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1st out of 4 books
—
2 voters
Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch
by
Henry Miller
Whence
Henry Miller's title for this, one of his most appealing books; first
published in 1957, it tells the story of Miller's life on the Big Sur, a
section of California coast where he lived for fifteen years.
Big Sur is the portrait of a place—one of the most colorful in the U.S.—and of the extraordinary people Miller knew there: writers (& writers who didn't wri...more
Henry Miller's title for this, one of his most appealing books; first
published in 1957, it tells the story of Miller's life on the Big Sur, a
section of California coast where he lived for fifteen years.
Big Sur is the portrait of a place—one of the most colorful in the U.S.—and of the extraordinary people Miller knew there: writers (& writers who didn't wri...more
Paperback, 404 pages
Published
January 17th 1957
by New Directions
(first published 1957)
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Jan 16, 2008
Mike
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like to "beat" off with their reading/writing
Doesn't everyone go through a Beats phrase? Not knocking it, but it really does grab hold a with a few people and the other 99.9% of us get on with our lives. But you can say that about almost anything right? I'm sure there are exceptions to this generalization, but for me, Beats are worthwhile reading at least once, but usually not much more than that. Granted, a lot of it was written to be read out loud more than anything else. But for every passage that is well-written and beautiful there's j...more
28 Aprile 2013
- Oggi un sole carico nel cielo e tu a scoppiarmi nelle vene. -
Big Sur è il luogo in cui Miller ha trascorso parte della sua vita in tranquillità, tra l’incantevole paesaggio delle colline e le scogliere che fermano gli urti del mare contro la terra.
Le prime pagine sono tempestate di personaggio vissuti anch’essi a Big Sur, superate queste pagine per nulla personali si ha modo di leggere di Miller e del rapporto con i figli, Val e Tony, dell’educazione e della sua idea di crescit...more
- Oggi un sole carico nel cielo e tu a scoppiarmi nelle vene. -
Big Sur è il luogo in cui Miller ha trascorso parte della sua vita in tranquillità, tra l’incantevole paesaggio delle colline e le scogliere che fermano gli urti del mare contro la terra.
Le prime pagine sono tempestate di personaggio vissuti anch’essi a Big Sur, superate queste pagine per nulla personali si ha modo di leggere di Miller e del rapporto con i figli, Val e Tony, dell’educazione e della sua idea di crescit...more
One of my favorite books. This was my introduction to Henry Miller and so far my favorite. By this point in his life he had figured life out so to speak. He understood what is important and how to live a peaceful enjoyable life. A stark contrast from his early yearly of ramble rousing. Perhaps it took just that in his early life along with the misery of city life to bring him to this understanding and appreciation for the "good life" in Big Sur. And when reading this book, I kept finding myself...more
Yes, Big Sur is the feel-good cousin of The Air-Conditioned Nightmare. I haven't read the latter as of yet, only paged through it once or twice vibing on the hate. While TACN is the tart travelogue Miller angrily dashed off after his forced repatriation to the United States, BS, by contrast, is the joyous, years-later homage to the place he ended up.
The book is stitched together from various recollections and false starts and nuggets of previously published work, and were it not for Hank's infam...more
The book is stitched together from various recollections and false starts and nuggets of previously published work, and were it not for Hank's infam...more
Henry Miller is not easy to read. If you intend to grok the jumbled thoughts and messages in Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch, you need to find some sun, quiet, and solitude - and prepare to re-read whole pages if your attention lapses.
This book is fundamentally similar to Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. Both are stream-of-consciousness narratives with the air of a self-eulogy by the author. Both make use of very graphic, descriptive language (although Hemingway uses his rare adjective...more
This book is fundamentally similar to Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. Both are stream-of-consciousness narratives with the air of a self-eulogy by the author. Both make use of very graphic, descriptive language (although Hemingway uses his rare adjective...more
This book, about Henry Miller's life at Big Sur, is a mixed bag. Some of the character sketches are very good, and some are not at all. When Miller wrote about his benefactor Jean Wharton, for instance, I nearly put down the book because of how barf-y and supplicating it was. Miller is always good for a few poignant thoughts though, and consistently does a great job when raking someone over the coals.
Here was one passage I underlined:
"The most difficult thing to adjust to, apparently, is peace a...more
Here was one passage I underlined:
"The most difficult thing to adjust to, apparently, is peace a...more
Henry, you old rascal, you finally figured out the whole deal. If this is what it's like to get old, I'm not scared at all. Helluva nice little collection here. Always merry and bright!
You've helped me figure it out, time and time again. Right now I'm in my thirties so I'm kinda on that "Tropic" and "Rosy Crucifixion" mode. But the "Big Sur" stage is something I now look forward to, should I be lucky enough to make my way there. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
In my best moments I'm...more
You've helped me figure it out, time and time again. Right now I'm in my thirties so I'm kinda on that "Tropic" and "Rosy Crucifixion" mode. But the "Big Sur" stage is something I now look forward to, should I be lucky enough to make my way there. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
In my best moments I'm...more
Henry Miller, long after Paris, contemplating life, conjuring wisdom, but still asking the big questions. A worthwhile read for Miller fans and one of my favorites.
I hadn't read any Miller before this, but this was a solid introduction to his writing and philosophy. Miller captures all the beauty of California/Big Sur culture (dedicated to ideals of individuality, self-determination, nonconformity, non-materialism, etc... a pure form of the "Beat" ethos, if you will), while making a case for art in one's life. The story, filled with invective against modern American culture, is still entertaining (the characters that live in Big Sur!), and always with an e...more
Not his greatest work. The first 100 or so pages unravel an anti-societal (somewhat Rousseau/Thoureauian) and pro-community philosophy, which I found quite appealing. The last section entails an account of a friend overstaying his welcome and abusing hospitality, which is well done, entertaining, and continued to remind me of someone I know quite well. The two hundred pages in the middle though, I struggled through. About as far from the Rosy Crucifixion as you could get, it's mostly dry charact...more
I thought this was fabulous. It's not your usual memoir reading. It rambles and diverges and surfs the content of his life in that Henry Miller kind of way. It took him awhile to perfect his style starting with the Tropic of Cancer. At least for me. With all its free association prose and occasional wild sexual language, the Tropic of Cancer can be tough to follow. But by the time he wrote Big Sur he'd made writing seem rather effortless. His thoughts and his pen seem to be one and the same. It'...more
"Often, when following the trail which meanders over the hills, I pull myself up in an effort to encompass the glory and the grandeur which envelops the whole horizon. Often, when the clouds pile up in the north and the sea is churned with white caps, I say to myself: "This is the California that men dreamed of years ago, this is the Pacific that Balboa looked out on from the Peak of Darien, this is the face of the earth as the Creator intended it to look." "
This was the first book of Henry Miller's that I have read (kind of the only one so far), and it made me really appreciate him as a person and as an artist. It is basically written in journal format during the time in his life when he was living in Big Sur (I believe around the time of WWII). Often times I don't care for people's diaristic writing, but Miller is an exception, as is Anais Nin. Reading Henry and June was what finally got me to read anything at all by Henry Miller.
I could not get into this book. Miller just comes across as a womanizing, pompus ass. I was supposed to read this in a class about writing that looks at writers perspectives on writing. Miller was a poor example in my opinion. He seemed more concerned with name dropping and telling personal tales that fueled his own ego and than actually delivering a good piece of advice or story.
Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch is delicious! At a paragraph in, my veins were already tingling, at a page in, it was a masterpiece. And I’ve already, albeit inwardly, elected him my beloved godfather of literature and magnificent storytelling, his words warm with a sense of home, of comforting familiarity, and all the same, doling out wallops of wisdom and revolutionary thoughts.
I loved this book. It went with me to one of my most memorable travels to the northern part of Pakistan (chitral) where I spent 10 days alone, not being able to part with this book. you can read my blog about it as well:
http://yogini786.wordpress.com/2011/0...
http://yogini786.wordpress.com/2011/0...
This is a fascinating look at Henry Miller in his later stage of life, while living in Big Sur California. It was a humane view into the being of a man who was known for his life long pursuits of societal ills, and his acceptance and willingness to finally have a place to call home and feel peace.
Solidifies my love of the "old man musings" genre.
Among other lovely thoughts...
"The great hoax which we are perpetuating every day of our lives is that we are making life easier, more comfortable, more enjoyable, more profitable. We are doing just the contrary. We are making life stale, flat and unprofitable every day in every way. One ugly word covers it all: waste. Our thoughts, our energies, our very lives are being used up to create what is unwise, unnecessary, unhealthy."
Among other lovely thoughts...
"The great hoax which we are perpetuating every day of our lives is that we are making life easier, more comfortable, more enjoyable, more profitable. We are doing just the contrary. We are making life stale, flat and unprofitable every day in every way. One ugly word covers it all: waste. Our thoughts, our energies, our very lives are being used up to create what is unwise, unnecessary, unhealthy."
Wha-bam! Miller does it again! Blows my mind, that is. This is a great H. Miller book to read if all the sex in his other books is a turn if for you. He's a bit more....stable in his older years, but just as inightful.
Big Sur is one of my favorite places. I was excited to find this book in a wonderful English-language bookstore in Budapest, but it is a crazy book. I'm not sure I would have managed to finish it were it not for the paucity of books available to me at the time.
Unlike the many books that fade into distant memory within months of reading, this book - a stream-of-consciousness ramble - has stuck with me. He writes about the stories he made up for his kids, his relationship with a neighbor who has...more
Unlike the many books that fade into distant memory within months of reading, this book - a stream-of-consciousness ramble - has stuck with me. He writes about the stories he made up for his kids, his relationship with a neighbor who has...more
A favorite. I think it may have been the time of year- being trapped in a coffee shop, being called a barista- one who spent all of her tips on the used books- shelved three feet from the tip jar itself- but once again, a favorite.
There is this part- Miller's wife leaves him and takes the children- he is lost. In reading those lines- I first considered my fathers heart. It was the first time it seemed to me a possibility that he might be lonely.
This was big- obviously. And so was big sur- only...more
There is this part- Miller's wife leaves him and takes the children- he is lost. In reading those lines- I first considered my fathers heart. It was the first time it seemed to me a possibility that he might be lonely.
This was big- obviously. And so was big sur- only...more
I found out when I finished this that it was basically Henry Miller writing a book to definitively and finally answer all of the people from all over the world that were constantly writing him letters. He is quite funny and seems like a very generous person, even though he has been highly demonized for writing books that are graphic- some even compare him to Marquis de Sade (sp?). This one was nothing but description of his family life and ruminations on God and nature, etc. Ok, but not emblemat...more
Amo Henry Miller. Ma trovo che questo libro non sia dei suoi pi� riusciti, per cui lo consiglierei solo a chi conosce gia' bene (e apprezza) lo scrittore.
A very different side of Henry Miller. As in, he is not a complete asshole and was probably not wasted when he wrote it.
I find myself walking down the street, reading this book aloud to myself and the world - crying and laughing all the while.
Whenever I'm feeling cynical, I fill my prescription for about 15 pages of this book & probably a drink.
Loved this book without the usual sexualized Miller armour on. Is truly a love song to Big Sur.
A little wit and wisdom amid much silliness, and certainly not up to his essays.
A treatise on the good life. Miller's search for a sane place and simplified, dignified mode of living and creating. Haunting descriptions of the natural scene of Big Sur, Miller's "paradise", and warm, sympathetic portraits of his often bizarre friends and neighbors.
This book about good-neighborliness is finally read, by me. I like this quote, "Those who do more than asked of them are never depleted. Only those who fear to give are weakened by giving. The art of giving is entirely a spiritual affair. In this sense, to give one's all is meaningless, for there is no bottom where true giving is concerned."
Well, I don't think i have lived up to that yet... This book gives one a lot to chew on, which is why it took me years of stop-starts to get through it. But...more
Well, I don't think i have lived up to that yet... This book gives one a lot to chew on, which is why it took me years of stop-starts to get through it. But...more
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Henry Miller sought to reestablish the freedom to live without the conventional restraints of civilization. His books are potpourris of sexual description, quasi-philosophical speculation, reflection on literature and society, surrealistic imaginings, and autobiographical incident.
After living in Paris in the 1930s, he returned to the United States and settled in Big Sur, Calif. Miller's first tw...more
More about Henry Miller...
After living in Paris in the 1930s, he returned to the United States and settled in Big Sur, Calif. Miller's first tw...more
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“Surely every one realizes, at some point along the way, that he is capable of living a far better life than the one he has chosen.”
—
49 people liked it
“Certainly paradise, whatever, wherever it be, contains flaws. (Paradisical flaws, if you like.) If it did not, it would be incapable of drawing the hearts of men or angels.”
—
25 people liked it
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Feb 06, 2013 07:13pm
Feb 17, 2013 02:37am