(pb; 1959: fourth volume in Nin's five-book "continuous novel")
Review:
Sabina, a neurotic thirty-year old European woman, feels trapped on Long Island while she waits for her husband (an "equable" Alan) to return from his work-travel in New York City.
She staves off -- exacerbates -- her insomniac frustrations by sleeping with other men, then immediately fleeing if they begin to become too real, too human, for her.
Her lovers include: Phillip, a handsome singer who's sick of the love hunt; Mambo, a nightclub owner, who wants a calm, caring wife; John, a young pilot who's haunted by the hijinks and grotesqueries of war; Donald, an effeminate Momma's Boy; and Jay, a successful, no-bulls**t ex-pat painter, who's just returned home from France.
These men briefly provide thrilling distractions from her head-tripped, empty life and self. They provide her chances to try out different aspects of her personality, or varying "roles."
Alan, her peripheral husband of ten years, is merely a thirty-five-year-old father-figure, who accepts her transparent lies (regarding her affairs) while soothing away her histrionics.
All the while, she's being watched by a nameless "lie detector," a cipher-man she "accidentally" called late one night.
Sabina's garrulous affairs and restlessness could easily be soap operatic hack-work, but in Nin's hands, it's an examination of a woman who is trying to find herself, but then shies away from that knowledge when she realizes she might discover it: she enjoys the thrill of her tail-chasing too much to abandon its circle-rush.
Nin provides an effective counter-balance to Sabina's slutty gabbiness with shrewd psychoanaltyical observations, sometimes given by an omniscient outside voice. The rest of these observations are voiced by other characters, like Jay, or Djuna Barnes (the main protagonist in Nin's The Four-Chambered Heart).
Nin also shifts, here and there, from past tense to present tense. Some readers may be put off by that, as well as Nin's favoring eliptical moods and phrases in order to maintain Sabina's chaotic mindset, and the nebulous feel of the novel.
Solid work from a distinctive author.
Followed by Seduction Of The Minotaur.
Showing posts with label Anaïs Nin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anaïs Nin. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Four-Chambered Heart, by Anaïs Nin
(pb; 1959: third volume in Nin's five-book "continuous novel")
Review:
Djuna Barnes is crazy in love with Rango, a lazy, jealous, good-hearted Indian. They spend lusty nights together on Djuna's time- and Seine River-weathered boat, until Rango's drunken/café ranconteur ways and his sickly wife, Zora, intervene in a major way.
Rango's nightly café visits are made without Djuna: Rango is too uncomfortable -- insanely jealous of Djuna's city past, with her friends and ex-lovers -- to bring her along for that.
Zora is a mentally sick, manipulative woman who purposely keeps herself physically ill (via poison and weather-inappropriate clothing) to trap a guilt-ridden Rango in her rotting marital sphere. Their sexual relationship ended early on in their long marriage, as he's lusty, and she finds the act of sex repulsive -- always has, according to her.
Djuna, blinded by her love for Rango, gets drawn in further to Rango's and Zora's dysfunctional, emotionally-poisonous world; it's not long before Djuna is looking for a way out for her and Rango -- and it's clear she may have to make a solo exit, leaving Rango and Zora to their mutual and separate insanity.
My only nit with this novel is that on a few occasions, Nin breaks from her third-person perspective to rambling, first-person perspectives, to show Djuna's emotional mindset: this is unnecessary, stylistically jarring and superfluous writing that mars an otherwise solid, if sometimes maddening -- why doesn't Djuna abandon this toxic situation? -- novel.
Worth reading, if you don't mind the above nit, and the doomed-romance vibe of the work.
Followed by A Spy In The House Of Love.
Review:
Djuna Barnes is crazy in love with Rango, a lazy, jealous, good-hearted Indian. They spend lusty nights together on Djuna's time- and Seine River-weathered boat, until Rango's drunken/café ranconteur ways and his sickly wife, Zora, intervene in a major way.
Rango's nightly café visits are made without Djuna: Rango is too uncomfortable -- insanely jealous of Djuna's city past, with her friends and ex-lovers -- to bring her along for that.
Zora is a mentally sick, manipulative woman who purposely keeps herself physically ill (via poison and weather-inappropriate clothing) to trap a guilt-ridden Rango in her rotting marital sphere. Their sexual relationship ended early on in their long marriage, as he's lusty, and she finds the act of sex repulsive -- always has, according to her.
Djuna, blinded by her love for Rango, gets drawn in further to Rango's and Zora's dysfunctional, emotionally-poisonous world; it's not long before Djuna is looking for a way out for her and Rango -- and it's clear she may have to make a solo exit, leaving Rango and Zora to their mutual and separate insanity.
My only nit with this novel is that on a few occasions, Nin breaks from her third-person perspective to rambling, first-person perspectives, to show Djuna's emotional mindset: this is unnecessary, stylistically jarring and superfluous writing that mars an otherwise solid, if sometimes maddening -- why doesn't Djuna abandon this toxic situation? -- novel.
Worth reading, if you don't mind the above nit, and the doomed-romance vibe of the work.
Followed by A Spy In The House Of Love.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Little Birds, by Anaïs Nin
(pb; 1979: erotica anthology)
Overall review:
This is one of my all-time favorite erotic anthologies. I've read this three times, but I don't recall reviewing it.
Nin's influence on my own story writing is immeasurable.
Nin favors mood and character exploration over overt plots, which, when I subconsciously conjure up her influence in my writing, helps -- has helped -- me balance my preference for penning quick-minded plots/action over character development/mood.
Organically erotic and sometimes disturbing, even her slighter stories are written in an assured and consistently reader-hooking manner; in this collection, only a couple of so-so stories are on display: "The Chanchiquito" (which is flat-out strange); "Two Sisters" (which reads like a flitting, if restrained, soap opera early on).
Standout stories:
"Little Birds": A married man (Manuel) who enjoys watching school girls at innocent public play builds an exotic birdhouse to fascinate them, bring them into viewing range. Disturbing, sharp, with a sublime exit line (despite its repellant subject).
"The Woman on the Dunes": Steamy entry about a young man (Louis) who is seduced by a mysterious woman; the woman tells him about a recent, macabre -- and joyous -- sexual encounter. One of the most memorable 'life in the midst of death'-themed short works I've ever read.
"Sirocco": A woman recounts a scandalous travel experience to a houseguest. Like "The Woman on the Dunes," this expertly-spun tale effortlessly seduces the reader.
"Saffron": Fay, a poor New Orleans woman, marries a wealthy older man (Albert) whose reticence to end her virginity cloaks a darker truth. Sad, harsh, this story.
"Runaway": Jeanette, a sixteen-year old runaway, becomes -- at different times -- the lover of two roommates (Jean and Pierre), who take different approaches in dealing with her. This story's theme-centric exit line, clichéd in the hands of a lesser writer, is rendered deceptively simple and sublime in Nin's.
Other stories:
"Lina" (a jealous homophobe visits her sexually adventurous female friend in Paris);
"Two Sisters" (longer piece about a group of people around two women, Edna and Dorothy, who are done and undone by repression, passion, deception and infidelity);
"The Maja" (a bourgeois Catholic wife slowly comes to an understanding of her painter husband, and her own sensuality);
"A Model" (one of the longer stories in the collection - a young virgin model engages in international travel and learns about physical love vicariously through others);
"The Queen" (a painter rhapsodizes about his favorite artistic and sexual subject, a "cold" whore named Bijou).
"Hilda and Rango" (a woman, used to the particular sexual demands of one lover, adapts to the varied demands of a new lover).
"The Chanchiquito" (strange entry about a woman [Laura], a legendary pig-like creature, and an amorous painter).
"Mandra" (a bisexual woman New York woman has sexual encounters with a quick succession of upper class lovers. Fleet-footed, blurring-memoried tale, whose plot keeps pace with daily city life).
Overall review:
This is one of my all-time favorite erotic anthologies. I've read this three times, but I don't recall reviewing it.
Nin's influence on my own story writing is immeasurable.
Nin favors mood and character exploration over overt plots, which, when I subconsciously conjure up her influence in my writing, helps -- has helped -- me balance my preference for penning quick-minded plots/action over character development/mood.
Organically erotic and sometimes disturbing, even her slighter stories are written in an assured and consistently reader-hooking manner; in this collection, only a couple of so-so stories are on display: "The Chanchiquito" (which is flat-out strange); "Two Sisters" (which reads like a flitting, if restrained, soap opera early on).
Standout stories:
"Little Birds": A married man (Manuel) who enjoys watching school girls at innocent public play builds an exotic birdhouse to fascinate them, bring them into viewing range. Disturbing, sharp, with a sublime exit line (despite its repellant subject).
"The Woman on the Dunes": Steamy entry about a young man (Louis) who is seduced by a mysterious woman; the woman tells him about a recent, macabre -- and joyous -- sexual encounter. One of the most memorable 'life in the midst of death'-themed short works I've ever read.
"Sirocco": A woman recounts a scandalous travel experience to a houseguest. Like "The Woman on the Dunes," this expertly-spun tale effortlessly seduces the reader.
"Saffron": Fay, a poor New Orleans woman, marries a wealthy older man (Albert) whose reticence to end her virginity cloaks a darker truth. Sad, harsh, this story.
"Runaway": Jeanette, a sixteen-year old runaway, becomes -- at different times -- the lover of two roommates (Jean and Pierre), who take different approaches in dealing with her. This story's theme-centric exit line, clichéd in the hands of a lesser writer, is rendered deceptively simple and sublime in Nin's.
Other stories:
"Lina" (a jealous homophobe visits her sexually adventurous female friend in Paris);
"Two Sisters" (longer piece about a group of people around two women, Edna and Dorothy, who are done and undone by repression, passion, deception and infidelity);
"The Maja" (a bourgeois Catholic wife slowly comes to an understanding of her painter husband, and her own sensuality);
"A Model" (one of the longer stories in the collection - a young virgin model engages in international travel and learns about physical love vicariously through others);
"The Queen" (a painter rhapsodizes about his favorite artistic and sexual subject, a "cold" whore named Bijou).
"Hilda and Rango" (a woman, used to the particular sexual demands of one lover, adapts to the varied demands of a new lover).
"The Chanchiquito" (strange entry about a woman [Laura], a legendary pig-like creature, and an amorous painter).
"Mandra" (a bisexual woman New York woman has sexual encounters with a quick succession of upper class lovers. Fleet-footed, blurring-memoried tale, whose plot keeps pace with daily city life).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)