Specify Books Toward Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
| Original Title: | Stand Still Like the Hummingbird |
| ISBN: | 0811203220 (ISBN13: 9780811203227) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Henry Miller
Paperback | Pages: 196 pages Rating: 4.14 | 1102 Users | 56 Reviews
Interpretation Supposing Books Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
One of Henry Miller's most luminous statements of his personal philosophy of life, Stand Still Like the Hummingbird, provides a symbolic title for this collection of stories and essays. Many of them have appeared only in foreign magazines while others were printed in small limited editions which have gone out of print. Miller's genius for comedy is at its best in "Money and How It Gets That Way" -- a tongue-in-cheek parody of "economics" provoked by a postcard from Ezra Pound which asked if he "ever thought about money." His deep concern for the role of the artist in society appears in "An Open Letter to All and Sundry," and in "The Angel is My Watermark" he writes of his own passionate love affair with painting. "The Immorality of Morality" is an eloquent discussion of censorship. Some of the stories, such as "First Love," are autobiographical, and there are portraits of friends, such as "Patchen: Man of Anger and Light," and essays on other writers such as Walt Whitman, Thoreau, Sherwood Anderson and Ionesco. Taken together, these highly readable pieces reflect the incredible vitality and variety of interests of the writer who extended the frontiers of modern literature with Tropic of Cancer and other great books.
Be Specific About About Books Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
| Title | : | Stand Still Like the Hummingbird |
| Author | : | Henry Miller |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 196 pages |
| Published | : | June 17th 1962 by New Directions (first published 1959) |
| Categories | : | Writing. Essays. Fiction. Classics. Literature |
Rating About Books Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
Ratings: 4.14 From 1102 Users | 56 ReviewsCritique About Books Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
Reading Henry Miller is, to me, one of life's truly great pleasures. The joy Miller got out of living, and out of relating his life through his writing, is a palpable thing, easily consumed as I read. The essays collected here are one of the most direct distillations of that joy. One of my favorites by one of my favorites.Top three books of all time. I can't get enough of this book. I've lent it out so many times and I just keep buying it. Just writing this makes me want to pick it up.
I picked up Miller after having read Nin and discovering that they had a rather passionate literary and romantic relationship. From his writing, I imagine Miller with a swagger, with a smart-ass personality. Again, this is another book I packed with me from the States, and it's still sitting on my shelf. Maybe I feel guilty that I wasn't able to get into it. Will try again soon.
This book contains a number of Henry Miller's short writings and essays; they are some of his most accessible and affecting works, and this book was a gateway for me to his larger volumes. It makes me want to drink whiskey and punch the moon out of the sky, and laugh as the tidal waves sweep away all evidence of the constructs of man and his society. On a side note, there's a handful of lines from these essays that have been paraphrased (and nearly lifted verbatim) by Jeff Tweedy from Wilco.
Don't get me wrong, I love Miller's novels, but this collection of essays simply doesn't carry any of their charm or extravagance. The problem lies in the lack of cohesion, the essays are very self-contained but the winding road this book leads you down just doesn't bring you to any truly worthwhile destination. For Miller fans, there is definitely some worthwhile stuff here (like his chapter on Money and various political sections) but it's wedged between banal veneration of very popular (and
I really like Henry Miller's writing - and I really like Henry Miller's view on life. Not the view that is there in the dark hours or that people think they see in his banned stories - but in the exhilaration he feels for action. So, I should have really loved this book, right? But it was real life and not the life he imagined...and not very exhilarating.The best lines come from the introduction...while they're great, this fact isn't a great sign. When you find you can go neither backward nor
A wonderful collection of cultural critiques, metaphysical quandaries, and words of wisdom from a truly great writer. Miller's independence in thought and prose radiates through the stories, supplying a definite amount of poise and a good kick in the pants for any reader. Most of the writings are quite short and digestible, allowing one to skip around from piece to piece easily. While the collection was quite good, I would not recommend this volume of Miller to a reader just beginning to peruse
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.