Henry Miller Recalls and Reflects [Interview 1956] (1/9)

This is a rare interview conducted in New York in 1956 with author Henry Miller and his friend Ben Grauer engaged in a lengthy, candid and insightful discussion about his life, his work and what it means to live the true life of the spirit.

[@InOmniaParatus83]

He's such an inspirational figure, a true colossus. I count him the greatest of my teachers. I have a picture of him over my bed. Tropic of Capricorn is one my sacred texts, along with Plato's Phaedrus. Greetings from Greece to all Millerites!

[@MrBeaux]

The only novel of his I've read is The Air Conditioned Nightmare, but that book is amazing. Some of it is dated, but it's incredible how spot on his observations are, talk about a man who was ahead of his time!

[@warriorpoet9629]

InOmniaParatus83 that's wonderful you saying that. I picked up Miller on Syros in 1980. The year he died. What happened to me can only be described as a spiritual awakening. I walked around like a somnambulist in bliss for days. I have never forgotten the feeling. It was like I was suddenly made free. He changed my life. He made me want to be a writer.which I have been for 30 years. I too keep a picture of him prominently where I see him every day. To me he was the greatest human being to ever influence me.

[@angus11yaung]

Γεια σου Ελλαδαρα ......φαν του Μιλλερ εδω.......το πρωτο βιβλιο που διαβασα στη ζωη μου και οχι ολοκληρο τοτε ηταν ο τροπικος του αιγοκερω.....μονο αργοτερα καταλαβα τι διαβαζα.......

[@gordonflowers9560]

The greatest author America has ever produced. he writes the truth and it scares people.

[@screaminskullpress2714]

Yes, couldn't agree more, no better writer than miller!

[@kelman727]

Gordon Flowers Lazy writer that burned out after one book.

[@lanceash]

@@kelman727 "lazy?" Odd opinion.

[@makingnewenemies]

what a blessing of technology that i can enjoy this in the year 2021. 65 years after the interview!

[@johnnyjohnny8636]

He makes it seem so easy, yet there's only a few that rise like him. What a strange conundrum.

[@maxilopez1596]

Henry can pull you right up out of the darkest places. I love this man.

[@animq4ionboi.153]

Ah yes, the voidwalker

[@brandonterzic]

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU START from you 'll always come back to what you are, can can never get away from what you are"

[@liltick102]

4:00 I was relistening to this while circling my room with all my pillows and blankets balancing on my head.

[@scoon2117]

I found Miller through Kenneth Patchen and Norman Mailer, cant wait to get into his work.

[@macintheus]

Great to hear old Henry -- what a life he had -- and what a mind! Love the photographs too. Thanks for uploading.

[@hotstixx]

After reading the tropics,i thought i was Henry Miller.. for a year.What a year !..but i was out of step with the world.We are now bound up in the post romantic world - no longer do you throw yourself carelessly and wretchedly into the whole river of life,eat small children if they get in the way.The post romantic situation is too concerned with social control - we are all too paranoid about ideology and the world of work,surveillance and technocratic control.There are a few hold outs -key west and other forgotten bohemian landscapes.Miller is an anachronism today,sorry that i am to say it.We are the worse for it.

[@apemant]

hotstixx Live in the moment and all that. There is a great undercarriage that is society, that so many intellectuals ride on. It's easy to disregard it. They probably would not ever have made their voice heard had they not had this to carry them, no matter how important what they had to say was. It's easy to be a free spirit, a strong individual when you have a society that allows it. Don't get me wrong, I love Miller. He opened my eyes to... what it is to be a man. To humanity. Well, I forgot what I was saying. But let's not romanticize life. Why not? Because it's romantic when it can be. Or? I don't fucking now. Torch on to you.

[@Velvet0Starship2013]

"There is a great undercarriage that is society, that so many intellectuals ride on. It's easy to disregard it. They probably would not ever have made their voice heard had they not had this to carry them, no matter how important what they had to say was." This was terribly true of the postWar boom that produced and nurtured the "Beats" and the "Hippies," but Miller came along when money was quite tight, even for the supposedly "middle class"... recall that June, Henry's then-wife, brought in money, to fund Henry's writing, by milking sugar-daddies; remember she "danced" (among other things) for money. So I believe it can be said that Miller's audacity despite poverty... turning poverty into a kind of "advantage" (having "nothing to lose" can be liberating)... can take more of the credit for his work and subsequent fame than "society," which considered penniless Bohemians, like Miller and his ilk, to be scum. The take-away being, perhaps, that no era will make it easy to live outside the laws of its ordering principles... one must be Bold and impose oneself on the conservative Zeitgeist.... (speaking of which, I have a Lit Blog written from the perspective of a slightly sex-obsessed straight male in his later middle age... I enjoy any and all close-reading and articulate visitors, whatever the ideology .... berlin8berlin.wordpress.com/

[@exit13productions50]

This is great, thanks for posting

[@balsamo6875]

Thank you for uploading it!

[@brandonterzic]

Thanks for posting this brother.

[@erichallowell461]

Thank you for posting!!!!! He changed me and my views. My approach.

[@richardsievert98]

His insights are like river's of hope for the conscious minded people, he knew people walked blindly with sight as good as good could be! Eagle's know they can see men pretend that's what I mean.

[@Vidoculer]

Fascinating interview with one of the outsized personalities of the twentieth century. What's interesting to note is that at the time of this interview (1956), the two works by which Miller was (and still is) perhaps best known to the general public -- Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn -- were still legally banned in the U.S.

[@JavonnasMarie]

Thanks, a lot.

[@withazmundlowenpecetiandfr6800]

My father met him once in France or at least he said he did, he came upon Señor Miller in a kind of stationary store. He said he smelt of cheese and wine, I spoke French like a English pauper.

[@johndow5599]

Thanks for replying, speakvisual, I'm gonna check it out right now.

[@Mazurka1001]

The bottomless well of wisdom.

[@struttingbirdlofi]

This guy was punk before punk

[@Yusef22179]

Thank you so very much. This is my favorite series of videos on KZbin. Do you have any other videos of Henry Miller other than To Paint Is To Love Again, like the entirety of his reading of Black Spring?

[@Velvet0Starship2013]

Someone in the comments wrote, interestingly: "There is a great undercarriage that is society, that so many intellectuals ride on. It's easy to disregard it. They probably would not ever have made their voice heard had they not had this to carry them, no matter how important what they had to say was." This was terribly true of the postWar boom that produced and nurtured the "Beats" and the "Hippies," but Miller came along when money was quite tight, even for the supposedly "middle class"... recall that June, Henry's then-wife, brought in money, to fund Henry's writing, by milking sugar-daddies; remember she "danced" (among other things) for money. So I believe it can be said that Miller's audacity despite poverty... turning poverty into a kind of "advantage" (having "nothing to lose" can be liberating)... can take more of the credit for his work and subsequent fame than "society," which considered penniless Bohemians, like Miller and his ilk, to be scum. The take-away being, perhaps, that no era will make it easy to live outside the laws of its ordering principles... one must be Bold and impose oneself on the conservative Zeitgeist.... (speaking of which, I have a Lit Blog written from the perspective of a slightly sex-obsessed straight male in his later middle age... I enjoy any and all close-reading and articulate visitors, whatever the ideology .... berlin8berlin.wordpress.com/

[@emell7025]

"It doesn't matter how you approach a thing, for you'll always come back to your own self, your own obsessive themes."

[@keybuckley]

Preaching Mu Shin! This guy is genuis

[@kafenwar]

One of my main influences.

[@peterkelnerxd7009]

In what ??

[@kafenwar]

@@peterkelnerxd7009 In my writing.

[@victormorgado5318]

@@peterkelnerxd7009 The main major influence of Miller has been his brutal honesty about the self and existence. It is a retelling of one's experiences that we see these day in popular blogs. He was the pioneer of that honesty. Prior to that it was not about life but about 'Literature"

[@markydesade100]

He is so absolutely the master of his form that he becomes its slave as often as not. Samuel Beckett.

[@KINGMOON444]

great mind

[@warriorpoet9629]

Oh yes.

[@winstoncabrall6336]

One is defined by how they reflect what happened at the start. One doesn't "come back to what they are" -- it's there and dispositional all the time.

[@zippywaite]

Funny thing about the Surrealists and automatic writing...During one session a writer began chasing another around the room with a knife. The Surrealists then decided to put a halt to automatic writing sessions.

[@michaelstevenmartin3478]

zippywaite I recall the story being related to automatic speech, a trance-like state which Robert Desnos was most adept at (but I could be wrong on the details). Cheers!

[@johndow5599]

Is there a continuation? It seems to stop in midstream...

[@halfcolombian72]

Do you see?

[@SuperNesmaster]

at 11:16 the interviewer mentions wiesmann. Who is this man? I cannot find him on the internet.

[@speakvisual]

Yes, 8 more parts! Visit my channel and you'll find the whole interview!

[@carolynscott9007]

@speakvisual, who is the Surrealist author Miller mentions @12:00, when they begin talking about Baudelaire? Sounds like Reveler? Also who is the Arthur Macken who writes about Raveler's "long word list"? I need the correct spelling please if you're still replying to these comments? One of the reason's I love H. Miller so much is the other authors and artists he always speaks so appreciatively about.

[@chiefmojobear]

@@carolynscott9007 rabelaise

[@gustavomonfort118]

No me gustaría escuchar a Henry Miller hablando en español pero si lo subtitularan sería mejor.

[@elsonidodelaspalabras1034]

X2. Pero, a pesar que no le entiendo mucho, siento el magnetismo de su voz, no, sé qué será.

[@renedescartes-ajouer8959]

I suspect he's confusing Arthur machen with John Cowper Powys when talking about Rabelais

[@veldt7038]

Real sick fucking guy

[@shangrila73eldorado]

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, - Jesus

[@accrobody256]

Miller love Paris open mind.Everybody should read Miller today and in USA stop go to churche

[@apemant]

The beginning: It's the animosity between men that drives us, is what he says, and here I mean men as in human beings. Who said this (also)? Hegel? I have the memory of a wood pecker. Edit: scratch all that, but still.

[@sanjinvicic9977]

The neurotic prevents or restricts himself from thinking freely and spontaneously, from perceiving.

[@theesperanzacompromisebyja9044]

Henry Miller could always be counted upon to articulate male sexuality with candour.

[@apemant]

Yes, "cushion" that we all float on. Yes, "they" could do greater things. We all have it in us. But no, we wouldn't get that "dirty work" done in some other way. Not through sitting around waiting for it. We can have a contemplative world, but it will only happen through technology. AI. And that doesn't happen by people being lazy. It has a cost. Contemplation is a luxury. Never forget that we are animals. The lillies in the field neither toil nor spin? We create work? Survival is a real issue for men on Earth. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to survive. I could go on. We do not know how to swim on the river of life? There is no current to carry us along gratis. We live and still exist because we will it. And if we didn't, we wouldn't. We are standing on the shoulders of giants. Yes so, God said unto us, that we shall toil... sweat of our brow etc, I don't know the English translation. The price of knowledge. The lillies don't have to pay this price. Nor do the pandas or the tigers or the chimps. But look at them now. They pay the price of ignorance. Which is doom, unless we will it. Pandora's box was opened and now we have the potential of gods. Nothing good that you see around you has come of inactivity. A high price has been paid. As for the lillies, I suppose they will bide their time awaiting world domination. Though I doubt the concept of domination even exists in a vegetative state of mind. Or any concept at all.

[@douglasreynholm3941]

Bollocks!

[@AlongtheFarClimbDown843]

I'm universally hated in this venue even though I'm not profane nor vindictive. My grey-haired Mother, too, has been defamed mercilessly. She, according to what I've read, has shared intimacies with donkeys and walked the streets of La Habana as a communist-party trull.

[@rickartdefoix1298]

I suppose I can't evaluate properly Miller since haven't read his best works. Did not read The Colossus of Maroussi and neither Tropic of Cancer, so my criteria can't be what it should. Instead, I choose to read Plexus and then Sexus, and part of Nexus. So I got the opinion that it was an author that hadn't much to say. Inspite of his affair with Anais Nin or even his trio with her and the famous June, while them in Paris. June and then Mona, would say were the women of his life. Miller wrote about his life, quite a crazy one, would say. Although he is a good entertainment now and then, he also became a tad boring or his books were too long, for what they tell. Their writing style seemed a bit a careless one to me. Sexus is a terribly "hot" book. That perhaps everybody should read. It's a book in which he is all time telling about his lazy days, full of sex and leisure time. I got the idea of him being just a hedonistic man. One who lived for fun and pleasure. Which is nothing wrong, but maybe if it's just that, it may not deserve to be told. In this sense, I never understood well how could he have been so close to Anais (you may think, mainly because of sex) and then to Durrell. Being Durrell a deeper and more sensitive character than him. Who knows. It goes so much about his sex feats and affairs, that one may think he is exaggerating the whole. Or maybe boasting about it. Anyway, both Plexus and Sexus are an easy reading, and sometimes, interesting too. When read it, being a teen, thought Sexus must have been a real challenge, for old puritan morality, to accept its publishing. He indeed broke schemes, and in this sense, yes, you can say he mattered. For it really tells in a very crude, explicit manner, everything related with sex you could imagine. It works as a "heater" for every one reading it, have no doubt about it. It's also funny, sometimes. But the idea I got about Miller as a writer, after these couple of books, is that surely he hadn't much to say, after all. A bit the same that I thought when read Buckowsky, some time after. But nowadays, knowing I haven't read what I should of Miller, I admit I was probably wrong, when thinking that. Keep thinking I must read The Colossus and Tropic of Cancer, to see if I can change my mind or improve my idea of Miller. 🙏

[@ovariantrolley2327]

Who owns the rights to this @speakvisual

[@balsamicvinegar5789]

I like reading Miller but he kind of seems a little full of himself.

[@brandonterzic]

of course he was...every great artist is

[@barryonthefly]

… or he was full of his life

[@lynn0MA]

He seems to be reimaging and judging his own life up against his peers, young men caught up in the war, who came back home to continue with a mundane life, without complaint. We know that Miller had other ideas about another type of living, which he wrote about in Capricorn, going to Paris and beginning his writing, his style. This monologue seems loaded with regret about his own life. It just feels overblown and too abstract as if he is working something out for himself.

[@reaganwiles_art]

What if he was "working something out for himself"; have you life all figured out yet? If so, do you count yourself fortunate beyond reckoning?

[@jiggersotoole7823]

What is causing the climate crisis? Human activity.