Miller—pioneer of permissiveness

Press, 10 June 1980, Page 8

Miller—pioneer of permissiveness

NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles Henry Miller, who died at | the week-end at the age of 88,. has often been, called the pioneer of modern permissive writing. From his early' days in Paris during the 19305, Miller’s books were banned as pornographic in. many: countries, but in bld age he. saw them, accepted as works. of art.' The American-born author always wrote from the heart with, an abiding faith in the truth of his theme,.even if it involved ■ four-letter words and • sordid descriptions of Paris bordellos or sewers. •' <His aim-tyas absolute freedom., of thought/ He condemned some modem novelists for launching a. "parade of - bad language’ ’.- merely to increase sales. / : /• A- gaunt figure with thinning grey hair and .gentle manner, /Miller in old-.. age| spent as much time, painting watercolours as r-writing. He explained his attitude .- towards life' ih an autobiography, published in November,

1971, shortly, before his. eightieth birthday. “I wrote about sex because it was such a big part of my life,” ,he said. “Sex was always the dominant thing/' People-have said that I threw in juicy passages just to keep the reader awakfe. ■'

' "That is .not true. My every-day life . was full of this objectionable, or questionable material.”. Miller' was born in New York on-December 26, 1891, the .son .of? relatively _ poor parents of German, origin. After a few months at a New York college and years of temporary. jobs, he went to . France in ,1930 almost penniless, and .' became /a writer.

Although he lived in Europe. .for nine years, Miller described himself throughout as.-a “100. per ‘ cent American” ■—’.though for, a time his. own country would not publish. “Tropic of Cancer" nor. any .other- of - Jhis writings. • “Tropic ’ of .’ Cancer” be-

came a test case for the American and British courts. Eminent writers like T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound praised it, but a typical critical reaction was that of a United States Court of Appeals judge who called it "obscene, filthy and revolting.” Among Miller’s other works are “Tropic of Capricorn," "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare,” "Black Spring," “Sunday After the War,” “The Cosmological Eye,” "The'Colossus of Maroussi," and "Wisdom of the Heart” He was in Greece when World War II began, and returned to the United States at'the end of 1939. '. In the 1940 s his work attracted many Serious assessments. Lawrence Durrell, the well-known British novelist,, wrote: “He is already among, the great contemporary writers.” In : the ' 19505, ; with the growing translations and sales ,of his books, the poverty ,in his life j began to change to affluence.

In 1963 the United States, Supreme Court ruled that "Tropic of Cancer” was not pornographic and the British i Attorney-General rejected a suggestion that action should be taken against its sale in Britain.

. After two brief marriages, Miller wed Martha Lepska in 1944. There are two children of that union. His fourth marriage .was to Eve McClure who died some years later. He was married for the fifth time in September, 1967, to a 29-year-old Japanese singer, Hoki Tokuda. In his eightieth year, Miller wrote: “More and more, as I approach the grave, I am impressed, yes even tormented, by the thought of all that I have left out of my so-called novels.” His . latest book, “The World of Lawrence," an account of the life of D. H. Lawrence which he wrote in the 1930 s but never published, was due to appear shortly./ His last years were spent

iin a modest house in Pacific (Palisades, a suburb of Los Angeles. Friends said they (believed he left little money. |. Miller, who started painting at 25, the age he also began writing, sold many of his paintings during his last years to raise money. He said he went to Paris with $lO in his pocket and returned with $lO. His philosophy, Miller said, was to live life to the full and joyously. “Certainly I have no principles, no ideologies and no morality,” he said. Asked in one of the last interviews he gave whether he was bothered that he might be remembered as a writer of dirty books, he said: “It doesn’t disturb my sleep. But it,.irks me to think that is all they, have found in the great body of work that I have done. “I don’t consider myself as haying written pornography. I. wrote obscenity, which is pure. Pornography is impure. It’s a caricature of the real thing."