyone needs to have on their shelves.

how did she become famous?
I picked up this book for the title essay.Since she is "famous," I assumed the author would be a good writer.I can't believe the low quality of these essays.The title essay has no content--it is nothing that goes nowhere, written in prose that nobody would want to read.Her work is assertive rather than analytic, speculative, or highly descriptive.The only interest it has is political.

Some books sink into our consciouness
There is no simple way to explain the meaning of human relationships. Anyone who believes that our socialization as human beings can be easily understood should read 'In Favor of the Sensitive Man'.

The twenty seven pieces included cover Nin's main interest: feminine sexuality, human relationships, and eroticism. The book is divided into 3 sections: Women and Men, "Writing, Music, and Films", Enchanted Places. A book as intelligent as this about human interaction had to written by a someone with a background in psychology and a keen inner awareness.

Anais Nin (1903-1977) was born in France. She began to keep a journal of her life in 1914, when her father, composer Joaquin Nin abandon the family. These journals were published in 1966 and lifted Nin from obscurity into the celebrity. Nin studied psychoanalysis under Otto Rank and practiced as a therapist in New York. At some point, she was even a patient of Carl Jung.

As Nin writes, there are books which we read early in life, which sink into our consciouness. I read the famous Nin "dairies" in my teens. I am convinced that Anais' is a brilliant woman and a gifted writer. This book is a confirmation of those beliefs.


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Customer Reviews (1)

Enticing
I had never heard of this effort until I saw it in a used book store. Well, now I know, and I'm glad of it. This collaboration places passagess from Nin's diaries next to Boyce's exciting line drawings. The images don't illustrate the text in any literal way. Instead they depict the same general spirit as Nin's writing, happy, articulate, and very physical.

Most drawings appear one to a page or two-page spread. That large scale helps the viewer extract all the detail from these delightful renderings. Although the larger forms of each drawing are easy to read, details sometimes take a little effort to pick out. These sensual and overtly sexual drawings are worth the effort. Boyce's style shows many influences; imagine figures from Beatles-era Peter Max psychedelia (this book comes from the mid 1970s, after all) drawn with Aubrey Beardsley's pen. Now add more of the Art Nouveau flow, and a Cubist's tendency to put multiple moments and perspectives into each image. Then let these surreal figures become willowy, not just in their long lines, but also in willow's rubbery flexibility.

The drawings pair well with Nin's energetic if oblique eroticism. In geometry, an "oblique" can can also be obtuse; in the limit, an obtuse angle becomes a flat line. Unfortunately, the analogy sometimes holds. Parts of Nin's indirection lose me; her oblique descriptions occasionally become obtuse and occasionally fall flat.

Even so, this collection conveys warm and eager eroticism in both ways, verbal and visual. The intensity never becomes harsh; it's a gentle kind of power between happy participants. The pictures become explicit at times, but (like Nin's writing) engage the imagination as well. Enjoy!

-- wiredweird ... Read more

Product Description
A bridge between the early life of Nin and the first volume of her Diary. In pages more candid than in the preceding diaries, Nin tells how she exorcised the obsession that threatened her marriage and nearly drove her to suicide. Editor's Note by Rupert Pole; Preface by Joaquin Nin-Culmell; Index; photographs.
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Customer Reviews (6)

The Beginning of a Great Advenure
I had the distinct advantage when reading this chronologically first Nin diary of knowing little about her, and having never read any of her diaries or books.About half way through I ordered the other 3 early diaries, all 7 later diaries and the 4 volumes of unexpurgated material that represented diary materials left out of the ones she published during her lifetime.I am so looking forward to reading all of these in chronological order.In all of literature is there a more extensive, detailed look into another person's private life and thoughts?What an adventure this will be.

This first volume covers Nin's entries from ages 11 to 17.The level of writing, description, and psychological insight contained here is astounding for a girl of pre-teen and teenage years.So amazing that I finally came to the conclusion that there is no way a 15 year old could come up with some of the subtle observations about human nature and behavior contained herein.No way.Apparently, Nin read her older diaries numerous times over the years.My guess is that when she went back to these diaries in her adulthood, at times she added comments and details not written originally.There is nothing wrong or disingenuous about that, especially since the apparent adult added material is so educational and perceptive.I do wish however, that the editor if possible, could have indicated what was the original material and what was added later on.Perhaps, it was not possible to ascertain when portions and additions were written.As a case in point, there is no way a 12 year old wrote this, "I forget the earth, I forget everything, and I soar into an infinite without misery and without end.When my free spirit escapes from the powerful claws of that mortal enemy, the World, it seems to me I find what I wanted."World-weary cynicism at age 12?

This diary picks up speed being especially poignant as Anais experiences first innocent love.Surprisingly the story of her evolution never lags.The writing itself is miraculous, for any age.What an irony that this young girl often wondered how she might eventually write poems and novels to become a famous writer, and didn't have the slightest clue that that fame was being realized in the words she was writing at that momentin these diaries.She was to become the most famous, and infamous, diarist of the 20th century.Little did she see that, until decades later.The lesson seems to be to follow your instinctive creative impulses and desires, and if you do have any genius in you, it will show itself where your spirit leads your path.Instinct and interest are God's hands gently showing you the way.

Amazingly different!
I've never read one of Anais Nin's early diaries and I can tell from the very beginning that this volume is way different from her latest diaries. This volume acts like a transition between her young, unspoiled perspective upon life and her mature, sensual way of living.
I enjoyed reading Anais Nin at the age of 24 - because she seemed rather naive and seeking answers, yet beginning to develop into the amazing woman she later became.

Good background, but not for the casual reader
This book is pretty interesting if you've already read a good deal of Anais Nin's diary. Her early years are somewhat nondescript as European children go, however, so there isn't much here for the historian or for those who like their memoirs spicy and strange (cf Running With Scissors). If you are a serious Nin fan, you'll probably want to read this, but you aren't missing much if you don't. If you're not really a fan, you won't find much of interest here.

Prelude to the Storm
For fans of Anais Nin, this unedited early diary is a must.Written in the years immediately preceding the events revealed in her books HENRY AND JUNE and INCEST, this diary is the connecting link that reveals how a virtuous, loving wife became a wild adventurous.The writing is simply gorgeous;you'll be amazed at how polished and vivid her discriptions of life in Paris of the 1920s were (and yes, this book was printed AS IS from the original journals).Ironically, she describes her initial disgust with Parisian "sensuality," as well as her growing acceptance and eventual delight with the city.She describes her homes, friends, and her interest in Spanish dance.But perhaps most importantly, she describes her marriage to Hugh Guiler, a man she loves but who does not satisfy her physically.Read this book so as to understand how Anais was eventually driven into the arms of Henry Miller.

Modest Beginnings
This volume of writing offers the careful reader glimpses of Anais Nin before she reinvented herself. Or does it? One can never be sure with Nin.

The girl who became Anais Nin, scandalous diarist, was clearly highly articulate, and determined to live a life of Art and Passion, even when her mother was making her do housework as a teenager in their modest rental house in Queens. It provides agentle introduction to her life and times, and a fascinating contrast to searing works such as _Incest_, taken from diary material written some twenty or so years later. One also gets some interesting views of early-twentieth century New York City.

The book, taken in the context of Nin's later work, offers evidence that we become what we most want to be. Dreamer, beware! ... Read more