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The Portable Anais Nin
The Portable Anaïs Nin is not only the first anthology of the author’s work to appear digitally, it is also the first comprehensive collection in nearly 40 years, during which time the Nin catalogue has doubled with the release of the erotica and unexpurgated diaries. A handy source book of Nin's most important writings, arranged chronologically and annotated by Nin scholar Benjamin Franklin V.
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First published September 30, 2010
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About the author
Anaïs Nin
355 books8,898 followersWriter and diarist, born in Paris to a Catalan father and a Danish mother, Anaïs Nin spent many of her early years with Cuban relatives. Later a naturalized American citizen, she lived and worked in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Author of avant-garde novels in the French surrealistic style and collections of erotica, she is best known for her life and times in The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volumes I-VII (1966-1980).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana%C3%...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana%C3%...
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 14, 2012
You poor twisted soul. But you had a magnificent way of putting words together that absolutely dripped with emotion.
March 25, 2013
I found Anais Nin too heavy, too serious and too hyper-analytical. I could have used a little bit of humor somewhere. As she said about D.H. Lawrence could be said about her:
"But there remains unexplained the intensity of Lawrence's description of these experiences. They are important, profound, but must the style be so tense, the expressions so extreme? Do people really swing from one extreme emotion to another in so short a span? We know the poets do."
I did enjoy some of the short stories a lot, though. One turn of phrase, from "Houseboat" that I was really struck by:
"The street cleaner was sweeping the dead leaves into the river. The rain fell into the cracked letter box and when I opened my letters it looked as if my friends had been weeping when writing me."
"But there remains unexplained the intensity of Lawrence's description of these experiences. They are important, profound, but must the style be so tense, the expressions so extreme? Do people really swing from one extreme emotion to another in so short a span? We know the poets do."
I did enjoy some of the short stories a lot, though. One turn of phrase, from "Houseboat" that I was really struck by:
"The street cleaner was sweeping the dead leaves into the river. The rain fell into the cracked letter box and when I opened my letters it looked as if my friends had been weeping when writing me."
May 27, 2017
Most of my long-term readers know that for years Anaïs Nin has been my muse and mentor. Even though she was most popular in the 1970s, in many ways her work is timeless and resonates with women and men intergenerationally. I particularly relate to Nin's journals because we both began journaling at the age of ten after the loss of a loved one. For those interested and curious about Nin-and who want to get a glimpse into her alluring, interesting, and complex life without reading all her books-this volume is a must read.
Franklin has selected some of Nin's best writings-spanning her four decades as an author-as an introduction into one of the past century's most talented, complex, and intriguing female literary figures. In the Preface, Paul Herron, the editor/publisher of Sky Blue Press who published many of Nin's works, says that this collection represents excerpts from some of Nin's best writing, while at the same time, the reader clearly witnesses her evolution and growth as a writer, from diarist to novelist to overall writing theories. He makes the poignant statement that "Readers new to Anaïs Nin will be enabled to make informed choices when further exploring her work."
This book is highly recommended; it will make a wonderful holiday gift for women across the generations, and also all lovers of the written word.
Franklin has selected some of Nin's best writings-spanning her four decades as an author-as an introduction into one of the past century's most talented, complex, and intriguing female literary figures. In the Preface, Paul Herron, the editor/publisher of Sky Blue Press who published many of Nin's works, says that this collection represents excerpts from some of Nin's best writing, while at the same time, the reader clearly witnesses her evolution and growth as a writer, from diarist to novelist to overall writing theories. He makes the poignant statement that "Readers new to Anaïs Nin will be enabled to make informed choices when further exploring her work."
This book is highly recommended; it will make a wonderful holiday gift for women across the generations, and also all lovers of the written word.
April 8, 2013
I trudged through this book but lost all real interest after the chapter on her incestuous relationship with her father.
The writing was boring and self absorbed. She seemed to be a woman of extremely little substance and a very high opinion of her own intelligence.
Despite her affirmations of intelligence, all documentary in this book ultimately presented a highly idiotic person with reasonable writing skills.
The writing was boring and self absorbed. She seemed to be a woman of extremely little substance and a very high opinion of her own intelligence.
Despite her affirmations of intelligence, all documentary in this book ultimately presented a highly idiotic person with reasonable writing skills.
December 1, 2025
Anais can turn a phrase. And since I read a translation, I suppose I also need to give flowers to Benjamin Franklin V who translated and edited my copy. I may read this in the original language some day because damn, girl, you can write.
Anais Nin is sometimes more revered as a person than an author, but I have to say after reading so much more of her in this volume (rather than the snippets, standalone essays or poems or quotes), I don't like HER as much as I like her writing. She's a bit of a mess and probably a narcissist but if it results in wordcraft like this then wow maybe you should be that in love with yourself.
The sensuality of these selections is a master class in evocative writing. Her disregard for gender in relationship is the most progressive I've read from this period. Her essays and her fiction and her poetry alike is so beautiful it made me physically ache.
Nothing is off-limits for her, except perhaps fidelity. She falls in love like most people change socks. There is a probable awareness skirting most of her journal entries that she is far more intelligent and skilled than the men who love her, to the point I almost feel she was justified in jumping from man to man. None of them could keep up with her. None of them could fascinate her for more than a second because she's so stunningly brilliant. I don't think she ever resolved that quest for a partner who was worthy of that mind, but I do hope in the end she found the satisfaction in herself.
Anais Nin is sometimes more revered as a person than an author, but I have to say after reading so much more of her in this volume (rather than the snippets, standalone essays or poems or quotes), I don't like HER as much as I like her writing. She's a bit of a mess and probably a narcissist but if it results in wordcraft like this then wow maybe you should be that in love with yourself.
The sensuality of these selections is a master class in evocative writing. Her disregard for gender in relationship is the most progressive I've read from this period. Her essays and her fiction and her poetry alike is so beautiful it made me physically ache.
Nothing is off-limits for her, except perhaps fidelity. She falls in love like most people change socks. There is a probable awareness skirting most of her journal entries that she is far more intelligent and skilled than the men who love her, to the point I almost feel she was justified in jumping from man to man. None of them could keep up with her. None of them could fascinate her for more than a second because she's so stunningly brilliant. I don't think she ever resolved that quest for a partner who was worthy of that mind, but I do hope in the end she found the satisfaction in herself.
December 12, 2022
It’s wild to grow with someone so intensely in just a flash of time. This collection is a thunderstorm of Anaïs Nin from which you cannot escape, nor do you want to. What a writer. I already have no recollection of the content of this compilation, but Nin’s baring of her entire soul will stick with me forever.
June 15, 2025
On Liars – Essays of Michel de Montaigne – The Complete Essays are among the 100 Greatest Books of All Time – my note on some of some of these exquisite thoughts are at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... along with hundreds of other reviews
10 out of 10
The Complete Essays of Michel de Montaigne is not just a chef d’oevre, it is also a companion for many days…long, long days, for it has what, over fourteen hundred pages, and this is not to complain, indeed, I realized this morning that I have something fabulous, astounding to keep me high for days ahead, in the morning
I have taken to listening to the audiobook – you can get the magnum opera from the Gutenberg project, or the LibriVox site – as I run in the early hours, and this might be the perfect balance, and more – ‘Happiness Activity No 12: Taking care of Your Body- engaging in physical activity, meditating and smiling and laughing’
The latter is from the glorious The How of Happiness https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/... and I venture to say that running and listening to Montaigne or similar would just offer more than one felicitous activity, say number 11, albeit that is focused on transcendence more, a higher level
‘Happiness Activity No 11: Practicing Religion and Spirituality- becoming more involved in your church, temple or mosque or reading and pondering spiritually themed books’ and we could argue that Michel de Montaigne would touch on all, he talks about Horses, Battles, Cannibals, you name it, and you have the whole spectrum
Ancient customs is one of the subjects of this morning, and again, we have the rituals that are so necessary and many involve levitation, a lifting of the spirits – ‘we are what we regularly do, excellence is not an act, it is a habit’, says Aristotle https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/...
But we also have some of the more mundane, even terrestrial, some could say vulgar habits, customs – this makes me think of Anais Nin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... not because she is coarse, but the stories she writes are something I have not seen before, at that level
Michel de Montaigne mentions the use of sponges to wipe the ass, after using the toilet, and how a slave, destined to die, used such a stick with a sponge to kill himself, probably because the death waiting for him would have been even worse, however much I struggle to see how inserting such a thing in the mouth and trachea, the rest could be better
The horses are given a whole essay, and for good reason, I was reading in The Economist, maybe the issue of last week, if not that, then a recent one nonetheless, in the Culture section, a review of a book about horses, how important they have been in our history, the author suggested that they may have ‘bet on humans’
Fashion was modeled by riding them, the first pants come from some of those early horse riders, and they can trace the genes to the region of Central Asia – if I am not making this up, thinking I remember reading it, but then it could have been Something Completely Different https://realini.blogspot.com/2019/05/... but it may be where they started that bond
Then they speculate on the cause of the Napoleon debacle, the author of the book on horses thought it was the death of so many of these vital animals that brought the calamity for the French, and not the loss of so many men, for millennia, the horse has been a crucial weapon, indeed, they had them even in World War II
All the points that Michel de Montaigne makes are underlined with quotes, many are from Socrates https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/08/... one of my favorite thinkers, and…my business partner, his father gave him this divine name, only he chooses to go with another
Everyone, well, more or less, calls him Dan, only I prefer Socrates and that is what I use, in a total contrast with my own choice, my name is Ionescu Marian Realini, the latter is very peculiar, there is an actor who has this name, but otherwise, you do not find it, and that is what they all use for me, Realini, not Marian
They do not even know about the other one, when they did, in elementary school, they made jokes, seeing that I like to be different, enjoy that exotic name – alas, it is a sign of weakness, frailty, it would have been better to ‘make a name for myself’, maybe my associate shows assurance, in using a banal calling
Socrates was declared at one point the wisest man of ancient times, and that was the Oracle of Delphi, something of an absolute – maybe not absolute – authority and the philosopher wondered why this was happening, and looking around, he saw so many stating that they know about so many things, when they did not
So it had to be that he did not like to say stupid things, ‘he did not claim to know, what he did not know’, and finally, just a few words about the Liars in the title, the epitome, paradigm is Orange Jesus, not the worst liars in the world, but the most dangerous, disgusting, he has a bigger chance than Kamala Harris to become leader of the free world (again, god damn it) and this is like the peak of the Big Lie, a catastrophe, I do not mean that this terrible war will happen, or the other, just that ethics, morals, standards, authenticity appear to die
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
10 out of 10
The Complete Essays of Michel de Montaigne is not just a chef d’oevre, it is also a companion for many days…long, long days, for it has what, over fourteen hundred pages, and this is not to complain, indeed, I realized this morning that I have something fabulous, astounding to keep me high for days ahead, in the morning
I have taken to listening to the audiobook – you can get the magnum opera from the Gutenberg project, or the LibriVox site – as I run in the early hours, and this might be the perfect balance, and more – ‘Happiness Activity No 12: Taking care of Your Body- engaging in physical activity, meditating and smiling and laughing’
The latter is from the glorious The How of Happiness https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/... and I venture to say that running and listening to Montaigne or similar would just offer more than one felicitous activity, say number 11, albeit that is focused on transcendence more, a higher level
‘Happiness Activity No 11: Practicing Religion and Spirituality- becoming more involved in your church, temple or mosque or reading and pondering spiritually themed books’ and we could argue that Michel de Montaigne would touch on all, he talks about Horses, Battles, Cannibals, you name it, and you have the whole spectrum
Ancient customs is one of the subjects of this morning, and again, we have the rituals that are so necessary and many involve levitation, a lifting of the spirits – ‘we are what we regularly do, excellence is not an act, it is a habit’, says Aristotle https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/...
But we also have some of the more mundane, even terrestrial, some could say vulgar habits, customs – this makes me think of Anais Nin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... not because she is coarse, but the stories she writes are something I have not seen before, at that level
Michel de Montaigne mentions the use of sponges to wipe the ass, after using the toilet, and how a slave, destined to die, used such a stick with a sponge to kill himself, probably because the death waiting for him would have been even worse, however much I struggle to see how inserting such a thing in the mouth and trachea, the rest could be better
The horses are given a whole essay, and for good reason, I was reading in The Economist, maybe the issue of last week, if not that, then a recent one nonetheless, in the Culture section, a review of a book about horses, how important they have been in our history, the author suggested that they may have ‘bet on humans’
Fashion was modeled by riding them, the first pants come from some of those early horse riders, and they can trace the genes to the region of Central Asia – if I am not making this up, thinking I remember reading it, but then it could have been Something Completely Different https://realini.blogspot.com/2019/05/... but it may be where they started that bond
Then they speculate on the cause of the Napoleon debacle, the author of the book on horses thought it was the death of so many of these vital animals that brought the calamity for the French, and not the loss of so many men, for millennia, the horse has been a crucial weapon, indeed, they had them even in World War II
All the points that Michel de Montaigne makes are underlined with quotes, many are from Socrates https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/08/... one of my favorite thinkers, and…my business partner, his father gave him this divine name, only he chooses to go with another
Everyone, well, more or less, calls him Dan, only I prefer Socrates and that is what I use, in a total contrast with my own choice, my name is Ionescu Marian Realini, the latter is very peculiar, there is an actor who has this name, but otherwise, you do not find it, and that is what they all use for me, Realini, not Marian
They do not even know about the other one, when they did, in elementary school, they made jokes, seeing that I like to be different, enjoy that exotic name – alas, it is a sign of weakness, frailty, it would have been better to ‘make a name for myself’, maybe my associate shows assurance, in using a banal calling
Socrates was declared at one point the wisest man of ancient times, and that was the Oracle of Delphi, something of an absolute – maybe not absolute – authority and the philosopher wondered why this was happening, and looking around, he saw so many stating that they know about so many things, when they did not
So it had to be that he did not like to say stupid things, ‘he did not claim to know, what he did not know’, and finally, just a few words about the Liars in the title, the epitome, paradigm is Orange Jesus, not the worst liars in the world, but the most dangerous, disgusting, he has a bigger chance than Kamala Harris to become leader of the free world (again, god damn it) and this is like the peak of the Big Lie, a catastrophe, I do not mean that this terrible war will happen, or the other, just that ethics, morals, standards, authenticity appear to die
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
April 9, 2020
I read this on a free trial from Scrib’d and I regret that I had to rush through some parts because it was so beautiful!
March 19, 2024
Творческий человек должен выучиться упрямству, потому что обычные люди всегда стремятся убить в тебе лучшее, чтобы превратить в такого же, как они, и не испытывать угрозы, исходящей от твоей необычности
и у него получалось все лучше, но правда в том, что рано или поздно влюбленные начинают хотеть чего-то еще. В вине всегда есть капля яда.
Стыд абсолютно ему неведом, и поэтому он такой привлекательный.
Истина, которую мы не хотим видеть, состоит в том, что жестокость – мощнейший афродизиак.
. Если ты кого-то очень сильно любишь, то начинаешь ревновать, а ревность – это яд. Так что самое благоразумное – наслаждаться любовью этого человека и научиться лгать.
Какая-то моя часть думает, что хочет покориться мужчине, но рано или поздно я всегда покоряю его, потому что сильнее и умнее. Тогда я испытываю к нему сочувствие, а моя страсть уходит, умирает. Сочувствие и страсть убивают друг дружку, как два хорька в одной норе.
Нежность – это для юных, ответила я ему. Страсть – для взрослых, а страсть жестока.
Я не хочу быть одним музыкальным инструментом. Я хочу быть целым оркестром. Не хочу играть только одну роль. Хочу играть все роли, как Бог. Чем сильнее у тебя способность к сопереживанию, тем больше людей ты любишь. И чем больше людей ты любишь, тем большим доставляешь боль. В зеркальном лабиринте мы все преступники.
Самая страстная – любовь, которую вот-вот потеряешь.
Завершенность – это иллюзия. Ни одно произведение искусства не завершено. Все начинается и заканчивается фрагментами
и у него получалось все лучше, но правда в том, что рано или поздно влюбленные начинают хотеть чего-то еще. В вине всегда есть капля яда.
Стыд абсолютно ему неведом, и поэтому он такой привлекательный.
Истина, которую мы не хотим видеть, состоит в том, что жестокость – мощнейший афродизиак.
. Если ты кого-то очень сильно любишь, то начинаешь ревновать, а ревность – это яд. Так что самое благоразумное – наслаждаться любовью этого человека и научиться лгать.
Какая-то моя часть думает, что хочет покориться мужчине, но рано или поздно я всегда покоряю его, потому что сильнее и умнее. Тогда я испытываю к нему сочувствие, а моя страсть уходит, умирает. Сочувствие и страсть убивают друг дружку, как два хорька в одной норе.
Нежность – это для юных, ответила я ему. Страсть – для взрослых, а страсть жестока.
Я не хочу быть одним музыкальным инструментом. Я хочу быть целым оркестром. Не хочу играть только одну роль. Хочу играть все роли, как Бог. Чем сильнее у тебя способность к сопереживанию, тем больше людей ты любишь. И чем больше людей ты любишь, тем большим доставляешь боль. В зеркальном лабиринте мы все преступники.
Самая страстная – любовь, которую вот-вот потеряешь.
Завершенность – это иллюзия. Ни одно произведение искусства не завершено. Все начинается и заканчивается фрагментами
May 2, 2022
Una vida que daría para una serie entera. Una de esas mujeres que marcaron su época.
January 1, 2023
Brilliant writer; toxic narcissist.
September 29, 2025
Its descriptive with generic story arcs. Not for me, though it was nice to explore what writing could mens with regards to romance
July 29, 2014
I hate when I don't finish a book; it feels like a defeat. On the other hand, I can't waste my time reading a book I'm not enjoying in some way and I wasn't enjoying this one at all. I bought The Portable Anais Nin because I'd stumbled across some quotes of Nin's that made me feel that "Yes! These are exactly the words to express this!" moment you sometimes get when reading another person's words. I knew nothing about her going in and thought this sampling of her diary and a short stories would be the perfect blend to get to know Nin.
Those quotes that intrigued me - those snippets of thoughts, cherry picked from her body of work - are much more to my liking than anything contained in this book. Yes, Nin has a talent for translating emotions into words, but as a whole, I find her writing oppressive. Her diary entries were, at best, hyper-analytical and uninteresting. At worst, I found them repulsive. Unfortunately, it didn't get better when I moved on to her fiction. I found I disliked her writing style to such a degree that I couldn't immerse myself in a story.
After struggling for nine days to find some connection between the quotes that piqued my interest in her and the writing contained in this book, I'm giving up on Nin and moving on.
Those quotes that intrigued me - those snippets of thoughts, cherry picked from her body of work - are much more to my liking than anything contained in this book. Yes, Nin has a talent for translating emotions into words, but as a whole, I find her writing oppressive. Her diary entries were, at best, hyper-analytical and uninteresting. At worst, I found them repulsive. Unfortunately, it didn't get better when I moved on to her fiction. I found I disliked her writing style to such a degree that I couldn't immerse myself in a story.
After struggling for nine days to find some connection between the quotes that piqued my interest in her and the writing contained in this book, I'm giving up on Nin and moving on.
April 14, 2014
I was curious to know more about this writer, as she's one of those people who seem to have generated a lot of pithy quotes! However, I found that I didn't really enjoy her writing very much, either the diaries or the short stories, although I did find interesting some of her comments about writing itself.
June 3, 2013
A honest, unflinching look into the life of one of the world's best writers. Can't believe I slept on. Anais Nin this long.
May 23, 2013
Not an easy read - both her themes and her style make this hard work in parts, but there are real gems - such careful observation of human emotion.
December 26, 2014
Some parts are unreadable due to either being too heavily written or downright gross. But Anais is so poetic in the way she writes, an obvious great mind.
April 18, 2016
It was interesting and soothing to listen to but I wasn't moved as much by it as other works of hers.
January 3, 2017
“It is so good to be oneself without poses,” he said.
December 5, 2015
I like the journal part, not so big on the stories, and pretty much gave up on it.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews