Tropic of Cancer (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tropic of Cancer | |
 1st edition cover |
|
| Author | Henry Miller |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Erotic novel |
| Publisher | Obelisk Press |
| Publication date | 1934 |
| Media type | print (hardback & paperback) |
| ISBN | N/A |
| Followed by | Tropic of Capricorn |
Tropic of Cancer is a novel by Henry Miller, first published in 1934 by Obelisk Press in Paris. Its publication in 1961 in the United States by Grove Press led to an obscenity trial that was one of several that tested American laws on pornography in the 1960s. While famous for its frank and often graphic depiction of sex, the book is also widely regarded as an important masterpiece of 20th century literature. Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.[1]
The novel included a preface credited to Anaïs Nin (although allegedly penned by Miller himself).[citation needed]
The book was famously distributed by Frances Steloff at her Gotham Book Mart, in defiance of censorship pressures.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
Set in France (primarily Paris) during the 1930s, Miller tells of his life as a struggling writer. Combining fiction and autobiography, some chapters follow a strict narrative and refer to Miller's actual friends, colleagues, and workplaces; others are written as stream-of-consciousness reflections. It is written in the first person, as are many of Miller's other novels, and often fluctuates between past and present tense. There are many passages explicitly describing the narrator's sexual encounters, but the book does not solely focus on this subject.
[edit] Legal issues
In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Grove Press, Inc., v. Gerstein, cited Jacobellis v. Ohio (which was decided the same day) and overruled state court findings of obscenity.
A copyright infringing "Medusa" edition of the novel was published in New York City in 1940 by Jacob Brussel; its title page claimed its place of publication to be Mexico. Brussel was eventually sent to jail for ten years for the edition, a copy of which is in the Library of Congress under call number PS3525.I5454 T7 1940.
[edit] Critical reception
George Orwell called this novel
"the most important book of the mid-1930s [and Miller is] the only imaginative prose-writer of the slightest value who has appeared among the English-speaking races for some years past."[2]
Samuel Beckett hailed it as "a momentous event in the history of modern writing".[citation needed] Norman Mailer, in his book on Miller, Genius and Lust, called it "one of the ten or twenty greatest novels of the century". The Modern Library named it the 50th greatest book of the 20th century.[3] Edmund Wilson said of the novel:
The tone of the book is undoubtedly low; The Tropic of Cancer, in fact, from the point of view both of its happening and of the language in which they are conveyed, is the lowest book of any real literary merit that I have ever remember to have read... there is a strange amenity of temper and style which bathes the whole composition even when it is disgusting or tiresome.[4]
In his dissent from the majority holding that the book was not obscene, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Michael Musmanno wrote Cancer is "not a book. It is a cesspool, an open sewer, a pit of putrefaction, a slimy gathering of all that is rotten in the debris of human depravity."[5]
[edit] References or Allusions
- In the Seinfeld episode The Library, Jerry is accused of never returning the novel after checking it out in 1971.
[edit] References in other works
- The novel is read and discussed in After Hours, a film by Martin Scorsese. In the 1991 version of Cape Fear, also directed by Scorsese, the characters of Max Cady and Danielle Bowden discuss the book briefly.[citation needed]
- In the novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut, the book is mentioned several times.[6]
- In the novel Factotum by Charles Bukowski, the character Henry Chinaski reads it on a long bus ride.[citation needed]
- In the play Pterodactyls, by Nicky Silver, the novel is mentioned by the character Emma: "She reads poems by Emily Bronte and I read chapters from The Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller" (Act II, Scene 2).[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ ALL-TIME 100 Novels
- ^ Comments by Orwell on Tropic of Cancer
- ^ Modern Library's 100 Best Novels
- ^ Aschenbrenner, Karl (1974). The Concepts of Criticism. Springer. p. 485. Google Book search. Retrieved on 27 July 2008.
- ^ Commonwealth v. Robin, 218 A.2d 546, 561 (Pa. 1966).
- ^ Chap. 9 pp.96-97
