 | Renegade: Henry Miller and the Making of @quot;Tropic of Cancer@quot; Subjects: Miller Henry 1891–1980 -- Criticism and interpretation; Miller Henry 1891–1980. Tropic of cancer; Politics and literature -- United States -- History -- 20th century; Authors and publishers -- United States -- History -- 20th century; Publishers and p; Turner's latest plunge into Henry Miller's epic life brims with zeal for both Miller and his fiction. Turner (Into the Heart of Life: Henry Miller at One Hundred) argues that Tropic of Cancer's storied history reflects that of the nation, and to prove it he delves into 200 years of folk heroes and pop culture-which results in questionable digressions. The mythologizing German boy from Brooklyn, whose family had a strain of mental illness and anti-Semitism, becomes the adult who pursues his sexual compulsions in Times Square and goes on to befriend prostitutes in Parisian slums. As an autodidact, Miller begins writing several novels, one about a wife who runs away with a female lover, and another with the help of his lover Anais Nin. Turner artfully obscures details missing in Miller's "violently anti-literary" life, but occasionally tries to thicken the plot with bizarre, unnecessary psychologizing. Though the book succeeds as a biography, as the making of Tropic of Cancer it proves underwhelming. Agent: Robin Straus Agency. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Frederick Turner is the author or editor of a dozen books, including Into the Heart of Life: Henry Miller at One Hundred . He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. |
