For various reasons, I suddenly find myself keenly interested in the writings of Anais Nin. Problem is, I’m a bit confused by the titles that exist out there, between diaries and unexpurgated diaries and books that are extracts from her diaries and so on. Can anyone tell me where a good starting point for Anais Nin might be?
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Nin is probably my favorite writer, and has been for over 30 years. One has to be careful reading her journals, however, because she never published what she wrote about her experiences and the people she met before putting her work through rigorous rewriting and fictionalization. Thus, as in her real life, she re-invents herself, the people she knew and her experiences. Some of her contemporaries about whom she wrote complained that her journals were full of out-and-out fantasies and that they were actually novelized journals.
Nevertheless, she and her journals are fascinating. Try to find the unexpurgated set.
My favorite book of all time — one that I read at least once a year — is, A Literate Passion – Letters of Anaïs Nin & Henry Miller 1932-1953 by Gunther Stuhman.
The Erotic Life of Anaïs Nin by Noël Riley Fitch is very good, but it made me almost dislike Nin as a person for a while. This is the same author who wrote Sylvia Beach & the Lost Generation, Hemingway In Paris and Literary Cafés Of Paris.
It has been years and years since I’ve read any of her work, but in my early 20’s I was a huge fan. It will be interesting to see what your take on her words will be.