He is impoverished and often poor to the point of starvation, but he remains hopeful that he can someday produce meaningful literature. In a stream-of-consciousness reflection, he describes his authorial aspirations, introduces many of his Parisian acquaintances, and describes some women he has had sex with. Henry, an American expatriate and aspiring writer, is living in Paris with his friend, Boris. It also contains depictions of misogynistic language, domestic abuse, and alcohol abuse. Note: To distinguish between the author and the narrator, the author will be referred to as “Miller” and the narrator will be referred to as “Henry.”Ĭontent Warning: The source text contains depictions of antisemitism, anti-Black, anti-Chinese, and anti-Indian/anti-Hindu stereotypes and language. This guide refers to the 1961 Grove Press edition of Tropic of Cancer. As such, Tropic of Cancer was both participating in and actively detaching itself from the literary and political landscape in which it was written.

It also incorporates elements of the Surrealist and Dadaist movements, though Miller makes it clear throughout Tropic of Cancer that he does not want to be associated with any organized systems of thought or expression in one of his epiphanic realizations, he says, “Who that has a desperate, hungry eye can have the slightest regard for these existent government, laws, codes, principles, ideals, ideals, totems, and taboos?” (249). Tropic of Cancer brings together various genres, including autobiography, memoir, manifesto, and philosophical tract. It was the subject of legal disputes and censorship attempts for decades, though ironically it has never been out of print. Miller referred to it as his “Paris book,” and it was wildly controversial for its candid depictions of sex.

Tropic of Cancer (1934) was Henry Miller’s third novel after the never-published Clipped Wings (1922) and Moloch: or, This Gentile World (1928).

Tropic of cancer by henry miller