Nearer the Moon: From A Journal of Love : the Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1937-1939

Front Cover
Harcourt Brace, 1996 - Biography & Autobiography - 396 pages
Anais Nin's diary was her "ultimate confidante", and to it she revealed her private self, her doubts and weaknesses, and the uncensored details about her physical relationships. This discipline of daily writing also helped Nin develop the skills to write her edited diaries and best-selling volumes of erotica. The fourth volume of "A Journal of Love", Nearer the Moon covers the years 1937 through 1939 and continues the story begun in Fire of Nin's "dismemberment by love". She remains torn between three men: Henry Miller, whose detached self-immersion and artistic "impersonality" both attract and repel her; Gonzalo More, a sensitive and attentive but jealous lover who drives her to distraction; and Hugh Guiler, her faithful husband, who provides a calm center for Nin. In addition, a wide circle of family, friends, and admirers makes demands on Nin's time and emotional energy. She is constantly busy helping people - finding apartments and rent money, taking trips to the doctor, encouraging artistic pursuits. And yet, she cannot abandon her writing - the structured world of the writer is her refuge.

From inside the book

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1996)

Anaïs Nin 1903-1977 Writer and diarist Anaïs Nin was born February 21, 1903 in Neuilly, France to a Catalan father and a Danish mother. She spent many of her childhood years with her Cuban relatives. Later, she became a naturalized American citizen. Nin is best known for her journals,"The Diary of Anais Nin, Vols. I-VII" and her erotic fiction. In fact, Nin was one of the raliest writers of erotica for women. She also wrote the book Henry and June, which was made into a movie of the same name in 1990. In 1973 Anaïs Nin received an honorary doctorate from the Philadelphia College of Art. She was elected to the United States National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1974. She died of cancer in Los Angeles, California, on January 14, 1977.

Bibliographic information