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Title: Incest: From "A Journal of Love" -The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin (1932-1934) by Anaïs Nin ISBN: 0-15-644300-7 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: September, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (9 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: But yet, you kept reading ...
Comment: Regardless of the subject matter, Anais Nin is an incredible writer and her way with words was probably part of her charm in life. Her ability to describe even the most perverted behavior as something transcendent and meaningful probably was the ability that kept her circle of lovers around her. She could make the most petty behavior seem poetic by her descriptions and that's seductive to someone caught in a relationship with such a person.
I read the journals of Anais Nin not because I identify with her, or even sympathise with her, but because I enjoy the way she makes every small event of her life seem like something elevated and rife with meaning. I am fascinated by the lurid details and by the paradox of all her affairs, were these men sexually abusing her, or was she using them? It seems, somehow both.
And there's a little bit of teenage angst still lurking inside me that was never cured. The part of me that still listens to the Smiths and loves Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton adores Anais Nin and her glorious tragic screwed-upness.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Amazing Document
Comment: For the love of ... Are we reviewing the book, or are we critiquing the woman? We're reviewing the book, right? So why so much moralistic brouhaha about the writer's behavior? When Van Gogh's work is auctioned off for a gazillion dollars, is the fact that he was mentally ill of great concern, or is there more interest in his artistry, his skill, and his innovative and altogether original treatment of a mundane subject?
Yes, Anais Nin describes doing some things that we find disturbing. (Regarding the abortion, back in those days when very little was known about the fetus, late-term abortions were common and there was no moral dilemma. We simply can't judge her by our modern understanding. And as for her bizarre relationship with her father, one again would need to understand the context, the extremely complicated history from which the behavior arose.)
So enough of the judgments of Anais Nin's descriptions of her own behavior (does she get points for honesty?) and take a look at the writing. I simply defy anyone to describe such strange events with as much brilliance and poetry. Nin's writing is like a ballet on ice; it is stylized, feminine, passionate and strict at the same time. Who else could divulge the darkest secrets with the delicacy of a geisha serving tea?
Some day Nin's achievement will be recognized by the literary establishment. In the meantime, if you don't count yourself among the squeamish, judgmental, or easily disturbed, buy this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Goes Places I Didn't Want To Follow
Comment: This is a difficult book to read and to write about. It is technically well-written and competently edited. The subject matter is distressing and Nin's own stated approach to the subject matter is extremely odd.
Nin's own view of herself as ultimately liberated is, I think, self-serving to the point of blindness. I suppose she can be applauded for a refusal to consider herself either a "victim" or a "survivor" of childhood sexual abuse, but her revelling in it hardly seems praiseworthy. This is the voice of Nabokov's Lolita, all grown up and returning compulsively to the taboos which were broken for her before she was of an age to express or understand consent. Therefore she is more to be pitied than scorned, though she probably would not welcome either reaction to her.
I became convinced as I read further that Nin was seriously mentally ill. Her viewing her compulsions as her own free choice was a part of her illness. It's a good thing she never raised any children.
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Title: Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love" -The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin (1931-1932) by Anais Nin ISBN: 015640057X Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 29 October, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Fire: From "A Journal of Love" The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1934-1937 by Anaïs Nin ISBN: 0156003902 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: July, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Diary of Anais Nin: Vol. 1 (1931-1934) by Anais Nin ISBN: 0156260255 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: June, 1969 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Literate Passion: Letters of Anaïs Nin & Henry Miller, 1932-1953 by Anais Nin, Henry Miller ISBN: 015652791X Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: April, 1989 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, Karl Jay Shapiro, Anais Nin ISBN: 0802131786 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: June, 1989 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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