Surprisingly Domestic—If You Ignore the Bigamy
July 1, 2023 12:43 PM Subscribe
For most of her life, Nin labored in obscurity. Her nine works of fiction were ignored and passed over, so much so that she self-published four of them. Despite her certainty that she was a major force in literature, in the 1940s and ’50s she was still financially dependent on her East Coast husband, Hugh Parker Guiler, or Hugo. Swinging between two lovers may have started as a way to have everything, but it became a piecemeal existence full of guilt and obligation. From Anaïs Nin’s Decade-Long Adventure in Bicoastal Bigamy
relevant to my interests! is there a way around the paywall?
posted by Gymnopedist at 2:21 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Gymnopedist at 2:21 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Wow, that is quite a thing to pull off for YEARS.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:26 PM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:26 PM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
How strange. When I was very young, I read a lot of Anaïs Nin, it seemed sophisticated and a bit racy. But I always wondered about the obvious blanks in her narrative. I knew there was an unmentioned husband, but two?!?
I don't remember when, but at some point I purged her books from my shelves. I don't do that much, but I felt there was something almost disgusting about all the lies and pretense in them. I wouldn't boo at her, that was mean, but her project suddenly seemed irrelevant and sad.
Somehow, in my mind, this combines with the story about Renton Sinclair and his mother, where it was made very clear how femininity can be a ghoulish construct.
posted by mumimor at 4:00 PM on July 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
I don't remember when, but at some point I purged her books from my shelves. I don't do that much, but I felt there was something almost disgusting about all the lies and pretense in them. I wouldn't boo at her, that was mean, but her project suddenly seemed irrelevant and sad.
Somehow, in my mind, this combines with the story about Renton Sinclair and his mother, where it was made very clear how femininity can be a ghoulish construct.
posted by mumimor at 4:00 PM on July 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
Please, do not publish people’s sex letters. To the participants, they mean everything, but, to everyone else, they are equal parts grotesque and risible.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:07 PM on July 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:07 PM on July 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
Obligatory "Hark, a vagrant" - James Joyce letters
posted by aleph at 5:16 PM on July 1, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by aleph at 5:16 PM on July 1, 2023 [9 favorites]
"God forgive me if this letter is ever opened by mistake. "
posted by doctornemo at 6:34 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by doctornemo at 6:34 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Some of the filming of Invasion of the Body Snatchers occurred in Sierra Madre. Principle photography was between March 23 and April 27, 1955, so it happened while she was shutting between her two husbands. This clearly resonates with the double life she was leading at the the time.
posted by Metacircular at 9:25 PM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Metacircular at 9:25 PM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
The thing that bothers me most is I still don’t grok how to pronounce her name.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 10:07 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Big Al 8000 at 10:07 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Luckily that’s in the article - Anna-ees.
I find her box of lies both actual and metaphorical hard to understand. She seems more human than someone like Anna Delvey, but in the same vein - wrapped up in a kind of Big Dream around game and recognition but unable to get there without deceit. Nin at least seems to have cared for others along the way.
posted by warriorqueen at 3:44 AM on July 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
I find her box of lies both actual and metaphorical hard to understand. She seems more human than someone like Anna Delvey, but in the same vein - wrapped up in a kind of Big Dream around game and recognition but unable to get there without deceit. Nin at least seems to have cared for others along the way.
posted by warriorqueen at 3:44 AM on July 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Only tangentially relevant, but for future reference: The Diaresis looks exactly the same as an umlaut, but its function is to indicate that in a vowel combination that would normally be pronounced as a single diphthong, each letter should be pronounced separately. Thus the reason that the name Zoë doesn't rhyme with the word "toe".
posted by Grangousier at 9:43 AM on July 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Grangousier at 9:43 AM on July 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Whoa, that's quite a feat, juggling two "marriages", being housewifey to two men and having other lovers besides. Amazing? Yes. Admirable? Not necessarily. My last thoughts: both "you, go, girl," and "better you than me."
posted by Lynsey at 9:50 AM on July 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Lynsey at 9:50 AM on July 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
Luckily that’s in the article - Anna-ees.
Oh, I saw that in the article. I don’t grok it, however. I’ve tried saying it over and over and it just feels incorrect, like I’m missing some vocal technique not used in the American English language to pronounce it correctly.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 10:52 PM on July 7, 2023
Oh, I saw that in the article. I don’t grok it, however. I’ve tried saying it over and over and it just feels incorrect, like I’m missing some vocal technique not used in the American English language to pronounce it correctly.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 10:52 PM on July 7, 2023
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A Letter From Henry Miller to Anais Nin.
posted by clavdivs at 2:17 PM on July 1, 2023 [3 favorites]