Henry Miller - Prophet of Desire
The Poets (collection)
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52m
Directed by Gero von Boehm • Documentary • 2016 • 52 minutes
Henry Miller had five wives and considered himself bound to both the continent of Europe and to the US. This portrait is a close-up of the life of the extraordinary Miller, who, rebellious and narcissistic, entered the realm of the appetites, yet also maintained a vision of a freer society for all humans.
A sorcerer of literature to many and a reliable source of scandal throughout his life, Miller's stormy relationships with women were the stuff of legend and inspired him to create ever more works. Bestsellers like "Tropic of Cancer" and "Sexus" revolutionised literature by offering erotic descriptions of unprecedented linguistic frankness. This led to Miller's books being banned in the United States and Great Britain right into the 1960s. And even in France, his 1949 work "Sexus" could not be published for eighteen years.
But who was Henry Miller really? An erotic maniac posing as a writer? A mere self-publicist? "A terrible man" is what Miller was, in the words of his friend, writer Erica Jong, "who cultivated a fearless style. The voice he found expressed the abundance of the man. It was not the sex the puritans hated and feared. It was the abundance. It wasn't the obscenity that offended but the vitality."
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