I first attempted to read Henry Miller’s, Tropic of Cancer when I was 13. I read somewhere that it was a dirty book; I knew I had to get my hands on it to find this out for myself. I made it through the first chapter, and I was done. I didn’t understand it at all. Instead, I read Erica Jong’s, Fear of Flying, which I did understand and which I did think was dirty. The upside of this is that Erica Jong to this day remains one of my favorite writers. Check out Jong’s Fanny: Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones and you’ll understand why I love her writing.

Many years later I picked up a copy of Tropic of Cancer fully intending to finally read this. Of course, it ended up in TBR Hell. Skip ahead a few more years, ~~ summer 2023 ~~ my friend Ted mentions he is reading Henry Miller on his trip to Greece. This spurred me on. I knew it was time to finally enter Henry Miller’s world … and what a world it is.

Telling the tale of a young, American writer and the sordid life he leads in bohemian Paris in the 1930s, we witness Henry's encounters with prostitutes, pimps and penniless artists.

Boldly written to be crude, charming and energic throughout, Miller melds fact and fiction to deliver a book whose prose is often madly self-indulgent ~~ in the best possible way ~~ offering a sordid view of Paris as the backdrop. Miller depicts Paris as a magical place, a shrine for artists and wanderers. A profound read, Tropic of Cancer is an exploration of what it truly means to be happy ~~ Miller discovers the answer is never as simple as it seems.

So, is Tropic of Cancer a dirty book as I would have described it in my youth? No. To define Tropic of Cancer as a dirty book or pornography is to miss the point. Miller wants to be disapproved of; it is written to offend. Women are stripped of all their humanity. They are instead deceitful demons who lure men to their doom. Men don’t come off much better ~~ except for Miller ~~ he is the Bacchus of this world ~~ a prophet and poet ~~ who has nothing but contempt for humanity. Miller writes the world is a cancer eating itself away. Here, people are no more than animals; they live to eat~~fuck~~sleep.

Beyond all this what is most shocking about Tropic of Cancer is not its portrayal of sex, but its sexism.

In the end, what most impressed me about Tropic of Cancer? The writing. Miller's writing is breathtakingly beautiful ~~ Miller accomplishes his goal to elevate narrative and write it as he’s not only living in the moment, but writing in the moment as well.