Henry and June by Anaïs Nin (1986)
By Taylor Jasmine | On January 5, 2017 | Updated May 24, 2023 | Comments (0)
From the 1986 Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich edition of Henry and June by Anaïs Nin: This autobiographical account of Anaïs Nin’s sexual awakening is without parallel in modern letters.
Drawn from the unexpurgated Paris journals of Anaïs Nin, it describes a single momentous year in her life, from late 1931 to the end of 1932, when she met Henry Miller and his wife, June. She fell in love with June’s beauty and, at first, with Henry’s writing.
Soon after June’s departure for New York, Anaïs began a fiery affair with Henry that gambled with her marriage and her idyllic existence in Louveciennes. She discovered her true sexual nature and the meaning of passion. She also discovered the unknown Henry Miller, the gentle, passive man behind the writer’s violent words.
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When Anaïs Met Henry: Nin’s Tumultuous Affair with Henry and June Miller
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Sexual neuroses and a love triangle
Burdened by her multiple loves, Anaïs eventually sought help from the eminent psychoanalyst Dr. René Allendy. As he unraveled her sexual neuroses — he himself became her suitor.
Throughout this period one question haunted Anaïs: What would happen if June return to Paris? When she did, in October 1932, Anaïs found herself trapped between two loves into sets of truths.
“What a superb game the three of us are playing,” she wrote. “Who is the demon? Who is the liar? Who is the human being? Who is the cleverest? Who the strongest? Who loves the most?”
Henry and June presents an aspect of the many-faceted Anaïs Nin never before revealed, and it holds surprising insights for women in search of their own sexual fulfillment.
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Anais Nin and Henry Miller; not from the same period
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Quotes by Anaïs Nin from Henry and June
“There are two ways to reach me: by way of kisses or by way of the imagination. But there is a hierarchy: the kisses alone don’t work.”
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“Sometimes we reveal ourselves when we are least like ourselves.”
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“What can I do with my happiness? How can I keep it, conceal it, bury it where I may never lose it? I want to kneel as it falls over me like rain, gather it up with lace and silk, and press it over myself again.”
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More about Henry and June by Anaïs Nin
- Reader discussion of Henry and June on Goodreads
- Henry and June on Wikipedia
- Film adaptation of Henry and June
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