Chron.litteraire- Tropique du Cancer par Henry Miller -critique (2001)- EN ANGLAIS
En 2001, j'écrivais des critiques anglaises, démontrant en quelque sorte ma versatilité dans les langues, ceci est un exemple de chronique que j'avais écrit sur le site de Livevideo.com , puis par la suite, j'ai supprimé mon compte de làbas. Je ne sais si c'était aussi bon en Français, mais ce qui est certain, sont que mes textes anglais sont beaucoup courts que mes textes actuels dans la longueur des mots. Alors, j'ai déniché de mes archives, cette critique sur Henry Miller, puisqu'en 2001, j'explorais largement ses deux livres, Tropique du Cancer et Tropique du Capricorne, et pour finir Max et les Phagocytes.
Chief justice Micheal Musmanno proclaimed this, whenever he was talking about this famous book, in question, going along the lines of : "Cancer" (as the book was then called before) is not a book, it's a cesspool, an open sewer, a pit of putrefaction, a slimy gathering of all that is rotten in the debris of human deprativity".
Well it's not completely false as it isn't completely true either. Let's just say you have no leg to stand on in your complete and bias vilification. I just think of it, as an interesting romance novel for guys, which doesn't have the idiotic and predictable love story plot woven inside, like the confortable attaché-case you're accustomed to bring.
To Musmanno : Well no shit sherlock, you found that out, all by yourself, or you needed help from mommy and daddy. But I prefer to think that mommy and daddy were long freaking dead, before they could have helped you out with all that serious job for making your little senile book reports. Seriously folks. OF COURSE, the book is filled with rampant sex wall to wall, it was the man's life. Why would he lie about his life ? Because to me, everything seems true and the narrator - which is Miller himself - becomes a very genuine person, even though his person passes into sex the 3/4 of the time.. For 1930, or the end of the 1930s, every fact about the times seems true today as it was then.
Well moving on, according to great a novelist George Orwell, anyway, the author of 1984, and Animal Farm, Orwell went on to declare that the book was one of the most important books written in the mid-20th Century, and that for excellent reasons. The main thing is the rapport that the author has with his own friends and quite especially the women he meets that all happen to be prostitutes, and not often the girl next door. Miller was never himself interested in the girl next door, but the complete debauchery of perverted parisian hookers, during his immensely long stay in France.
For content, the book is suprisingly good, although the novel itself mainly focuses on the narrator's life in Paris, France and throughout Europe. But as much as for content, Miller's book is an exposé of the decadency of his own time, which passes through his life. It's also a confession of Miller's own personnal thoughts about the hypocrisies of every character in the book, to the people he sometimes befriends for the moment being, to the socialites and college friends whom he used to hang out. Actually, Miller speaks about the often disguised truth of the narcissistic evil of his friends and strangers. In the book itself, he nevers grows accustomed to anybody's company, and people will often piss him off, and starts to feel that he is being taken for "granted". What you can learn from the book, is Miller's exasperation with the mediocrity of the world around him, and being himself mediocre in the process : dead-end copytaking job, his huge alcoholism by painting the town red everynight.
Now I know, that some of you are going to start reading this because the abundant wall-to-wall sex that doesn't seem to stop. And of course, the sometimes funny and interesting sex stories contained inside, simply awaiting your voyeuristic pleasure. LOL ! I can probably think that this book was way ahead of it's time, probably way ahead of Madonna before.
Lastly for the style, Miller's writting style as a novelist, isn't something that is quite impressive, being the fact that larges portions of the novel sometimes lack a certain cohesion. Well at least for me. Miller's style has of course the sobriety of a journalistic style. Which for a novel, you're never quite suposse to do, in any way, because writing a novel is never like writing an article. Too much attention has to paid, and you need to know how to make your story and your characters alive, as well as consistant. Miller has the maddening habit of always summarizing, instead of going in depth through descriptions about the situations he present. To describe, sometimes brings everything to life, as much as you can smell everything that is going on. And Miller does none of that.
The story itself is a compilation of Miller's own personal key experiences in Paris going from his lavish partier lifestyle in brothels, to his many companionships, and his life at work, pretty much like an autobiography, but not being completely one, because you can tell easily that some parts of fictional. Why, because some sex scenes even border on the complete ridiculous, that you don't believe entirely what you're reading.
The book is a must, it's simply a great erotic piece of fiction that delves with great accuracy in the close relationships of men and women alike, could it be now or for Miller's day.
See ya.
Max
ML.
Le 27 août 2011
Well it's not completely false as it isn't completely true either. Let's just say you have no leg to stand on in your complete and bias vilification. I just think of it, as an interesting romance novel for guys, which doesn't have the idiotic and predictable love story plot woven inside, like the confortable attaché-case you're accustomed to bring.
To Musmanno : Well no shit sherlock, you found that out, all by yourself, or you needed help from mommy and daddy. But I prefer to think that mommy and daddy were long freaking dead, before they could have helped you out with all that serious job for making your little senile book reports. Seriously folks. OF COURSE, the book is filled with rampant sex wall to wall, it was the man's life. Why would he lie about his life ? Because to me, everything seems true and the narrator - which is Miller himself - becomes a very genuine person, even though his person passes into sex the 3/4 of the time.. For 1930, or the end of the 1930s, every fact about the times seems true today as it was then.
Well moving on, according to great a novelist George Orwell, anyway, the author of 1984, and Animal Farm, Orwell went on to declare that the book was one of the most important books written in the mid-20th Century, and that for excellent reasons. The main thing is the rapport that the author has with his own friends and quite especially the women he meets that all happen to be prostitutes, and not often the girl next door. Miller was never himself interested in the girl next door, but the complete debauchery of perverted parisian hookers, during his immensely long stay in France.
For content, the book is suprisingly good, although the novel itself mainly focuses on the narrator's life in Paris, France and throughout Europe. But as much as for content, Miller's book is an exposé of the decadency of his own time, which passes through his life. It's also a confession of Miller's own personnal thoughts about the hypocrisies of every character in the book, to the people he sometimes befriends for the moment being, to the socialites and college friends whom he used to hang out. Actually, Miller speaks about the often disguised truth of the narcissistic evil of his friends and strangers. In the book itself, he nevers grows accustomed to anybody's company, and people will often piss him off, and starts to feel that he is being taken for "granted". What you can learn from the book, is Miller's exasperation with the mediocrity of the world around him, and being himself mediocre in the process : dead-end copytaking job, his huge alcoholism by painting the town red everynight.
Now I know, that some of you are going to start reading this because the abundant wall-to-wall sex that doesn't seem to stop. And of course, the sometimes funny and interesting sex stories contained inside, simply awaiting your voyeuristic pleasure. LOL ! I can probably think that this book was way ahead of it's time, probably way ahead of Madonna before.
Lastly for the style, Miller's writting style as a novelist, isn't something that is quite impressive, being the fact that larges portions of the novel sometimes lack a certain cohesion. Well at least for me. Miller's style has of course the sobriety of a journalistic style. Which for a novel, you're never quite suposse to do, in any way, because writing a novel is never like writing an article. Too much attention has to paid, and you need to know how to make your story and your characters alive, as well as consistant. Miller has the maddening habit of always summarizing, instead of going in depth through descriptions about the situations he present. To describe, sometimes brings everything to life, as much as you can smell everything that is going on. And Miller does none of that.
The story itself is a compilation of Miller's own personal key experiences in Paris going from his lavish partier lifestyle in brothels, to his many companionships, and his life at work, pretty much like an autobiography, but not being completely one, because you can tell easily that some parts of fictional. Why, because some sex scenes even border on the complete ridiculous, that you don't believe entirely what you're reading.
The book is a must, it's simply a great erotic piece of fiction that delves with great accuracy in the close relationships of men and women alike, could it be now or for Miller's day.
See ya.
Max
ML.
Le 27 août 2011
