www.montereycountynow.com OCTOBER 16-22, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 21 For the time between Oct. 16 and 19, let us all become Miller scholars. As Torén says on behalf of the Henry Miller Library—which is, along with the Nexus: The International Henry Miller Journal, the organizer of the symposium—this is a meeting of “scholars and fans.” Its goal is to examine Miller in light of today’s thinking, asking the question: Is Henry Miller relevant today? In the culture wars of today, Torén speculates, when people walk on eggshells, Miller’s work “might have an interesting counterbalance or counterweight to many readers because of that sense of casting off the shackles—of censorship, or propriety, or convention—because that’s kind of what Henry’s message oftentimes was. “In that sense, maybe the 21st century is welcoming Henry, and we’ll find out from all the academics at the symposium whether they agree.” In a small, bare rehearsal room in New York City, just a few blocks from Broadway, actor Dennis Leroy Kangalee and poet Magus Magnus are deep in the artistic process, rehearsing for Smile: A Clown’s Ascension for performances that start in less than two weeks on the other side of the continent. They co-wrote the play based on the 20-page text, written in 1948, about which Henry Miller wrote: “Of all the stories I’ve written this is perhaps the most singular.” It’s nighttime already and when they turn on and off the lights in the room, marking scenes and light changes in the play, it is only their excited voices that can be heard in darkness. “À votre service!” exclaims Kangalee, who embodies Auguste, a world-celebrated clown who struggles with his drive to make the public ecstatic, even if at the cost of his sanity or even life. He is able to jump into and out of the role within seconds; within the splits of a second his sweet smile can melt into Auguste’s profound sadness. He takes a seat at the dressing room, he looks into an imaginary mirror, feeds an imaginary horse a lump of sugar and reaches out toward the imaginary moon. Smile: A Clown’s Ascension is a complex story where a plot is a pretext to show a drama of an artistic life and the price of doing art. Miller wrote it inspired by clown drawings of French painter and sculptor Fernard Léger (1881-1955), but also “Rouault, Miro, Chagall, Max Jacob, Seurat,” as he explains in the epilogue for the story, listing the whole bunch of modern European artists of the era. Léger, who commissioned the work, didn’t use Miller’s text after all, but The Smile Henry Miller started publishing in the 1930s in Paris. Some of his less controversial works appeared in the U.S. as early as the 1940s, but his main texts were published after 1960 by New Directions in New York. The partial list below doesn’t include small print runs, abundant and now partially-published correspondence, nor posthumous publications. Tropic of Cancer, 1934 France; 1961 U.S. An autobiographical novel about Miller’s time in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Paris. Black Spring, 1936 France; 1961 U.S. Autobiographical short stories. Tropic of Capricorn, 1939 France; 1961 U.S. An autobiographical novel, largely about Miller’s marriage to June Miller. The Cosmological Eye, 1939 Autobiographical short stories, some taken from Black Spring. The Colossus of Maroussi, 1941 A travelogue about Miller’s trip to Greece in 1939. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, 1945 A travelogue about Miller’s trip across America in 1940. The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder, 1948 A third-person short story about a clown named Auguste. Sexus, 1949 France, 1963 U.S. Book one of three in The Rosy Crucifixion, a chronologically structured autobiographical novel analyzing Miller’s awakening as an artist. The Books in My Life, 1952 Miller’s musings about the books that shaped him. Plexus, 1953 France, 1963 U.S. Book two of The Rosy Crucifixion. Quiet Days in Clichy, 1956 France, 1987 U.S. Two short stories. The Time of the Assassins: A Study of Rimbaud, 1956 Miller on his discovery of poet Arthur Rimbaud. Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, 1957 Miller’s book about living in Big Sur, its natural beauty and his neighbors. Nexus, 1960 France, 1965 U.S. Book three of The Rosy Crucifixion. Henry Miller on Writing, 1964 Miller’s thoughts on his self-education as a writer. A Brief Guide to Selected Henry Miller’s Books Facing page: A bust of Henry Miller by 20th-century Italian sculptor Marino Marini. Right: The Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur carries many titles by Miller, among other books. Below: A visitor browses in the Henry Miller Library. DANIEL DREIFUSS DANIEL DREIFUSS
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