Sexus (Penguin Modern Classics) - Softcover

Miller, Henry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141399112 ISBN 13: 9780141399119

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2015

Synopsis

Sexus is the first volume of the scandalous trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, Henry Miller's major life work

Henry Miller called the end of his life in America and the start of a new, bohemian existence in 1930s Paris his 'rosy crucifixion'. His searing fictionalized autobiography of this time of liberation was banned for nearly twenty years. Sexus, the first volume in The Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, looks back to his early sexual escapades in Brooklyn, and his growing infatuation with the playful, teasing dance hall hostess who will become the great obsession of his life.

About this title

Review:

Praise for Henry Miller:

‘American literature begins and ends with the meaning of what Miller has done.’ Lawrence Durrell

‘I regard Henry Miller as a master.’ Colin MacInne

Praise for ‘Sexus’:

‘A huge, sprawling narrative of Miller's life in New York, “Sexus'”culminates in a description of an orgy as remarkable for its account of the author's powers of sexual endurance as for its versatility. Interspersed are descriptions of his friends, some of them extremely funny and all of them lively. The lack of inhibition and genteel or moral restraint with which Miller describes these various characters gives “Sexus” a unique vitality. Miler cannot be pompous, a rare virtue, and his honesty is absolute.’ Spectator

From the Back Cover:

'I WAS APPROACHING MY THIRTY-THIRD YEAR, THE AGE CHRIST CRUCIFIED. A WHOLLY NEW LIFE LAY BEFORE ME, HAD I THE COURAGE TO RISK ALL'

When Henry Miller left America for Paris in the 1930s to lead the life of a literary bohemian, he called this death of his former existence and his resurrection as a writer a 'rosy crucifixion'. This dramatic transformation provided the leitmotif for some of Miller's finest writing, embodying everything he felt about self-liberation and the true life of the spirit.

'Sexus', the first volume in the 'Rosy Crucifixion' trilogy, looks back in fictionalised form to Miller's America life in the 1920s. Frantically seeking antidotes to his dreary job and life 'in a morbidly respectable neighbourhood' with his wife Maude, Miller becomes obsessed with the promiscuous and mysterious Mara, dance hall hostess, femme fatale and pathological liar.

First published in Paris in 1949, this picaresque, extraordinarily candid tale of Miller's sexual escapades amongst the low-life of Brooklyn was banned in Great Britain and America for nearly twenty years.

"A huge, sprawling narrative of Miller's life in New York, 'Sexus' culminates in a description of an orgy as remarkable for its account of the author's powers of sexual endurance as for its versatility. Interspersed are descriptions of his friends, some of them extremely funny and all of them lively. The lack of inhibition and genteel or moral restraint with which Miller describes these various characters gives 'Sexus' a unique vitality. Miler cannot be pompous, a rare virtue, and his honesty is absolute"
SPECTATOR

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0141399112
• ISBN 13: 9780141399119
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512