Nexus: The Int'l Henry Miller Journal - Vol. 4

The fourth Nexus: The International Henry Miller Journal is now available. I highly recommend it.

CONTENTS

Cover: Photograph of Henry Miller, 1965 (by Peter Gowland).

Page 1 - Editor's Note.

Page 2 - Photograph of Rue de Vanise, Paris, 1931.

Page 3 - The New Instinctivism (A Duet in Creative Violence) (by Henry Miller & Alfred Perles; notes by Karl Orend).

This spittle-spattered manifesto rant by Miller & Perles was nearly published in The New Review in 1931, but an alarmed Samuel Putnam put an end to the duo's plans to take advantage of his absense. 76 years later, this essay is published for the first time. "The essay radiates with energy and prefigures many of Miller's later concerns" (Editor's Note). An astounding 133 end notes by Karl Orend help dicipher the more arcane and antiquated references, and give the work, as a whole, a more robust context than if read alone. Adding to the significance of the journal's publication of this piece is Orend's translation of the lengthy French passages written by Perles. Essential addition to any serious Miller collection.

Page 57 - Betty Ryan, Her Life Inspirations (by Rémy Deshayes).

"I would never have gone to Greece had it not been for a girl named Betty Ryan who lived in the same house with me in Paris": these are the opening words to Miller's The Colossus of Maroussi. Ryan was both inspiration and object of affection to Miller. This essay about her life, written by Deshayes--a personal friend of hers--explores her love for Andros and Paris, her Villa Seurat years, her life from front to end, with particular focus on her later years, during which Deshayes knew her. Supplemented with end notes by Karl Orend.

Page 87 - Horoscope of Betty Ryan (by Conrad Moricand; translation by Rémy Deshayes, with Karl Orend).

Moricand's anaysis of Ryan's horoscope, from June 1938.

Page 93 - Horoscope of Henry Miller (by Conrad Moricand).

Miller's own English translation from French of his own horoscope, drafted by Conrad Moricand in July 1936: "This is the horoscope of a rebel, an insurgent, an uncompromising non-conformist."

Page 98 - Two photographs of Alfred Perles.

Page 99 - Transposing Rilke (by James Brown).

Composer James Brown's story of his inspiration to base a musical work on Rainer Maria Rilke's The Lay of Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke. The Miller connection here is Alfred Perles, whom Brown had met when Fred was quite old, and whose translation of Rilke had inspired Brown to compose the piece. A parital portrait of the final years of Perles.

Page 104 - Photograph of the Republic Burlesque theatre in New York, 1930s.

Page 105 - "That crude mixture": How Theater Gives Shape to 'Plexus' (by Jeff Bursey).

Jeff Bursey seeks to re-define the significance of the often-overlooked Plexus, by putting a spotlight on the idea that it's a successful merging of "the theater form and the novel"; in the process, Plexus is given a rare defense from its critics.

Page 120 - The Dostoevsky/Miller Project: Investigations in Human Consciousness and Doubt (by Frank Marra)

In-depth, intense analysis of the influence of Feodor Dostoevsky on Miller's writing technique.

Page 150 - Photograph of Henry Miller with Joe Gray, 1970s.

Page 151 - Henry Miller on Japan, the Young, Films (by Harry Kiakis)

Harry Kiakis, friend of Henry's, stops by to visit him on April 11, 1970. Harry later writes a journal entry about the visit, which makes for some intimate reading: like you are there yourself, playing ping pong with Henry, getting his opinions on travel, Japan, all of the latest popular culture, and how he just can't understand young people these days.

Page 156 - Photograph of Henry Miller, 1969.

Page 157 - Letter to Kate Millett (by Henry Miller)

"I think you have missed the boat": Miller's defensive letter to feminist critic Kate Millett, from May 27, 1969, refusing her permission to use his material in her book.

Page 159 - 'Miller In Love': The Twisted Saga of an Unproduced Play (by Mark SaFranco)

It starts with a guy who wants to do a Henry Miller monologue simply because people say he looks like Miller. So SaFranco--a Miller fan--is asked to write it. This "Miller Project" changes direction, inflates, deflates, explodes, implodes. SaFranco's engaging, entertaining tale of woe in the worlds of theatre and film production revolves around his play, based on the Miller-June-Jean Kronski triangular tribulations in their Henry Street basement apartment (as told in Nexus and Crazy Cock). The script is unproduced to this day, except for ACT II, Scene 4, which is included with this piece.

Page 181 - The Observations Gathered Concerning His Morality and Probity Are Favorable: Henry Miller Glimpsed by the French Secret Service (by Karl Orend)

Henry Miller: a German agent, a Nazi spy? That's an idea the French Secret Service got into their heads when they opened a file on Miller in 1934. This is a completely fascinating analysis of the records kept on Miller by the Renseignements Généraux and the historical events that inspired such suspicion. I don't think this material has ever been made available anywhere else. Includes transcriptions of the actual records, including notes about suspicious amounts of mail Miller received, and notes on his daily activites and personal character.

Page 194 - Two Poems (by Jean Kronski)

Two poems attributed to Jean Kronski: "To HMV" and "Sappho, Dear Ghost."

Page 196 - Illustrated interpretation of June's 'Count Bruga' puppet (by Gene King)

Page 197 - Dear Ghost - A Few Fragments on Henry Miller's Nemesis, Jean Kronski (by Karl Orend)

Orend presents us with the most up-to-date, concise and detailed portrait of the intriguing nemesis of Miller and intimate friend of June, Jean Kronski, with focus on the period in which she met June, moved into the Henry Street apartment, then skipped off with June to Paris.

Page 217 - Miller Notes.
Updates on current scholarship and references to Miller in popular culture.

Back cover - Reproduction of an original section of a typed, early draft of The New Instinctivism.

Issue #4 of this journal may be ordered via the Nexus website.

Here are some summaries of previous issues, which I believe are still available as well: Issue #1, Issue #2, Issue #3.