Writer’s Corner: Anaïs Nin on Saying It All

Anais Nin (Elsa Dorfman, c.1970s)

Asone of the twentieth century’s more celebrated and mutinous rebel authors,Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) didn’t seem to keep much back. After all, she made money for a time in the 1940sby knocking out ornately gilded pornography at a bucka page foran anonymous, wealthy collector. The stories were later prettied up under the label“erotica” andpublished posthumously in collections likeDelta of Venus.

Although she wanted to be remembered for her knotty and abstract avant...