"The million words or so which I had written previously, which were intelligible words, mind you, well ordered, well connected, were as nothing to me - crude ciphers from the old stone age - because the contact was through the head and the head is a useless appendage unless you're anchored in mid-channel deep in the mud. Everything I had written before was museum stuff, and most writing is still museum stuff and that's why it doesn't catch fire, doesn't inflame the world." ---------- Henry Mille...

Henry Miller is one intrepid soul. For me this reading entailed discerning the echoes of the interior of a soul of a brother, a kindred spirit. He articulates creative impulses forged from the smithy of his own rough experience through years of rejection in America and poverty in Paris. Like so many other genius writers Miller was willing to give up every material comfort and to suffer in dire poverty for the sake of his art. He left America to live and suffer in Paris in search of his own artis...

This is a book to read, to re-read, to re-read again, if you are interested in writing. I have read this book almost every day, for nearly two months, one or two pages or a few paragraphs at a time. Now I will put it away on a shelf, knowing that I will come back to it.

There’s no way to summarize the magnificent writings and incredible ideas in this book. Here are a few passages.from “Why Don’t You Try to Write” The little phrase — Why don’t you try to write? — involved me, as it had from the very beginning, in a hopeless bog of confusion. I wanted to enchant but not to enslave; I wanted a greater, richer life, but not at the expense of others; I wanted to free the imagination of all men at once because without the support of the whole world, without a world o...

A Saint, Sinner, or Great Writer?Miller continues to defy the conventions of “literary writer.” He is easier to cast into the slag heap of pornography for his “Tropic” books and the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, but in reading this collection of extracts from his various works, including those two vilified collections, one begins to wonder whether a prophet lurks within. His erudition and insights are deep, there is no obscenity in this book, and he calls into question what we take to be traditional...

Though it appears a short book, this is NOT a quick read. With every turn of the page, I found myself pausing to think, re-read, make notes. The excellent insight and incredible interpretations of the everyday were not to be read, but rather digested. A favorite for sure.

just perfect

I bought this book in an airport on my way to Arizona and read it in one day. Heavy stuff with the autobiographical tone of the book and emphasis on seemingly random pieces of his life, but I loved it. I was offended by his treatment of women, but I felt that finally someone wasn't walking on eggshells. i was young when I read it, but I still remember quotes and have dog eared pages. It's a book I've recommended highly, but have never been able to part with it long enough to loan it out. "He and...

While reading the books that this collection was taken from is the best way to experience Mr. Miller, this collection is excellent for the beginner or for the Miller fan. It allows those inclined to write (who shouldn't be inclined to write!?) to find those words of advice and encouragement in one place. This book could have been twice as long, but remains short enough to catch Miller's burning intensity while catching a fire within one's self.

Essential for not only the writer and artist, but also the reader in all of us. In one section he refers to his own creative life as, "hurtling toward the stellar flux." Passages that are filled with a density of groundbreaking diction as well as a mystic quality that is quintessentially Henry Miller. If you like his work, want to live a creative life or breathe air and can read then read this book.

"i was so in love with the idea of being a writer that i could scarcely write...i wore myself out in preparation. It was impossible for me to sit down quietly and just turn on the flow; I was dancing inside. I wanted to describe the world i knew and be in it at the same time. It never occurred to me that with just two or three hours of steady work a day i could write the thickest book imaginable. It was my brief that if a [person] day down to write [they] should remain glued to [their] seat for

This was a little difficult for me to sink my teeth into. The thing about Miller's writing that I usually enjoy is the ebb and flow of it, the descriptive passages of life punctuated by the more philosophical and metaphysical musings, which stand out like gleaming heads-up newly-minted pennies on the sidewalk to be picked up and put in your pocket for your restless fingers to play with while you're walking or waiting for the subway. This book is a collection of all intense passages, and without

I carried a dog-eared copy of this collection of Henry Miller's writings on writing around with me for years. I had underlined big chunks of virtually every page. The man is eminently quotable and his prose is incredibly meaty. My ex-girlfriend's cat peed on my first copy and I immediately went out to buy another one. I left the second copy on the counter at a Korean grocery in Portland. I had taken it out of my bag to make room for a 6-pack of PBR tallboys and forgot to put it back in. I went b...

A Gift from Shannon on my fortieth birthday, purchased at The Henry Miller Library in Big Sur. Lucid and deep...

A great book for aspiring writers.

This is a collection of Miller's essays and theories on writing and being a writer. If anything, it's a musing on the metamorphosis of the human spirit when faced with the desire to create. Honest to god, I bought this book about five years ago and could not get through the first 30 pages. I was a garbage person at that time, and don't think I could have ever gotten through it had I not done the Artist's Way twice. I guess what I'm saying is I think you have to be ready for this book in order fo...

The selections were a little uneven and not always as focused on writing as the title would have you believe, but Miller remains wonderfully Miller, a distinct and often misunderstood voice in literature.

Is it fair to write a review of a book that I never finished? Perhaps not. I certainly would not want it done to my books. But I reached the halfway point and have decided that I get his drift. And I think “drift” is the right word for it. Even though I found a few good lines periodically, he strikes me as a man spinning wildly in a river’s eddy. According to Wikipedia, “In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid is in a turbulent flow re...

Re-read, 02/2021: Despite the fact that this contains no new material, this collection of Miller’s writings on writing is great; having these pieces all in one place gives an overview of his career path and development as an artist you won’t get elsewhere. Considering that the bulk of Miller's best writing deals with the story of how he set out to become a writer, a collection of his work dealing with writing can do little wrong, in my book. There are truly few other writers who could discuss th...

I'm standing basically alone here, judging from other reviewers, but Henry Miller on Writing did very little for me. No spark for me, no engagement. Maybe my experience comes from having read many of his other works, thus meaning I've already read many of the pieces contained in this one.

If you're an aspiring writer, this is the one to read. Miller's command of language is awe-inspiring.

A little tough to get through near the end. Miller can be a little heavy in spots.

He is wonderful, although I sometimes had to get him used to me ;-)

A real 'whale' of a tale.

An excellent collection of excerpts corroborating the fact that Henry Miller will always be one of the most influential writers I'll ever read.

Besides Stephen King's 'on writing' this is my favorite. I love Henry Miller. He's the perfect fit.

A real “whale” of a tale.

There must be a bit of Henry Miller’s soul in my own. Anyone who has approached their life as their magnum opus, and is familiar with Miller’s work, will understand that sentiment. At times I, too, have been preoccupied with being a writer instead of actually writing – which means living, which means creating experiences to write about – and while on one hand that’s what it’s all about it can also become somewhat of an addiction, a distraction, yet perhaps worthy ones. But in moments of despair,...

pretty neat little volume of selected excerpts from the great self aggrandising fuckboy of all modernity himself. could have used with an introduction or some commentary but the passages are wisely curated and there's a lot of stunning philosophy on the creation of art: "i am glad to be a maggot in the corpse which is the world. i feast on death.""guilt is abolished when the whole planet swims in blood.""the man who confesses his sins, his crimes or his misdeeds is never the same as the one who

I read 'Henry Miller on Writing' as a writer, also multi-lingual and cultural, also in self-determined exile from the States No-Longer-United. It is through the filters of several other languages and cultures, as Henry Miller, that I found my voice as a writer. Having escaped the tyrannical constraints of American society, puritanical in its Judeo-Christian ascendency – an assumed predominance that homogenizes and thus denies all the benefits of its original diversity – my voice, without the fai...