Point Books In Pursuance Of Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
| Original Title: | Stand Still Like the Hummingbird |
| ISBN: | 0811203220 (ISBN13: 9780811203227) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Henry Miller
Paperback | Pages: 196 pages Rating: 4.14 | 1102 Users | 56 Reviews
Describe Based On Books Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
| Title | : | Stand Still Like the Hummingbird |
| Author | : | Henry Miller |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 196 pages |
| Published | : | June 17th 1962 by New Directions (first published 1959) |
| Categories | : | Writing. Essays. Fiction. Classics. Literature |
Interpretation During Books Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
One of Henry Miller's most luminous statements of his personal philosophy of life, Stand Still Like the Hummingbird, provides a symbolic title for this collection of stories and essays. Many of them have appeared only in foreign magazines while others were printed in small limited editions which have gone out of print. Miller's genius for comedy is at its best in "Money and How It Gets That Way" -- a tongue-in-cheek parody of "economics" provoked by a postcard from Ezra Pound which asked if he "ever thought about money." His deep concern for the role of the artist in society appears in "An Open Letter to All and Sundry," and in "The Angel is My Watermark" he writes of his own passionate love affair with painting. "The Immorality of Morality" is an eloquent discussion of censorship. Some of the stories, such as "First Love," are autobiographical, and there are portraits of friends, such as "Patchen: Man of Anger and Light," and essays on other writers such as Walt Whitman, Thoreau, Sherwood Anderson and Ionesco. Taken together, these highly readable pieces reflect the incredible vitality and variety of interests of the writer who extended the frontiers of modern literature with Tropic of Cancer and other great books.Rating Based On Books Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
Ratings: 4.14 From 1102 Users | 56 ReviewsWeigh Up Based On Books Stand Still Like the Hummingbird
A highly enjoyable selection of essays, book reviews, forewords, satire, and Henry Miller just writing. It is not nearly as preoccupied with sex as his novels, and allows us to see different sides of him, including some very powerful statements about humanism, art, society, and other problems. His appreciation of Thoreau is wonderful, although it follows his brief essay about Whitman in which he uses the same distinctive quotation from D.H. Lawrence, which makes for a jarring repetition. MinorWe were at a wedding at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur last weekend, and couldn't resist getting a book. This is a series of essays collected out of chronological order, but loosely by theme. The first two are fantastic ruminations on no less a topic than the meaning of life - perfect for summer!
This book contains a number of Henry Miller's short writings and essays; they are some of his most accessible and affecting works, and this book was a gateway for me to his larger volumes. It makes me want to drink whiskey and punch the moon out of the sky, and laugh as the tidal waves sweep away all evidence of the constructs of man and his society. On a side note, there's a handful of lines from these essays that have been paraphrased (and nearly lifted verbatim) by Jeff Tweedy from Wilco.
I deeply adored this book. It's the kind of book that I think when I re-read it, I'll discover new things to love. I want to recommend this book to about 5 completely different people. I want to talk about it. I want to book club it. I want to take it camping and re-read the parts about Walden. I want to find an economist and laugh with them over the essay about money, and how it got that way. With the presidential race, and Brexit it also felt oddly timely. Every generation feels at sea and
I have mixed feelings with this book. I guess it can be explained by the fact that these essays we're written in different moments of Miller's life. Some are simple, enlightened, genius. A pleasure to read. Others not so much. Derailing into arrogance: the writers of short stories, as a rule, do not go about their work joyously. It really surprises me that this line is written by the same person who says The mind can only toy with what food or substance is presented to it; it can never know in
Don't get me wrong, I love Miller's novels, but this collection of essays simply doesn't carry any of their charm or extravagance. The problem lies in the lack of cohesion, the essays are very self-contained but the winding road this book leads you down just doesn't bring you to any truly worthwhile destination. For Miller fans, there is definitely some worthwhile stuff here (like his chapter on Money and various political sections) but it's wedged between banal veneration of very popular (and
"these highly readable pieces" do represent the vitality and variety of Miller's interests, yes, though as well do they represent his occasional vitriol and meanness of spirit ("To the American woman the male, whether husband, son, or lover, is a creature to be bullied, exploited or traduced"). Several of the more remarked-on pieces here do fall under that charge, including "Money and How it Gets That Way," an unsuccessful attempt at both sardonic humor and sociology in the form of a whisk
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