Tropic of Cancer (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

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  Henry Miller's 'Tropic of Cancer' is an ode to life. A ranting, raving, story of what it is to live deliberately and only for oneself - not for love, nor art, nor religion, nor beauty, nor money, nor enlightenment. Miller's character lives because he can. The stream-of-consciousness narrative ensures that no little thought, feeling or action goes undocumented, but, paradoxically, this leaves one feeling that the real point of it all has been obscured. Even though at times his misogyny can be ... (show more)

  Henry Miller's 'Tropic of Cancer' is an ode to life. A ranting, raving, story of what it is to live deliberately and only for oneself - not for love, nor art, nor religion, nor beauty, nor money, nor enlightenment. Miller's character lives because he can. The stream-of-consciousness narrative ensures that no little thought, feeling or action goes undocumented, but, paradoxically, this leaves one feeling that the real point of it all has been obscured. Even though at times his misogyny can be hard to digest, all of the unashamedly degrading descriptions of his encounters with women only serves to highlight his own recklessness with life in general - one only need to go back and re-read the passages where he is indulged by his friends in terms of food, money and companionship to realise that he treats everyone in the same way. One must remember that the Miller of the novel is undoubtedly a hedonistic caricature of himself, but the publication of this story is important in that it contributes in a vital way to the development of the voice of the secular individual. (show less)

   

  by Facebook-användare on May 09, 2009 at 05:57AM

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  I am only half way through the book, but couldn't wait until I finished it to share my thoughts!

  Henry Miller is a linguistic and philosophical genius, to say the least. The book has no theme, no story line, no plot, and is outright filthy... yet I can barely put it down. Few can write about 'nothing' so marvelously!

  The book is packed with such thought-provoking passages, written in an informal yet highly stylistic manner, that I find myself re-reading sentences and paragraphs over and ... (show more)

  I am only half way through the book, but couldn't wait until I finished it to share my thoughts!

  Henry Miller is a linguistic and philosophical genius, to say the least. The book has no theme, no story line, no plot, and is outright filthy... yet I can barely put it down. Few can write about 'nothing' so marvelously!

  The book is packed with such thought-provoking passages, written in an informal yet highly stylistic manner, that I find myself re-reading sentences and paragraphs over and over again, just so that I can get enough of them.
  
  I can hardly wait to get my hands on the rest of his works. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook-användare on Feb 12, 2009 at 10:39AM

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