Barbara Miller Popular Books

Barbara Miller Biography & Facts

Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) 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. Early life Miller was born at his family's home, 450 East 85th Street, in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, New York City. He was the son of Lutheran German parents, Louise Marie (Neiting) and tailor Heinrich Miller. As a child, he lived for nine years at 662 Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, known at that time (and referred to frequently in his works) as the Fourteenth Ward. In 1900, his family moved to 1063 Decatur Street in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. After finishing elementary school, although his family remained in Bushwick, Miller attended Eastern District High School in Williamsburg. As a young man, he was active with the Socialist Party of America (his "quondam idol" was the black Socialist Hubert Harrison). He attended the City College of New York for one semester. Career Brooklyn, 1917–1930 Miller married his first wife, Beatrice Sylvas Wickens, in 1917; their divorce was granted on December 21, 1923. Together they had a daughter, Barbara, born in 1919. They lived in an apartment at 244 6th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. At the time, Miller was working at Western Union; he worked there from 1920 to 1924, as personnel manager in the messenger department. In March 1922, during a three-week vacation, he wrote his first novel, Clipped Wings. It has never been published, and only fragments remain, although parts of it were recycled in other works, such as Tropic of Capricorn. A study of twelve Western Union messengers, Clipped Wings was characterized by Miller as "a long book and probably a very bad one."In 1923, while he was still married to Beatrice, Miller met and became enamored of a mysterious dance-hall ingénue who was born Juliet Edith Smerth but went by the stage-name June Mansfield. She was 21 at the time. They began an affair, and were married on June 1, 1924. In 1924 Miller quit Western Union in order to dedicate himself completely to writing. Miller later describes this time – his struggles to become a writer, his sexual escapades, his failures, his friends, his philosophy – in his autobiographical trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion. Miller's second novel, Moloch: or, This Gentile World, was written in 1927–28, initially under the guise of a novel written by his wife Juliet (June). A rich older admirer of June, Roland Freedman, paid her to write the novel; she would show him pages of Miller's work each week, pretending it was hers. The book went unpublished until 1992, 65 years after it was written and 12 years after Miller's death. Moloch is based on Miller's first marriage, to Beatrice, and his years working as a personnel manager at the Western Union office in Lower Manhattan. A third novel written around this time, Crazy Cock, also went unpublished until after Miller's death. Initially titled Lovely Lesbians, Crazy Cock (along with his later novel Nexus) told the story of June's close relationship with the artist Marion, whom June had renamed Jean Kronski. Kronski lived with Miller and June from 1926 until 1927, when June and Kronski went to Paris together, leaving Miller behind, which upset him greatly. Miller suspected the pair of having a lesbian relationship. While in Paris, June and Kronski did not get along, and June returned to Miller several months later. Kronski committed suicide around 1930. Paris, 1930–1939 In 1928, Miller spent several months in Paris with June, a trip which was financed by Freedman. One day on a Paris street, Miller met another author, Robert W. Service, who recalled the story in his autobiography: "Soon we got into conversation which turned to books. For a stripling he spoke with some authority, turning into ridicule the pretentious scribes of the Latin Quarter and their freak magazine." In 1930, Miller moved to Paris unaccompanied. Soon after, he began work on Tropic of Cancer, writing to a friend, "I start tomorrow on the Paris book: First person, uncensored, formless – fuck everything!" Although Miller had little or no money the first year in Paris, things began to change after meeting Anaïs Nin who, with Hugh Guiler, went on to pay his entire way through the 1930s including the rent for an apartment at 18 Villa Seurat. Nin became his lover and financed the first printing of Tropic of Cancer in 1934 with money from Otto Rank. She would write extensively in her journals about her relationship with Miller and his wife June; the first volume, covering the years 1931–34, was published in 1966. Late in 1934, June divorced Miller by proxy in Mexico City.In 1931, Miller was employed by the Chicago Tribune Paris edition as a proofreader, thanks to his friend Alfred Perlès, who worked there. Miller took this opportunity to submit some of his own articles under Perlès' name, since at that time only the editorial staff were permitted to publish in the paper. This period in Paris was highly creative for Miller, and during this time he also established a significant and influential network of authors circulating around the Villa Seurat. At that time a young British author, Lawrence Durrell, became a lifelong friend. Miller's correspondence with Durrell was later published in two books. During his Paris period he was also influenced by the French Surrealists. His works contain detailed accounts of sexual experiences. His first published book, Tropic of Cancer (1934), was published by Obelisk Press in Paris and banned in the United States on the grounds of obscenity. The dust jacket came wrapped with a warning: "Not to be imported into the United States or Great Britain." He continued to write novels that were banned; along with Tropic of Cancer, his Black Spring (1936) and Tropic of Capricorn (1939) were smuggled into his native country, building Miller an underground reputation. While the aforementioned novels remained banned in the US for over two decades, in 1939, New Directions published The Cosmological Eye, Miller's first book to be published in America. The collection contained short prose pieces, most of which originally appeared in Black Spring and Max and the White Phagocytes (1938).Miller became fluent in French during his ten-year stay in Paris and lived in France until June 1939. During the late 1930s Miller also learned about German-born sailor George Dibbern, helped to promote his memoire Quest an.... Discover the Barbara Miller popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Barbara Miller books.

Best Seller Barbara Miller Books of 2024

  • The Vigilante Valentine synopsis, comments

    The Vigilante Valentine

    B. Allison Miller

    When Charlotte O'Hara finds popular chocolatier, Candy 'Gram' Brown, dead on the floor of the candy shop days before Valentine's Day, she finds the mystery of the woman's death too...

  • David L. Miller v. Barbara J. Warren synopsis, comments

    David L. Miller v. Barbara J. Warren

    Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia

    1. Failure to comply with a fire code or similar set of regulations constitutes prima facie negligence, if an injury proximately flows from the noncompliance and the inj...

  • Return to Hope Creek synopsis, comments

    Return to Hope Creek

    Alyssa J. Montgomery

    When two old flames come back to their home town, sparks are bound to ignite. A rural romance from USA Today bestselling author Alyssa J. Montgomery.A horrific car accident ended f...

  • Easy On the Pies synopsis, comments

    Easy On the Pies

    B. Allison Miller

    Recipe for a Disastrous Holiday:Take one midaged baker,Stir in a misaddressed message,Pour a Thanksgiving snowstorm into the mix,Add the return of an exbeau,Blend in a mystery dinn...

  • Lily Lemon Blossom A Little Paint, a Little Straw for Scarecrow Montana synopsis, comments

    Lily Lemon Blossom A Little Paint, a Little Straw for Scarecrow Montana

    Barbara Miller

    What did Lily Lemon Blossom do today to make everyone so happy? Well, it all has to do with her friend Scarecrow Montana. He was losing his straw and his happy face had just about ...

  • Supreme Villainy synopsis, comments

    Supreme Villainy

    King Oblivion & Matt D. Wilson

    For eons, King Oblivion, Ph.D., was one of the most ruthless supervillains the world has ever known. As the CEO of the ISS (International Society of Supervillains) for half a centu...

  • The Maverick synopsis, comments

    The Maverick

    Thomas Harding

    The captivating story of the famed publisher George Weidenfeld, from his struggles as an AustrianJewish refugee in London to his rise as a worldrenowned literary figure. After...

  • Matter Barbara S. Miller synopsis, comments

    Matter Barbara S. Miller

    Supreme Court of New York

    Order, Supreme Court, New York County, entered September 29, 1977, which granted plaintiff temporary child support of $100 per week commencing June 30, 1977, plus expenses for the ...

  • Mountain Lodge synopsis, comments

    Mountain Lodge

    R.J. Groves

    Can their love overcome an old family feud?Josephine Romano has a history of dating people her parents would not approve of. But since returning to her hometown of Ash Gully as a s...

  • Trouble Brewing synopsis, comments

    Trouble Brewing

    B. Allison Miller

    Charlotte O'Hara and the gang are back in a new mystery. A dead woman is found face down in the pigpens at the Spruce Grove Farm Show, and several of Spruce Grove's citizens h...

  • Lily Lemon Blossom Twists, Twirls and Curls synopsis, comments

    Lily Lemon Blossom Twists, Twirls and Curls

    Barbara Miller

    Lily Lemon Blossom and her friends love to play Hide and Seek. Little Readers will love helping Lily search for her bunny, bears, dolls and friends. It's their best game of hide an...

  • Prepare To Sell Your Company synopsis, comments

    Prepare To Sell Your Company

    L.B. Buckingham

    Selling your company is a trying time, similar to selling your house. For those unfamiliar with this process, the challenging thoughts will be: 'How do I start?'; 'Who can help me?...

  • Lily Lemon Blossom a Picture Perfect Play Day synopsis, comments

    Lily Lemon Blossom a Picture Perfect Play Day

    Barbara Miller

    Lily Lemon Blossom has a day of fun planned for her best friend Emmy. Join in the fun as Lily and Emmy share a whimsical day, filled with giggles and laughs, endless creativity and...

  • Marilyn Monroe synopsis, comments

    Marilyn Monroe

    Michelle Morgan

    For the first time in paperback, this valuable biography by the president of Marilyn Monroe’s UK fan club contains the most comprehensive collection of primary source material on M...

  • Lily Lemon Blossom Hide and Seek synopsis, comments

    Lily Lemon Blossom Hide and Seek

    Barbara Miller

    Lily Lemon Blossom and her friends love to play Hide and Seek. Little Readers will love helping Lily search for her bunny, bears, dolls and friends. It's their best game of hide an...

  • Humphry Clinker synopsis, comments

    Humphry Clinker

    Tobias Smollett

    With an essay by Harold Bloom.'What is the society of London, that I should be tempted, for its sake, to mortify my senses, and compound with such uncleanness as my soul abhors?'Sm...

  • Lily Lemon Blossom Safari Friends synopsis, comments

    Lily Lemon Blossom Safari Friends

    Barbara Miller & Inga Shalvashvili

    Come along with Lily Lemon Blossom on her amazing journey and see what she and her two brave companions, teddy and bunny are up to on their thrilling safari adventure.