E.A Rumfield
11-15-2012, 09:19 PM
I am have about 20 pages left in Henry Millers novel. I have enjoyed the book and found a lot of the insight relevant but I also find bits of it to be incoherent. Now this is something that I find in almost every novel, especially good ones. Novels tend to be like symphonies. For bits you are lulled and then you stumble upon a page or paragraph or chapter that shines and rises from the page. Miller accomplishes this often still I find it a very different type of novel and he set out to do just that. In one passage Miller speaks passionately of Walt Whitman, calling him the only thing America ever produced a symbol for the land. He goes on to say that Whitman was the first and last poet. Further he says that these days you have to read books if even only to find one brilliant page. He claims that a novel has never been written. To keep in Millers spirit was a novel ever written? Something that stands out sentence after sentence. Some books were written by men. Some by writers but rarely both. Some books stand out for only a paragraph some for a page or chapter but never entirely.
In my mind a novel is an often lengthy writing with a central theme that unravels as you read it, often spinning out of control. The first true novel I read was For Whom The Bells Toll. A clear theme. I would compare Tropic of Cancer to Celine's Journey to the End of the Night. Similar brooding, similar philosophy but while Celine's novel stretches epic distance, literally from Paris to World War One to Africa to America and back and with the character of Robinson pulling you forward just like he pulled Celine it creates a captivating read. Than you have the female character, Robinson losing sight Celine becoming a doctor, finally becoming disillusioned. I forgot largely of the book until one day I found myself describing it to a friend. I spoke so brightly of the book it was as if I had just read it. I see Journey as everything Tropic of Cancer is and much more. Millers novel is just a glimpse into his mind during a brief stint of his life. Not much happens, the characters are forgettable but he does have something interesting to say. I do not think he matches up to Dostoevsky. When I read Notes, possibly the only "novel" ever written, I was ready to put it down after one hundred pages. On the one hundred and first page it all made sense. Everything he said up to that point suddenly made sense. It was like seeing the world for the first time, truly seeing it. Heart of Darkness is another novel impossible to forget. Even Mosquitoes by William Faulkner, which I didn't totally like, stands as a more complete idea to me. I do not think that Miller accomplished this and in the end he created something that I think is ultimately forgettable. Am I missing something or did others get a similar sensation? All that being said it was a good read and I can relate but not fully connect.
If I had to list the only real novels I read it would go something like this and I've read a lot.
Journey to the End of the Night
Notes From the Underground
Heart of Darkness
For Whom The Bells Toll
Ask The Dust by John Fante (possibly)
In my mind a novel is an often lengthy writing with a central theme that unravels as you read it, often spinning out of control. The first true novel I read was For Whom The Bells Toll. A clear theme. I would compare Tropic of Cancer to Celine's Journey to the End of the Night. Similar brooding, similar philosophy but while Celine's novel stretches epic distance, literally from Paris to World War One to Africa to America and back and with the character of Robinson pulling you forward just like he pulled Celine it creates a captivating read. Than you have the female character, Robinson losing sight Celine becoming a doctor, finally becoming disillusioned. I forgot largely of the book until one day I found myself describing it to a friend. I spoke so brightly of the book it was as if I had just read it. I see Journey as everything Tropic of Cancer is and much more. Millers novel is just a glimpse into his mind during a brief stint of his life. Not much happens, the characters are forgettable but he does have something interesting to say. I do not think he matches up to Dostoevsky. When I read Notes, possibly the only "novel" ever written, I was ready to put it down after one hundred pages. On the one hundred and first page it all made sense. Everything he said up to that point suddenly made sense. It was like seeing the world for the first time, truly seeing it. Heart of Darkness is another novel impossible to forget. Even Mosquitoes by William Faulkner, which I didn't totally like, stands as a more complete idea to me. I do not think that Miller accomplished this and in the end he created something that I think is ultimately forgettable. Am I missing something or did others get a similar sensation? All that being said it was a good read and I can relate but not fully connect.
If I had to list the only real novels I read it would go something like this and I've read a lot.
Journey to the End of the Night
Notes From the Underground
Heart of Darkness
For Whom The Bells Toll
Ask The Dust by John Fante (possibly)