Henry Miller, the Paris years
By: by Brassaï ; translated from the French by Timothy Bent ; with photographs by the author.
Edition: 1st  English language ed.
Publisher: Arcade Pub.; Distributed by Litle, Brown and Co.
Published: 1995
Place of publication: New York; [Boston, Mass.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 224
Subjects: Miller, Henry, 1891-  -- Homes and haunts -- France -- Paris.; Brassaï, 1899-  -- Friends and associates.; Americans -- France -- Paris -- History -- 20th century.; Authors, American -- 20th century -- Biography.; Paris (France) -- Intellectual life -- 20th century.
Description: Miller didn't just inhabit Paris, he devoured it. Not the Paris of the guidebooks, but the City of Light's lurid backways and backwaters, the dens of vice where he could slough off the pale cast of American puritanism and embrace the hedonistic facts of life. The Parisian life of the "Happy Rock," as Miller liked to call himself, was a turbulent quest for new sensations and avenues, a roisterous, slumming exploration of the soul.

This world Miller shared with Brassai, whose work, first collected in Paris by Night, established him as one of the greatest photographers of our century. Miller and Brassai's friendship was a recognition of kindred spirits, born of mutual admiration for each other's tireless, restless fascination with Paris and its inhabitants.

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In Miller, Brassai found his most compelling subject. Using unpublished letters, recollected conversations, and references to Miller's work - and featuring sixteen unforgettable examples of Brassai's photography - Henry Miller: The Paris Years is an intimate account of a writer's self-discovery, seen through the unblinking eye of a master photographer. Brassai delves into Miller's relationships with Anais Nin and Lawrence Durrell, as well as his hopelessly tangled though wildly inspiring marriage to June.

Brassai remembers Miller's favorite cafes and haunts, revives Miller's idols and anathemas (chief among which, a steady job), and evokes their shared passion for the street life of a Montparnasse and Montmartre captured, even during those depression years, in a dazzling moment of illumination.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-224).