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The Rosy Crucifixion #1–3
The Rosy Crucifixion: Sexus, Plexus, Nexus
Henry Miller's Rosy Crucifixion, his second major trilogy, took more than 10 years for the author to complete. Beginning in 1949 with Sexus, a work so controversial all of Paris was abuzz with L'Affaire Miller, (and publisher Maurice Girodias saw himself threatened with jail), following in 1952 with Plexus, and finally concluding with 1959's Nexus, the three works are a dazzling array of scenes, sexual encounters and ideas, covering Miller's final days in NY, his relationship with June Miller and her lover, his take on the arts, his favorite writers, his thoughts, his insights, his days and his nights, finally ending with a glorious farewell to the life he'd known and an anticipation of the life he would lead.
624 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
51 people are currently reading
1032 people want to read
About the author
Henry Miller
980 books5,186 followersHenry Valentine Miller was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association, and mysticism. His most characteristic works of this kind are Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn, and the trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, which are based on his experiences in New York City and Paris (all of which were banned in the United States until 1961). He also wrote travel memoirs and literary criticism, and painted watercolors.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 25, 2008
This is one of my all time favorite books. A romance. Reminds me of Dylan's Blood On The Tracks, especially the song A Simple Twist of Fate. I think I discovered Miller when I was about 18 - a good age to discover him. It is flawed by self-love and may be rather dumb but it has an innocence, exuberance, and spiritual feeling that is hard to come by. It is his story: a great fairytale of following one's dreams. He really dies to the world and is reborn. Really funny too. A lot of people might think him a misogynist; and it's true, he doesn't have a mature view of women, but there is no hate in him. He merely exposes himself warts and all.
October 18, 2008
No plot, but surprisingly readable regardless.
April 24, 2013
I recommend reading this if you desire time travel back to a time before decent birth control was available. Miller spares no details of the bloody torture and death of women in a time when freedom for women to be real women came to a climax. Just in case you are still living in some fantasy world about morality vs. honesty... this may help you to understand why all the fuss.
February 10, 2010
That fiction can sound like reality. That life can begin at 40 and continue after 50.
October 7, 2012
I've rated Miller's second trilogy 3 stars. 1 star for the sheer magnitude of the project, another for the great insight into Miller's early life and the final star (but a weakened star, one that's burning out quickly) for the balls Miller had to keep releasing original work. Writing that could not be confined to a genre - writing that could only come from the mind of one man.
However, there is a problem with 'The Rosy Crucifixion', a problem I will try to define here.
I liken the experience of consuming 'The Rosy Crucifixion' to that of discovering your favourite punk band has released a concept album of jazz-funk with hip hop overtones. That is to say, Miller's first trilogy; 'The Tropics' and 'Black Spring' are key novels that should hold a permanent space on every bookshelf. They are explosive, original and angry pieces. Something that Miller called 'a kick in the pants to God'. Nothing like it had been produced before or after it. Not even Miller could recreate its magic in this second ménage a trois.
'The Rosy Crucifixion' documents the period of Miller's life in New York, dreaming of living the writer's life in Europe. It consists of Miller's eternal pursuit of freedom. A life lived without constraints. A life he can't live in the prison of America. Indeed, most situations Miller finds himself in are a prison to him. His wife and daughter, his job at the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company, his cold walks through Brooklyn and Broadway, the steel and concrete of New York's evolving skyline. He wants out, he wants Europe, he wants to write.
In theory, this should be an intriguing read - instead it becomes an infuriating one. Lumbering passages that lead to nowhere, apocryphal scenes of sex and decadence, endless characters who just become names on the page. It's a long-winded, self-indulgent, self-parody of what made Miller great in the first place. A real shame but there are moments of greatness here, rare portions of daisies eking through shit. For example, Miller truly captures his frustration with the nowhere life and the literary one that seems so out of his reach.
In fact, one gets giddy and excited towards the end of 'Nexus' (and not just because one will be able to close the book permanently) when Miller gets on the boat to Paris. We're pleased for him. Pleased he's now 'Free to walk, free to talk, free to think, free to dream. Free, free, free!'
However, there is a problem with 'The Rosy Crucifixion', a problem I will try to define here.
I liken the experience of consuming 'The Rosy Crucifixion' to that of discovering your favourite punk band has released a concept album of jazz-funk with hip hop overtones. That is to say, Miller's first trilogy; 'The Tropics' and 'Black Spring' are key novels that should hold a permanent space on every bookshelf. They are explosive, original and angry pieces. Something that Miller called 'a kick in the pants to God'. Nothing like it had been produced before or after it. Not even Miller could recreate its magic in this second ménage a trois.
'The Rosy Crucifixion' documents the period of Miller's life in New York, dreaming of living the writer's life in Europe. It consists of Miller's eternal pursuit of freedom. A life lived without constraints. A life he can't live in the prison of America. Indeed, most situations Miller finds himself in are a prison to him. His wife and daughter, his job at the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company, his cold walks through Brooklyn and Broadway, the steel and concrete of New York's evolving skyline. He wants out, he wants Europe, he wants to write.
In theory, this should be an intriguing read - instead it becomes an infuriating one. Lumbering passages that lead to nowhere, apocryphal scenes of sex and decadence, endless characters who just become names on the page. It's a long-winded, self-indulgent, self-parody of what made Miller great in the first place. A real shame but there are moments of greatness here, rare portions of daisies eking through shit. For example, Miller truly captures his frustration with the nowhere life and the literary one that seems so out of his reach.
In fact, one gets giddy and excited towards the end of 'Nexus' (and not just because one will be able to close the book permanently) when Miller gets on the boat to Paris. We're pleased for him. Pleased he's now 'Free to walk, free to talk, free to think, free to dream. Free, free, free!'
November 3, 2010
When I read it as a student in the 70s I was fond of Miller's books - It's about 40 years ago, and I can't remember of it... In the book "Sexus" I found many underlined lines and asides plus Vocabular. I also discovered a few loose sheets on which Miller is mentioned, eg by Lawrence Durrell - The HM reader - "I am against pornography and for obscenity ... My books are not about sex but about self-liberation ... The full and joyful acceptance of the worst in oneself is the only way of transforming it"... or HM and the Law by Elmer Gertz: "HM was at war with institutionalized society, in the jargon of Hollywood we have described him, as a rebel without a cause - a James Dean character, a Hemingway of undisciplined creative yearnings ... or a contra note on "Tropic of Cancer", Paris, 1931 by Walter Lowenfels: My thesis is a knock out, "I am the only man in the world that's alive"... (HM). It's the most destructive book I have ever read ...
October 22, 2013
La Crucificción Rosada de Henry Miller, distribuida a lo largo de esos tres hermosos y terríbles volúmenes que son, "Plexus", "Nexus" y "Sexus", más que "Trópico de Cancer" y "Trópico de Capricornio", me dieron una idea muy amplia acerca de ese viaje por la vida de Henry Miller, no obstante que haya mucho de ficción en los tres libros, finalmente mucho del autor prevalece en esa obra. Pienso que son libros imprescindibles.
Carlos Batista
Carlos Batista
May 14, 2007
This trilogy covers some of the same material, roughly, that Miller's other Trilogy, the Tropics and Black Spring cover, though these works are more vivid, more chronologically structured, and slightly more conceived. Who knows, if I had read these first, which I would prefer?
November 12, 2008
A lot of women say Miller is a sexist. I think he's just tragically forthright and honest. This trilogy blew my mind but I've yet to find another Miller book I could finish or enjoy. Perhaps this is another perfect personal reaction to so so literature
July 3, 2014
Amazingly lucid account of an absolute libertine. Intelligent, steeped in the intellectual brew Miller's fevered imagination, a breathtaking read.
January 10, 2018
Exceptional..I would read it a thousand times.
July 7, 2024
Well, its over and writing a good description of what I went trough will be hard.
As per usual Miller writes a semi-autobiogtaphy, where his experiences with other people are intertwined with dream sequences described in painful detail, and tangents on art and life.
The three works have no discernable plot, but there is a story behind them: the beginnings peaks and troubles of his love affair with an enigmatic woman. Each of the books captures a different part of their relationship and builds them up as a couple. Some chapters are very hard to read, while others flow as naturally as a conversation with my best friend.
To be honest, I am reaching a similar moment in my life as Miller. We are of a similar age and I felt a strong connection with his emphatic character and his friends to the point that i felt nostalgic about the way they used to live. His gestures and his approach made the character really likable even though severely flawed. Somehow he was a true writer all along and I believed in him and wanted him to succeed.
Can i read this again? Probably no, but it will stay with me for a while.
As per usual Miller writes a semi-autobiogtaphy, where his experiences with other people are intertwined with dream sequences described in painful detail, and tangents on art and life.
The three works have no discernable plot, but there is a story behind them: the beginnings peaks and troubles of his love affair with an enigmatic woman. Each of the books captures a different part of their relationship and builds them up as a couple. Some chapters are very hard to read, while others flow as naturally as a conversation with my best friend.
To be honest, I am reaching a similar moment in my life as Miller. We are of a similar age and I felt a strong connection with his emphatic character and his friends to the point that i felt nostalgic about the way they used to live. His gestures and his approach made the character really likable even though severely flawed. Somehow he was a true writer all along and I believed in him and wanted him to succeed.
Can i read this again? Probably no, but it will stay with me for a while.
July 14, 2020
Sexus, Plexus, and Nexus put together are simply a vastly expanded Tropic of Capricorn. The three volumes of the trilogy differ to a great extent. Sexus is the most obscene of all Miller's works, and the Sexus episodes which alternate regularly with neutral passages, often seem gratuious. The other two volumes contain hardly any obscenity. Sexus is also the most disorganized with constant digressions, reminiscences, aud other excursions, interrupting the main thread. In Plexus and Nexus, the narrative becomes more factual and straightforward. They offer a clearer explanation of Miller's emergence from the past. The Rosy Crucifixion, is four times as long as Tropic of Capri corn, with little of the humour, ferocity, or pyrotechnics.
June 27, 2017
Al igual que Trópico de Cáncer y Trópico de Capricornio, esta trilogía también son autobiográficas, desde su primer divorcio y cuando conoció a su amante, hasta su segundo matrimonio, pasando por su infancia.
Pierde algo de intensidad, sobre todo en Plexus y Nexus, pero también gana madurez y presenta evaluaciones casi psicológicas de los personajes. Son tres novelas que te hacen sudar de la tensión desde la primera página.
Pierde algo de intensidad, sobre todo en Plexus y Nexus, pero también gana madurez y presenta evaluaciones casi psicológicas de los personajes. Son tres novelas que te hacen sudar de la tensión desde la primera página.
November 8, 2013
Plenty of reviews have been written here on this trilogy. Mine will be short.
The writer Lawrence Durrell, Miller's close friend, was extremely disappointed with the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, and told Miller as much. His disappointment is shared, I think, with many a Miller fan and scholar. The narratives meander, narrator intrusions abound (with typical Millerian vim and vigour) and we find none of the taut, compelling writing found in Tropic of Cancer and Black Spring, for example. Miller simply wanders around his years in New York when he had abandoned his first wife for Mona/Mara, filling the narrative with mundane detail, dubious adventures, a host of friends, scoundrels and lost souls, and reams of vocabulary about anything and everything that passed through this famous raconteur's mind. Miller meant it all that way - but that doesn't make it good literature.
If nothing else, the book is relaxed reading, mainly because it isn't about much; and that little is written mostly in an easy vernacular. If you like the raconteur in Miller, you might like these books, despite the fact that they contain some of Miller's most tawdry, cliche-ridden writing. They are, to my mind, examples of Miller at his worst. Nevertheless, they are entertaining, if you don't look for the best in Miller, and can stand the mechanical sex scenes.
I have to also point out to any potential buyer - and this is the main reason I wrote this review - that this particular edition of The Rosy Crucifixion is a terrible pressing. Typographical errors are rife throughout, and the text is very carelessly put together. The book itself is over-sized, and thus not comfortable to carry around. It is not bus or plane material, unless you work out your forearms beforehand.
I have never seen a worse edition of the trilogy. It is for this reason alone that I gave this edition a rating of one star. So please be forewarned. If you are going to read mediocre Miller, you might as well have an attractive, easily-transportable copy, with no formatting or typographical errors.
The writer Lawrence Durrell, Miller's close friend, was extremely disappointed with the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, and told Miller as much. His disappointment is shared, I think, with many a Miller fan and scholar. The narratives meander, narrator intrusions abound (with typical Millerian vim and vigour) and we find none of the taut, compelling writing found in Tropic of Cancer and Black Spring, for example. Miller simply wanders around his years in New York when he had abandoned his first wife for Mona/Mara, filling the narrative with mundane detail, dubious adventures, a host of friends, scoundrels and lost souls, and reams of vocabulary about anything and everything that passed through this famous raconteur's mind. Miller meant it all that way - but that doesn't make it good literature.
If nothing else, the book is relaxed reading, mainly because it isn't about much; and that little is written mostly in an easy vernacular. If you like the raconteur in Miller, you might like these books, despite the fact that they contain some of Miller's most tawdry, cliche-ridden writing. They are, to my mind, examples of Miller at his worst. Nevertheless, they are entertaining, if you don't look for the best in Miller, and can stand the mechanical sex scenes.
I have to also point out to any potential buyer - and this is the main reason I wrote this review - that this particular edition of The Rosy Crucifixion is a terrible pressing. Typographical errors are rife throughout, and the text is very carelessly put together. The book itself is over-sized, and thus not comfortable to carry around. It is not bus or plane material, unless you work out your forearms beforehand.
I have never seen a worse edition of the trilogy. It is for this reason alone that I gave this edition a rating of one star. So please be forewarned. If you are going to read mediocre Miller, you might as well have an attractive, easily-transportable copy, with no formatting or typographical errors.
September 6, 2012
This came along at exactly the right time and place in my life and I, in many regards, credit the insight these "autobiographical novels" (as Miller called them) gave me with my not giving up the ghost with regard to my own creative pursuits. He spoke so honestly about sex, love, spirituality, politics, history, society, literature, architecture, long lists of things, dreams, psychology, and yes, the struggles of being an artist when it is money and industriousness that are typically valued above all in our culture. He made me realize that I'm completely okay the way that I am, that perfection isn't even truly perfection itself. I would strongly recommend these books to anyone who likes passionate, articulate, funny, beautiful writing; in short, anyone who wants to read some fucking mind-blowingly great American literature.
May 8, 2011
Read these novel/memoirs again, after some 40 years. Did not improve with age. Some parts are unflinchingly honest, but most of it a lot of hot air, Miller showing off self-education and book learning, and most times not a very sympathetic figure. Chaotically disorganized. To say it is self-indulgent is a gross understatement, even if you accept idea that an artist is "different" or finds motivation in unusual ways. Despite the infatuation with Mara/Mona, you never really get to know her, after 1500 pages. Erotic fantasies of author are pornographic, no two ways about it. Why they dominate "Sexus" and disappear by the end of the trilogy is a mystery. A confusing mess.
November 29, 2013
The trilogy is a remarkable work of art although i like the two tropics more.
The best part is Plexus then Sexus and at last Nexus.
My review on each part is here
The best part is Plexus then Sexus and at last Nexus.
My review on each part is here
July 4, 2009
Its my evening read!
July 5, 2021
I read all 3 volumes in French translation in the mid 1970's. It was a good education about American mores and culture just before I moved to New York City !
April 9, 2012
Plexus is the best part. Lust for life.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews