Hello, fellow Germs, and welcome to another edition of Belle Lettres. It’s November, which means that Thanksgiving is once again upon us. I hope you find yourselves in good company and with great food (but most importantly, good company). This month’s “Belle” is Anais Nin. Nin is a novelist and writer of erotica, short stories, and her journals, which spanned 60 years of her life.
Angela Anais Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell was born on February 21, 1903, in Neuilly, France. Her father was Joaquin Nin, a Cuban composer. Her mother, Rosa Culmell, was Cuban of Danish and French descent, and she was a classically-trained singer. When her parents separated, Nin lived with her mom and siblings in Barecelona. Nin started writing at a young age, which led to her journal writing at the age of 11. After the age of 16, Nin left school to work as a model until her mother moved her and her siblings to New York. In 1923, Nin married Hugh Guiler, also known as Ian Hugo, and moved to Paris the following year.
Nin’s first published work was a critical evaluation of D.H. Lawrence in 1932, titled D.H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study. Even though the book sold over 500 copies, it was well-received in the literary community at a time when people were turning away from Lawrence’s controversial work.
According to her diaries, Nin was involved with writer Henry Miller. Ian Hugo didn’t want to be included in Nin’s diaries when she edited them. However, Nin does make it clear in the introduction that they were married at the time. Nin attended therapy sessions with Otto Rank, hoping to revinvent herself personally and professionally.
In 1936, Nin published her first work of fiction, House of Incest. The word “incest” is used as a metaphor to describe how people that only love other people because of shared similarities are selfish, and they are not able to embrace differences. According to the unedited versions of Nin’s diaries, Nin had an incestuous relationship with her father while she was in her 20s. Family members who were aware were scared that it would be made public through the novel. However, their relationship is not mentioned or alluded to.
Two more novels were published after: Winter of Artifice in 1939 and Under a Glass Bell in 1944. Cities of the Interior followed in 1959 — which was one volume with five different novels, such as Ladders to Fire, Children of the Albatross, and The Four-Chambered Heart.
Aside from her writing, Nin was also known for her intense romantic relationships. In 1947, Nin met Rupert Pole, a former actor, in New York. Nin and Pole married in 1955, and Nin moved with him to California. Eventually, Nin had the marriage annulled after Pole and Guiler tried to claim Nin on their taxes. Nin referred to her two marriages as a “bicoastal trapeze” since Guiler was in New York and she was in California with Pole. According to biographer Deidre Bair, Nin once stated that she told so many lies during this time that she kept a lie box so that she could keep her lies straight. Even after the annulment, Nin continued to live with Pole up until her passing in 1977.
Nin’s journals, now known as The Diary of Anais Nin, is her best-known work. The seven edited volumes of Nin’s diary entries cover the years of 1931 to 1974, and they began to be published in 1966. The Diary of Anais Nin led to her work being featured in feminists studies, and this made her a lecturer at various universities at the time. She received an honorary doctorate from Philadelphia College of Art in 1973, and she was elected to the United State National Institute of Arts and Letters the following year. Nin was also the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year Award in 1976.
Nin died on January 14, 1977, from cancer. After her passing, more of her writing began to surface. Erotic prose that she had originally written in the 1940s was published, including Delta of Venus and Little Birds in 1977 and 1979. Since Pole was named her literary executor, he published uncensored versions of Nin’s diaries as The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin. All five volumes were written between 1931 to 1947. Nin’s diaries give the audience a look inside how she figured out who she was, her wants and needs, and her frankness about her sexuality, and human sexuality in general, through her relationships.
Nin’s work teaches us that self-discovery isn’t going to come to us in a neat little package, nor is it going to be straightforward. Nin’s diaries and her work of fiction exemplify the importance of understanding and accepting every facet of our personality, no matter how “undesirable” they may seem.