ALWAYS MERRY AND BRIGHT

Henry Miller

With the 1934 publication of Tropic of Cancer in France, Henry Miller made his debut as a major writer on the world stage.  In the United States, however, the book was declared  obscene, and no publisher dared to publish or market it for twenty-seven years.  Sadly, the much-trumpeted constitutional right of free speech offered Miller no protection, at least initially, from the puritanical obsessions that were ingrained in American culture during that period.

Ironically, as one might have expected, the American ban on Tropic of Cancer served only to enhance Miller's reputation, both here and abroad.  The Saturday Review of Literature called Miller "the largest force lately risen on the horizon of American letters;" Ezra Pound announced that the world, at last, had "an unprintable book that is fit to read;" and George Orwell claimed -- perhaps excessively -- that Miller was "the only imaginative prose-writer of the slightest value who has appeared among the English-speaking races for some years past."

To its everlasting credit, Grove Press finally mustered the courage to publish Tropic of Cancer in 1961, knowing full well that the company would be charged with violations of state and federal obscenity laws. When the charges were filed, Grove devoted considerable time and money in the defense of Miller's constitutional rights of freedom of speech and expression.  While the lower courts were not sympathetic with Grove's assertions,  Miller's position was finally vindicated in 1964 when the  Supreme Court ruled that Tropic of Cancer was not obscene, but was instead a legitimate work of literature.  Unfortunately, however, the damage to Miller's reputation had already been done. Even to this day, Miller's name is often associated with hedonism and obscenity, especially among those who have never taken the time to read a broad sampling of his writings.

In The Books in My Life, Miller said this about his works and his life:

What were the subjects which formed my style, my character, my approach to life.  Broadly these: The love of life itself, the pursuit of truth, wisdom and understanding, mystery, the power of language, the antiquity and glory of man, eternality, the purpose of existence, the oneness of everything, self-liberation, the brotherhood of man, the meaning of love, the relation of sex to love, the enjoyment of sex, humor, oddities, and eccentricities in all life's aspects, travel, adventure, discovery, prophecy, magic (white and black), art, games, confessions, revelations, mysticism, more particularly the mystics themselves, the varieties of faith and worship, the marvelous in all realms and under all aspects, for there is only the marvelous and nothing but the marvelous.

According to my count, Miller has identified over thirty subjects that underpinned his work, and, interestingly, only two involve sex.  It is the fear of sexual content, however, that has kept so many potential readers from considering the extraordinary works of this fine and gifted writer.  And for those who continue to be somewhat apprehensive about  Tropic of Cancer, it is worth noting that the autobiographical novel was on Time magazine's 2005 list of the best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.

Set forth below are some brief excerpts from Miller's writing.  Hopefully, these excerpts  will illustrate the scope of his interests and encourage readers to reconsider some of his work.

On Acceptance --

Life, as we all know, is conflict, and man, being part of life, is himself an expression of conflict.  If he recognizes the fact and accepts it, he is apt, despite the conflict, to know peace and to enjoy it.  But to arrive at this end, which is only a beginning (for we haven't begun to live yet!), man has got to learn the doctrine of acceptance, that is, of unconditional surrender, which is love.

        The Wisdom of the Heart

This doctrine of acceptance, the most difficult yet simple of all the radical ideas man has proposed to himself, embodies the understanding that the world is made up of conflicting members in all stages of evolution and devolution, that good and evil co-exist even though the one be but the shadow of the other, and that the world, for all it ills and shortcomings, was made for our enjoyment.

        Stand Still Like a Hummingbird

On Solitude --

Only when we are truly alone does the fullness and richness of life reveal itself to us.

        Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

On Trust -- 

The key word is trust.  Trust that everything that happens in life, even those experiences that cause pain, will serve to better you in the end.  It's easy to lose the inner vision, the greater truths, in the face of tragedy. There really is no such thing as suffering simply for the sake of suffering. Along with developing a basic trust in the rhyme and reason of life itself, I advise you to trust your intuition.  It is a far better guide in the long run than your intellect.

       Reflections

On Harmony with Life --

When God answers Job cosmologically it is to remind man that he is only a part of creation, that it is his duty to put himself in accord with it or perish.  When man puts his head out of the stream of life he becomes self-conscious.  And with self-consciousness comes arrest, fixation, symbolized so vividly by the myth of Narcissus.

        The Books of My Life

On Destiny --

Every man has his own destiny: The only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.

        The Wisdom of the Heart

On Individuality --

Let a man believe in himself and he will find a way to exist despite the barriers and traditions which hem him in.

        Stand Still Like a Hummingbird


On Understanding --

Understanding is not a piercing of the mystery, but an acceptance of it, a living blissfully with it, in it, through it and by it.

        The Wisdom of the Heart

On the Miraculous --

When you are convinced that all the exits are blocked, either you take to believing in miracles or you stand still like the hummingbird.  The miracle is that the honey is always there, right under your nose, only you were too busy searching elsewhere to realize it.  The worst is not death but being blind, blind to the fact that everything about life is in the nature of the miraculous.

        Stand Still Like a Hummingbird


On Seeing Properly --

One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.

        Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch


On Happiness --

Man craves happiness here on earth, not fulfillment, not emancipation.  Are they utterly deluded, then, in seeking happiness?  No, happiness is desirable, but it is a by-product, the result of a way of life, not a goal which is forever beyond one's grasp.  Happiness is achieved en route.  And if it be ephemeral, as most men believe, it can also give way, not to anxiety or despair, but to a joyousness which is serene and lasting.  To make happiness the goal is to kill it in advance.  If one must have a goal, which is questionable, why not self-realization?

       Stand Still Like a Hummingbird


These quotes are just some of the passages that have been underlined through the years in my copies of Miller's books.  I revisit the books frequently, interested always in the underlined passages, wondering if I have made progress on the questions that Miller has raised. And that's what Miller does best -- he is always challenging me to take a new look at the assumptions that underpin my life.

The title of this posting, "always merry and bright," was Henry Miller's motto.  Spend a little time with Miller and you are likely to feel, as I do, that his merriment can be contagious.