Miller, Henry.

Biography

Henry Valentine Miller was born on December 26, 1891, in the Yorkville section of New York City to Heinrich Miller and Louise Marie Nieting, second generation Americans of German ancestry. He was raised in Brooklyn where the family moved after his first year. After graduating from high school in 1909, Miller entered City College of New York, but, unable to comform to the academic routine, left after only two months. Over the next ten years, he travelled throughout the Southwest; married the first of his five wives, pianist Beatrice Wickens; and worked at an assortment of odd jobs before becoming employment manager of the messenger department at Western Union Telegraph Company in New York City in 1920. His first unpublished work "Clipped Wings," written in 1922, is based on his experiences there. By 1924, Miller had decided to leave Western Union and devote his energies entirely to writing. Supported by his second wife, dancer June Smith, he spent several lean years in New York writing for pulp magazines and peddling his prose poems door-to-door. A 1928-1929 European tour persuaded him to pursue his career abroad; and, in 1930, Miller left the United States for Paris, where he lived until 1939. The Paris years marked a decisive decade in Miller's writing career. His first published story, "Mademoiselle Claude," appeared in a 1931 issue of the New Review; and, by the end of the following year, Miller had completed Tropic of Cancer, his largely autobiographical account of life in Paris. The novel was published in 1934 by Jack Kahane's Obelisk Press; followed, in 1936, by Black Spring and, in 1939, by Tropic of Capricorn. During this period Miller was surrounded by literary and artistic friends, including Hungarian photographer Brassai, painter Hans Reichel, and writers Anais Nin, Walter Lowenfels, Michael Fraenkel, and Alfred Perles. It was also at this time that his interest in astrology was stimulated by a meeting by a meeting with Swiss-French astrologer Conrad Moricund. In 1939, at the invitation of novelist Lawrence Durrell, Miller left Paris for a prolonged vacation in Greece -- an experience which inspired The Colossus of Maroussi (1941) -- but, with outbreak of World War II, he was forced to return to the United States in 1940. Following a twelve-month American tour, described in The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945), Miller, in 1942, moved to California. Two years later, he settled permanently on the coast at Big Sur where, over the next two decades, there grew up around him the artistic/literary colony depicted in Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch (1956). During this period -- living first with his third wife Janina Martha Lepska and their two children, and later with his fourth wife Eve McClure -- Miller revived his passion for painting with watercolors, renewed his acquaintance with astrologer Moricund, pursued his facination with Rimbaud, and resumed his autobiographical writings with the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy. The three volumes, Sexus, Plexus, and Nexus, were published in Paris in 1949, 1953, and 1959 respectively. In 1958, at a time when most of his writings were still banned in the United States, Miller was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The next year, Barney Rosset of Grove Press approached him to secure the American rights to the Tropic books; and, in 1961, Cancer was finally published in the United States (Capricorn followed in 1962 and Black Spring in 1963). The printings provolked a series of obscenity suits, but the Supreme Court, in a 1964 decision, affirmed their right of publication. An American edition of the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy appeared soon after in 1965. Miller had, by this time, already left Big Sur, moving south to Pacific Palisades to be near his children and to escape the steady flow of visitors to his home. Here he married his fifth wife, Japanese jazz singer Hiroko Tokude, in 1965. Miller died in PAcific Palisades on June 7, 1980 at the age of 88.

From the guide to the Miller, Henry. Correspondence, 1960-1981, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)

Biography

Henry Valentine Miller was born on December 26, 1891, in the Yorkville section of New York City to Heinrich Miller and Louise Marie Nieting, second generation Americans of German ancestry. He was raised in Brooklyn where the family moved after his first year. After graduating from high school in 1909, Miller entered City College of New York, but, unable to comform to the academic routine, left after only two months. Over the next ten years, he travelled throughout the Southwest; married the first of his five wives, pianist Beatrice Wickens; and worked at an assortment of odd jobs before becoming employment manager of the messenger department at Western Union Telegraph Company in New York City in 1920. His first unpublished work "Clipped Wings," written in 1922, is based on his experiences there. By 1924, Miller had decided to leave Western Union and devote his energies entirely to writing. Supported by his second wife, dancer June Smith, he spent several lean years in New York writing for pulp magazines and peddling his prose poems door-to-door. A 1928-1929 European tour persuaded him to pursue his career abroad; and, in 1930, Miller left the United States for Paris, where he lived until 1939. The Paris years marked a decisive decade in Miller's writing career. His first published story, "Mademoiselle Claude," appeared in a 1931 issue of the New Review; and, by the end of the following year, Miller had completed Tropic of Cancer, his largely autobiographical account of life in Paris. The novel was published in 1934 by Jack Kahane's Obelisk Press; followed, in 1936, by Black Spring and, in 1939, by Tropic of Capricorn. During this period Miller was surrounded by literary and artistic friends, including Hungarian photographer Brassai, painter Hans Reichel, and writers Anais Nin, Walter Lowenfels, Michael Fraenkel, and Alfred Perles. It was also at this time that his interest in astrology was stimulated by a meeting by a meeting with Swiss-French astrologer Conrad Moricund. In 1939, at the invitation of novelist Lawrence Durrell, Miller left Paris for a prolonged vacation in Greece -- an experience which inspired The Colossus of Maroussi (1941) -- but, with outbreak of World War II, he was forced to return to the United States in 1940. Following a twelve-month American tour, described in The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945), Miller, in 1942, moved to California. Two years later, he settled permanently on the coast at Big Sur where, over the next two decades, there grew up around him the artistic/literary colony depicted in Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch (1956). During this period -- living first with his third wife Janina Martha Lepska and their two children, and later with his fourth wife Eve McClure -- Miller revived his passion for painting with watercolors, renewed his acquaintance with astrologer Moricund, pursued his facination with Rimbaud, and resumed his autobiographical writings with the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy. The three volumes, Sexus, Plexus, and Nexus, were published in Paris in 1949, 1953, and 1959 respectively. In 1958, at a time when most of his writings were still banned in the United States, Miller was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The next year, Barney Rosset of Grove Press approached him to secure the American rights to the Tropic books; and, in 1961, Cancer was finally published in the United States (Capricorn followed in 1962 and Black Spring in 1963). The printings provolked a series of obscenity suits, but the Supreme Court, in a 1964 decision, affirmed their right of publication. An American edition of the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy appeared soon after in 1965. Miller had, by this time, already left Big Sur, moving south to Pacific Palisades to be near his children and to escape the steady flow of visitors to his home. Here he married his fifth wife, Japanese jazz singer Hiroko Tokude, in 1965. Miller died in PAcific Palisades on June 7, 1980 at the age of 88.

From the guide to the Miller, Henry. Correspondence, 1960-1981, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)

Henry Miller was a prolific and controversial Twentieth century author and painter. There are several book-length biographical studies of Miller, beginning with Alfred Perlès' My Friend, Henry Miller (1956), and including works by Jay Martin (1978), Mary Dearborn (1991), Béatrice Commengé (1991), and Judson Crews (1997), among others. Summary information on Miller is available in print and online biographical resources.

The following chronology provides key events and publications taken from Miller's My Life and Times (1971).

1891 Born in Yorksville section of Manhattan, New York, December 26th. Moved to Brooklyn.

1892-1900 Lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

1901 Moved to Decatur Street in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.

1909 Entered City College of New York and left after two months. Took a job with Atlas Portland Cement Company, New York.

1910 Began affair with Pauline Chouteau.

1913 Traveled through the West. Worked as a ranch hand. Met Emma Goldman.

1914 Back in New York, worked with father in his tailor shop. Met Frank Harris.

1917 Married Beatrice Sylvas Wickens of Brooklyn.

1919 Daughter Barbara Sylvas born.

1920 Worked as a messenger for several months, then became employment manager of messenger department, Western Union, New York.

1922 Wrote Clipped Wings during vacation from Western Union.

1923 Fell in love with dancer June Edith Smith.

1924 Left Western Union to devote energy to writing. Divorced Beatrice and married June Smith.

1925 Began writing career in earnest.

1927 Opened a speak-easy with June in Greenwich Village. While working for Park Department, Queens, compiled notes for autobiographical cycle of novels. Exhibited water colors in June Mansfield's roman Tavern, Greenwich Village.

1928 Toured Europe with June.

1929 Returned to New York. Completed This Gentile World .

1930 Returned to Europe alone, taking manuscript of another novel, lost by Edward Titus, editor of This Quarter, Paris.

1931-1932 Met Anaïs Nin. Began writing Tropic of Cancer . Worked as proof-reader on the Paris edition of the Chicago Tribune . Taught English at Lycee Carnot (Dijon).

1933. Took apartment with Alfred Perlès in Clichy and visited Luxembourg.

1934 Tropic of Cancer published. Divorced from June in Mexico City by proxy.

1935 Aller Retour New York published. First edition of Alf Letter appeared.

1936 Visited New York again. Black Spring published.

1937 Scenario published. Began publication of The Booster and Delta with Alfred Perlès.

1938 Began writing for French revue, Volontés . Money and How It Gets That Way published. Second edition of Alf appeared.

1939 Tropic of Capricorn and Hamlet published. Travelled in southern France and Greece.

1940 Returned to the U.S. Wrote The Colossus of Maroussi, The World of Sex, and Quiet Days in Clichy and began The Rosy Crucifixion .

1941 Travelled U.S. from October 1940 to October 1941.

1942 Left for California. Continued work on The Rosy Crucifixion and The Air-Conditioned Nightmare .

1943 Made 200-300 watercolors and exhibited at Beverly Glen (The Green House), American Contemporary Gallery, Hollywood.

1944 Married Janina Lepska in Denver, Colorado, December 18, 1944. Moved to Big Sur.

1945 Finished Sexus . Started translation of Season in Hell . Daughter Valentine born November 19.

1946 Moved to shack at Anderson Creek. Began work on Into the Night Life and The Time of the Assassins .

1947 Finished Into the Nightlife and began writing Plexus .

1948 Wrote The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder . Son Tony born August 28.

1949 Finished Plexus and began writing The Books in My Life .

1951 Finished The Books in My Life .

1952 Began writing Nexus . Divorced Janina Lepska.

1953 Spent time in England and France. Married Eve McClure in Carmel Highlands in December.

1954 Began writing Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch .

1955 Saw daughter Barbara Sandford for first time since 1925.

1956 Recorded Henry Miller Recalls and Reflects . Collection of short pieces translated and published in Hebrew as Hatzoth Vahtzi (Half Past Midnight). Finished Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch .

1957 Rewrote Quiet Days in Clichy and The World of Sex . Exhibitions of watercolors in London, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. Began writing Lime Twigs and Treachery .

1958 Continued work on Nexus .

1959 Finished Nexus . Spent time in Europe. Wrote letters contained in Art and Outrage .

1960 Wrote To Paint is to Love Again . Spent time in Europe. Wrote first draft of Just Wild About Harry .

1961 Toured Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Tropic of Cancer published.

1962 Began writing volume two of Nexus . Spent time in England, Ireland, France, Germany. Received final decree of divorce from Eve.

1963 Moved to Pacific Palisades. Just Wild About Harry published.

1964 Henry Miller on Writing published.

1965 Death of Eve (third wife). Production of the opera The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder in Hamburg, Germany. Selected Prose and Letters to Anaïs Nin published.

1966 Order and Chaos Chez Hans Reichel published.

1967 The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder produced in Marseilles and Trieste. The Henry Miller Odyssey film begun by Robert Snyder. Married Hoki Tokuda on September 10.

1968 Watercolor exhibit toured Japan. Collector's Quest and new edition of To Paint is to Love Again published. Began writing My Life and Times .

1969 Premiere of The Henry Miller Odyssey at Royce Hall, U.C.L.A. Travelled to Europe to observe filming on Tropic of Cancer .

1970 Tropic of Cancer and Quiet Days in Clichy films opened in U.S. Insomnia or the Devil at Large and Entretiens de Paris published.

1971 My Life and Times published.

From the guide to the Henry Miller Papers, 1898-1979, 1930-1979, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)