Tropic of Capricorn. m, Plexus, and Nexus express anarchism both directly
through the views of Henry Miller the protagonist, and symbolically through the.
Chapter VI Conclusion The major works of Henry Miller viz. Tropic of Cancer. Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn.
m,Plexus, and Nexus express anarchism both directly
through the views of Henry Miller the protagonist, and symbolically through the responses, actions, and attitudes of the protagonist, as well as of certain characters in these novels. The principles of anarchism serve as an effective tool
.
in comprehending the underlying forces that go into the making of these narratives that generally do not yield to academic and theoretical appreciation because of their fluid and inconsistent ideological positions. The indefatigable urge to assert freedom from authority of all kind, which is the basic quality of an anarchist, characterizes the self of the protagonist of these works, and hence the works themselves are free of any proclaimed thematic concern. They rather express their freedom from such concerns. These works have been selected from the oeuvre of Miller because it is only in these six that the protagonist represents the myth of an anarchist self in a society that affects him positively or negatively in the realization of his freedom from authority. The pr~tagonistHenry is argued to be a fictions1 creation, modelled on certain aspects of the llfe of the author Miller, representing the expressions of an anarchist self whose basic characteristics are the love and anarchist assertion of freedom from authority. The creation of the anarchist self of Henry, his fictional alter ego, has served Miller the purpose of registering his protest at the authoritarian moral and
social forces that controlled the American psyche of the early decades of the twentieth century. These forces were chiefly those of puritanism and materialism, which Miller attacks through the righteousness he attributes to Henry's sexually outrageous and amoral confessions, and the glorification of the financial failure he represents. In attacking these forces in his literature through making Henry a symbol of an anarchist self, Miller asserts his creative freedom from moral authority. His literary anarchism is thus characterized by the calculated use of obscenity, and the flouting of literary conventions in order to create a narrative form that defies theoretical classification by virtue of its being free from fixation to any system of representation, or from the claim to academic brilliance. This unyielding property of Miller's novels, studied here, to academic reductionism is to be perceived as a reflection of his literary anarchism. Anarchism in its wider perspectives pervades the novels through Henry who symbolizes an anarchist self. Though anarchism is not a clearly defined ideology but an agglomeration of variegated protests at authority whose common platform is the yearning for freedom, there are certain fundamental principles that lend anarchism its identity. Henry's anarchism too gets expressed basically through them. The first among them is a desire for absolute freedom, which manifests in his rebellion against centres of authority like the state, business managements, and morality. It also engenders criticism of the existing order, visions of free society, and the upholding of equality. Anarchism deriounces the order imposed by authority on the individual and the society, while putting faith in the natural order that
underlies the apparent chaos of the world. It advocates an espousal of disorder as a protest against the artificially hposed order by authority, while being rooted in the faith that given the freedom the society will regulate itself into a harmonious existence. Henry personifies this anarchist idea by leading a chaotic life and adoring disorder for its being the manifestation of natural order, and this becomes his second major anarchist trait. The faith in the natural order evolves into an acceptance of reality as it is, in Henry. It also invests him with an optimism that goads him on to assert his freedom in adversities, and this happens to be the third major anarchist feature in the self of Henry. Finally, he represents a Stimerian individualism, another mark of an anarchist, which frees him from fixation to any system of thought, or from consistency in his own ideological positions. This can be seen as the assertion of freedom to live out the ever-changing impulses of the self. -rhese form the salient features of Henry's anarchism in these novels, while each work has these and other expressions of anarchism in varied degrees and emphases. Tropic of Cancer, perhaps the most widely appreciated of Miller's works, is a paean of the destruction of the existing order that anarchism advocates as a precedent to the establishment of the natural order which would be free of authority. This novel, the first of Miller's works to be published and the one in which he claims to haye found his 'voice', is marked by his literary anarchism that manifests in the novel's formal disorder seen in the plotless and characterless narrative, and in the rebellion contamed in its uninhibitedly obscene language, and amoral wntent. Miller has wnt~nuedthis anarchist style of expression in his
entire career that followed, though 110twith the same pith and passion in many of the later works. In Cancer, Henry's anarchist destructiveness is emphatically and symbolically contained in his glorification of chaos or disorder, His own life founded on poverty, bohemianism, and sexual promiscuity is symbolic of the anarchist call for rebellion against society's dictates, and the anarchist's conscious egoism. Characters like Tania, the wife of a friend with whom he has sex, and Moldorf, a friend who, by virtue of his unpredictability, too become symbolic of the chaos which is the manifestation of nature's higher order in Cancer. They represent this order because they live out their selves' impulses freely without being shackled by the laws of the society. Henry's freedom from being consistent is seen in his ridiculing of Moldorf, whom he praises for quite some time, for playing the role of a faithful husband. Anarchism, in Cancer, is expressed in Henry's destruction of moral values like shame, and self-respect. He experiences no qualms in begging for a living, but works out a strategy of getting free meals. He is not ashamed of running for life or of cowardice when threatened by the fanatical madness of a priest, thereby evincing a freedom from the moral spook called courage. He criticizes the inhumanness of the church which appears in the form of a priest living in luxury, who would not give them some food or shelter for a night. Henry's passiveness to the political events of his times, like the World War I, can be construed as an anarchist protest at the machinations of state whose main instrument of survival is war in which only the lives of innocent people are absurdly sacrificed.
Freedom ensues anarchist destruction. Henry's destruction of values, in Cancer, contained in the shedding'ot social roles like that of husband, father. friend, or breadwinner can be seen as bringing a sense of freedom that flowers his creativity. He sees adherence to ideologies and values as a hoax in an excremental vision, in a brothel scene involving a young Gandhian Hindu, where human excreta is seen as the symbolic representation of the ultimate hopelessness of reality, which man tries to overcome through systems of belief and thoughts. But these, according to him, only curtail man's creativity and freedom. Therefore, Henry's anarchist vision holds that freedom can be realized only through psychological liberation from values. In Cancer, thus, Henry advocates the shedding of one's past in order to free oneself from dependence on superstitions and myths of morality. He lives in an eternal present, free of bondage of past commitments to ideology, attitudes or relationships. The distanciation he achieves in Paris, a land far away from America which is also congenial to his anarchical artistic spirit, helps him in liberating himself from the vestiges of his past. In Cancer, anarchism's belief in the natural order gets symbolized in Henry whose optimism and unconditional acceptance of his state of being, irrespective of his pathetic living situation, creates in him a sense of interior order and peace. Gerrnaine is another character, a prostitute, who becomes a symbol of the natural order through her harmonious existence by virtue of her acceptance of her self, and freedom from sense of values. This manifests, according to Henry, in the way she wholeheartedly gets involved in her
profession. But another woman, Clallde who is also in the same profession as Germaine, is an epitome of disorder which is the opposite of natural order and not the equivalent of the chaos which is a manifestation of the innate order. Claude is in disharmony with herself because she cannot accept herself as a result of her sense of moral guilt. Van Norden, a friend of Henry, is another symbol of disharmony because of his fragmented self that get fixated on sex. Cancer becomes a poetry of destruction on Henry's anarchist positions regarding his literary art. His destructiveness in this respect begins with the rejection of the writer's traditional subservience to the reader's judgment. He rebels at the conventions of artistio morality. In the anarchist preference for the spontaneous and the natural in art, he denounces the process of emendation which is artificial, and vows not to change a word of what he writes. The violence of destruction he commits, in the form of scatology and obscenity, is not physical but is confined to the realm of the spirit in order to liberate the word from the burden of puritanical moral values, and the myth of literary decency. Cancer thus becomes most importantly a statement of literary anarchism in terms of its thematic content of rebellion against the repressive taboos in literature. Black Sprinq represents mainly the alienation experienced by an anarchist self. It consists of individual pieces which are not interconnected. They stand together with the uniting force of the anarchist perspective. The form of Black is symbolic of the decentralization of power advocated by anarchism. The pieces here express anarchism variedly. Literary anarchist perspectives can be seen in Henry's preference for the spontaneous creativity. He is anti elitist in the
choice of subject matter, and is against the authority of the literary canon. The street becomes a metaphor of anarchism in terms of its space where Henry's freedom is realized in his wanderings. Henry's anarchist rebellion at the concept of patriotism gets expression here in his rejection of the power based political concept of nation, and'the reduction of his patriotic feeling to the love of the locality (the fourteenth ward of Brooklyn) in which he was born. Anarchism is also expressed in his sympathy for the poor. He demythifies the concept of heroism by preferring the greatness of his childhood local heroes, who in their later lives become abject failures, to that of historical heroes thereby asserting his anarchist criticism of America's obsession with success. The fragmentation of self brought about by maturity is regarded as decadence symbolizing society's decadence, and becomes an expression of the anarchist criticism of the e~istingsocial order, and this is realized in the image of the shocking glorification of human disease. Total acceptance of the self is recommended as the way to freedom from authority in Black Spring. Anarchist criticism of the concept of God and religion is seen in the trivializing of the concept of the holy Trinity by comparing it to the male genitalia. Anarchism is also expressed in the repeated glorification of the apparent chaos of the world in the perception of the natural order that underlies it. In representing the act of creativity as the act of vomiting the creative process is deromanticized and freed of the authority of the concept of genius. This literary anarchist expression continues in Henry's assertion of freedom from the fear of making errors in writing. --he concept of genius is further stripped of its
authority in the instance of ridiculing classical authorship through abusing Virgil. In preferring the unrefined text of King James's Bible to the refined one he asserts his freedom from elitism and puritanical prudery in literature. Through the appreciation and acceptance of genuine individuals who become failures beca~lseof their being true to their selves, Henry points his accusing finger to the materialism of America. Anarchism believes in the quality of universal benevolence, and this is seen realized in Henry when he tries to generously help a syphilitic. This effort is aborted due to the resistance from his puritanical wife, and the episode ends with an ironical feeling of gaiety at human misery. The concept of "China" is ihtroduced as a symbolic space where the freedom envisaged by anarchism is realized. Anarchist rebellion is also expressed in the criticism of Christianity and war in Black Spring. Henry's individualist anarchism gets prominence in Tro~icof Capricorn. It manifests in the discord that stirs up in his interaction with the conformist puritanical and materialistic society of America. The individualistic difference of Henry's anarchical self goes unperceived and unaccepted, and thus his philosophical anarchist positions reach the high point of its expression in Capricorn. Here his anarchism takes on the form of a pungent criticism of the existing order in America. He blames the institution of schooling for leveling the individual differences of the pupils, and for rendering them conforming citizens. American society is seen as the symbol of the 'other' that forces the individual to conform. Henry's anti- Americanism is most highly pronounced in this work. He destroys the myth of America's pacifism, and criticizes it for reducing the
individual to the status of inanimate material. He believes that America makes its progress at the cost of the spiritual decay of its people. The Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company where Henry works becomes the symbol of the oppressiveness and exploitation of power, in Capricorn. His individualist anarchism gets into conflict between the opposing forces of anarchist non-conformity and the need to conform to the Company's dictates in order to earn a living. The critique of materialism is expressed here too in his rejection of the gospel of work, and in his attraction towards people who become failures because of their superior and nori-conforming humanity. He evinces a fearlessness of failure which is the antithesis of the American dream. Henry's anarchism is inseparably bound to his writer's identity. His faith in the destructive/creative power of the word clearly expresses an anarchist perspective. The word, for him, appropriates destructive power in the hands of the morally free person. This leads nim to accept the use of obscenity as an instrument to assail the puritanical sensibility of America. This anarchist writer's existence of Henry gets alienated in the American ambience that is averse to experimentation and the unconventional in art. His artistic expression becomes unintelligible to America. His anarchism also gets expressed in his discontent with the morality ridden language he is given to use, and this manifests in the employment of the metaphors of death and deacy for representing the mechanical life in America. In Capricorn too Henry's philosophy of acceptance of reality expresses the anarchist faith in the natural order. Me accepts his self in all its protean nature
without the moral repression of the psyche. He considers laughter to be an effective way of freeing oneself from the urge for competition which is the feature of the materialistic life, and as a protest at authority. The criticism of the concept of God for its being instrumental in rendering people subservient to authority and fatalism is also another anarchist expression in Capricorn.
.
The Rosv Crucifixion trilogy is a Klinstlerroman in which Henry tells about the conditions that went into his making of an anarchist artist. His becoming of a writer is intrinsically linked with his relationship with his second wife Mona. Therefore all the three books in this trilogy are also detailed accounts of his anarchical life with her. Life with her engenders both deliverance and bondage for Henry, and his final freedom from the relationship results in his becoming the anarchist writer he is. In Sexus, the first book of the trilogy, Mona establishes herself as the Muse in Henry's life. For Henry, she also becomes the model of an anarchist self who lives out its freedom. Henry's hitherto philosophical anarchism gets translated into action through Mona s influence in the form of his divorcing his puritanical first wife, and more importantly in the quitting of his hated job at the Company, both bringing the freedom to take up writing. Mona's anarchism is pronounced in her free and uninhibited sexual expression, though it is not evident whether her anarchism is self-conscious. Miller seems to have modelled Mona on the image of the liberated woman envisaged by the American anarchist Emma Goldman who had influenced him. Thus rebellion is expressed in Sexus in the form of sexual description that is free of puritanical repressiveness. Mona's
protean nature, self-myhtification, arid individualism are the other factors that render her self anarchist, and attracl Henry to her. Her undiminishing faith in Henry's artistic powers, and the model of anarchist personality she sets for him combinedly lead to the making of the anarchist writer in him. The emergence of the writer's identity seasons Henry's individualism. In -,
thus, he becomes
less proud of his individual difference and tends to identify objectively with the plight of the general humanity. He democratizes the concept of the genius and divests it of its authority. In Plexus, the second book of the trilogy, the emphasis falls on the marital life of Henry and Mona, which is anarchical in terms of its freedom from moral values and societal norms. It also stresses Henry's intellectual and artistic foundations. Mona undertakes the responsibility of earning for the family while Henry sits at home writing. Mona's dubious private life, even when it disturbs Henry, does not affect the stability of the marriage of these two anarchist selves. Henry's shedding of the social roles like that of the worker, breadwinner, father, or the conventional protector of the family, is also an expression of anarchism in terms of the experience of freedom and the creativity that it ensues in him. Mona's freedom from fear of public opinion, her lack of moral restraint and free sexual expression further strengthens her inspirational role in Henry's anarchism. Henry's literary anarchist positions get more pronounced in Plexus. His antipathy for the academic, elitist, and the canonical in literatu're makes him crave for an expression that is free of these restrictions. His intellectual preference for the anarchists in the arena of art and philosophy like VanGogh,
Nietszche, and Rimbaud molds his 3wn anarchical artistic positions. The concept of genius is stripped of its mystery, and his vision of literature evolves into accommodating the taste of the common man. Though Henry evinces a greater faith in God, his faith is free of the religious orientation of Christianity. On the other hand his criticism of blind religious faith and the church becomes pungent at this stage. He makes direct and sympathetic reference to the ideas and actions of American anarchists like John Brown. In this book Henry's self-willed poverty, which is the result of his assertion of freedom to write, becomes symbolic of the anarchist rebellion against the materialistic culture of the American society that values money more than the self s freedom to live out its innate drives.
Nexus, the third and last book of the trilogy, concentrates on the existential dilemma to which Henry is subjected to in his relationship with Mona. He finds himself bound and unable to sever himself from her, despite her lesbian affair, and the callous treatment of himself. Henry's willing preference of the bondage of love to the anarchist craving for freedom is symbolic of the impracticability of the anarchist ideal of absolute freedom. Mona's assertion of freedom progresses to the extent of making her incomprehensible to Henry. Mona and her lesbian lover Stasia, who also is anarchist in her spirit, force Henry into accepting the new order in their house that is formed on the triangular relationship. Henry thus symbolizes here a society that is passing through a period of decadence, and the situation represents an anarchist critique of power imposed by society's consent.
Mona's unconditional faith in Henry's artistic powers and her anarchist attitude against financial success continue in Nexus too, making her still indispensable to Henry's growth as an artist. She supports his anarchist positions against literary canon and the reader's taste. Henry's worship of the natural order and the chaos of the world make here too the foundation of his anarchist expression. The narrative cycle that begins with Cancer ends kith Nexus where Henry, with the aid of Mona, decides to leave for Paris. The emotional turmoil in the life with Mona is thus seen as aiding the making of the anarchist writer in Henry.
