Henry Miller

"Who are you henry miller? “all of henry miller’s work,” writes jay morten, “constitutes the autobiography of his legend, not of his life.”1 in his writings this american writer(1891-1980) gives**pression to his real self—or so some argue—and/or creates another self, an imaginative construct which involves an “obliteration or at least a masking of self.”1 to morten miller invents himself; a strong aroma of his personality hovers about his writings, impressing readers with an assurance of authenticity. -ron price with thanks to 1jay morten, always merry and bright: the life of henry miller-an unauthorized biography, capra press, santa barbara, 1978, p.vii. you say, henry, that you don’t tell the whole story of your life, never will...you have so little of it down on paper and you even lie to throw all the bastards off track, eh henry? elaborate webs of guesswork, sheer invention and dubious assumptions about the information-giving ability of fiction, friends know fragment of your life—and that with them—such small fragments they all have henry, eh? oh to drive beneath and beyond the façade into the chambers of hearts, the corridors of imagination, eh henry? no work of biography, no few hundred pages can recreate a life, eh henry? eh? you wanted none of this writing business, this writing as if someone knew about you. and so i cling to the moment, the mundane trifle, rooms, streets, houses, those tentative gropings toward self-understanding, try to stay as close to the life lived, to catch myself at the point just before my imagination buries its origins. As you once said henry, you had a thousand faces, all of them very genuine, eh? motives, perspective, awkward, tangled reality of life, as gibbon once said, are far too complex to penetrate below the surface.1 how did your mind work, henry? who are you henry miller? 1 david womersley, the transformation of the decline and fall of the roman empire, cambridge university press, cambridge, 1988, p. 280. ron price 17 november 2008"