My Friend Henry Miller

London: Neville Spearman, 1955. First. Near Fine/Good+. Henry Miller (1891--1980) was an American novelist He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association, and mysticism His most characteristic works of this kind are Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn, and the trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, which are based on his experiences in New York and Paris (all of which were banned in the United States until 1961) He also wrote travel memoirs and literary criticism, and painted watercolors

Alfred Perlès (1897â€"1990) was an Austrian writer (in later life a British citizen), who was most famous for his associations with Henry Miller, Lawrence Durrell, and Anaïs Nin He was part of a vibrant Parisian literary scene that included Miller, Lawrence Durrell, and Anaïs Nin, as well as Antonin Artaud, Michael Fraenkel, Hans Reichel and others Anaïs Nin writes that she first met Alfred Perlès in April, 1932 Miller and Durrell often referred to Perlès as "Joe" or "Joey" Some of these writers were featured in a magazine called The Booster, which Perlès co-published in 1936, along with Miller, Durrell, and Nin In 1939, with the start of World War II the group broke apart, as Miller moved on to Greece and Perlès fled to England (where he applied for, and was granted, British citizenship) A few years later, Perlès wrote a piece about this pre-War circle in Henry Miller at Villa Seurat (featured in The Happy Rock anthology, 1945, and republished by the Village Press as a chapbook in 1973)Perlès and Miller maintained a lifelong friendship Miller visited Perlès in the UK and Perlès visited Miller in Big Sur, California, where he wrote My Friend Henry Miller (written in 1954/55) Miller wrote a tribute to Perlès in the memoir Joey

This near fine copy has only very slight fading at the lower edges The binding is tight and sound The author has inscribed the book on the half title "For Rachel Severn, with my sympathy From (Alfred Perles)" There are no other marks or damage at all The unclipped DJ has some chipping along the top edge, but is otherwise undamaged 242 pp.