Crazy Cock (Miller, Henry) - Softcover

Miller, Henry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802132936 ISBN 13: 9780802132932

Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, 1994

Synopsis

In 1930 Henry Miller moved from New York to Paris, leaving behind at least temporarily his tempestuous marriage to June Smith and a novel that had sprung from his anguish over her love affair with a mysterious woman named Jean Kronski. Begun in 1927, Crazy Cock is the story of Tony Bring, a struggling writer whose bourgeois inclinations collide with the disordered bohemianism of his much-beloved wife, Hildred, particularly when her lover, Vanya, comes to live with them in their already cramped Greenwich Village apartment. In a world swirling with violence, sex, and passion, the three struggle with their desires, inching ever nearer to insanity, each unable to break away from this dangerous and consuming love triangle."

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In 1930 Henry Miller moved from new York to Paris, leaving behind (at least temporarily) his tempestuous marriage to June Smith and a novel he fully expected to be his masterpiece. Begun in 1927, and originally titled 'Lovely Lesbians, Crazy Cock' sprang from his anguish over June’s love affair with a mysterious woman called Jean Kronski. Purging himself of this pain through the writing of 'Crazy Cock' helped Miller to discover his true voice a few years later in 'Tropic of Cancer'.

“It is a shame that Miller is not around to report on the War of the Hormones. 'Crazy Cock' is a dispatch from the front. His critics will use the novel’s sexual and political incorrectness to disguise the reality that he understood the ever-present prejudices and confusions of women and men better than any of the talk-show munchkins. 'Crazy Cock' is full of the sheer force of Miller’s language and the sexual pitch and youthful literary eagerness which start cafe brawls and outrage high-school librarians.”
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS

“Miller’s account of the writer’s misery is vivid and affecting and he tells his story with feeling. At times it is so raw it hurts, at other times the rawness manifests itself in an exhilarating spontaneity.”
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

“A major find. Miller’s talent for expressionistic description is already clear in 'Crazy Cock'‘s picture of Greenwich Village bohemia and New York low-life.”
TLS

“To write, Miller always required an air of the literary, and 'Crazy Cock' supplies the blueprint.”
NEW YORK TIMES

Also available in Flamingo: 'Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Sexus, Plexus, Nexus, Black Spring, Quiet Days in Clichy'

About the Author:

Henry Miller was born in Brooklyn, New York. He had a variety of jobs as a young man, including several years working for the Western Union Telegraph Company. During this time, encouraged by June Mansfield Smith, the second of his five wives, Miller began to write. Aside from articles, stories for pulp magazines and prose poems, Miller worked on his first novels ‘Crazy Cock’ and ‘Moloch’, and on the copious notes which would eventually transmute into the notorious ‘Tropics’ books.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0802132936
• ISBN 13: 9780802132932
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 202