About
Henry Valentine Miller was born on December 26, 1891, in Manhattan, New York, to German Lutheran parents. After briefly attending City College of New York, he held various odd jobs before dedicating himself to writing in 1924. In 1930, he moved to Paris, where he lived a bohemian existence and befriended Anaïs Nin, Lawrence Durrell, and Alfred Perlès. His novel 'Tropic of Cancer' (1934), published in Paris, was banned as obscene in the United States and Britain for nearly three decades. Returning to the U.S. in 1940, he settled in Big Sur in 1944, becoming a central figure for the Beat generation.
* 1891-12-26 — † 1980-06-07
Major works
- Tropic of Cancer (1934)novel
- Black Spring (1936)novel
- Tropic of Capricorn (1939)novel
- The Colossus of Maroussi (1941)travelogue
- The Rosy Crucifixion (1949-1960)novel trilogy
Key milestones
- 1934Publication of Tropic of Cancer in Paris, banned in the United States and Britain.
- 1961American publication of Tropic of Cancer by Grove Press, triggering obscenity trials.
- 1964The U.S. Supreme Court, in Grove Press v. Gerstein, declares Tropic of Cancer a protected literary work.
Themes
Sexual freedomCritique of modern societyBohemian lifeSpirituality and mysticismArtistic creativity
Sources: britannica.com · oac.cdlib.org · archives.yale.edu
