Paris, the City of Love

The book is set in the 1930s, a few years before the World War II. Before the war, Paris was a city, where all the worldwide known intellectuals, artists and authors used to live. People that we know today, like Samuel Beckett, Ernest Hemingway or James Joyce. There were many English publishers, so the British and American authors could write in English. This is important to know for understanding the book. As I mentioned earlier, the book is the autobiography of Henry Miller. His affair  with Anais Nin made them both famous after she published her diaries in the 1960s. Things got complicated when his wife June came to Paris, and the two women fell in love. This all had an impact on Miller's writing - the book's character Mona and Miller's wife June are alike.

It is now 2012, almost a hundred years later after Tropic of Cancer was published. The city of Paris itself has changed a lot during the decades. However, it is still considered to be one of the most beautiful cities of Europe, visited by thousands of tourists each year. There are still famous authors living in Paris, such as Milan Kundera, one of the best Czech authors in the 20th century. All the people spending lives there have their own experiences, that might be similar or absolutely different to Miller's experiences. Miller had a passion for writing, so he put all of them down.


When June decided to divorce Henry, she told him: "Now you have the last chapter for your book". So he had.