Remember to Remember

by Henry Miller

This collection of stories and essays takes its title from a long prose reverie in which Henry Miller, after his return to the United States, thinks back to the happy years of middle life which he spent in France. The qualities that make the French unique have seldom been so movingly expressed. The America he had rediscovered does not come off very well by contrast―particularly the Hollywood state of mind, which gets a thoroughly Milleresque going over in the burlesque Astrological Fricassee.

What Miller likes on the American scene are the individuals who have broken through the pattern of conformity, the rare and often isolated creative personalities who are resisting the dehumanization of our so-called 'civilization'. He gives us vivid portraits of the painters Abe Rattner, Jean Varda and Beauford Delaney; the sculptor Bufano; and Jasper Deeter, director of the hedgerow Theatre.

Two of Henry Miller’s greatest essays are also in this volume: "Murder the Murderer" (on war), a declaration which ranks with Randolph Bourne’s War and the Intellectuals, and, with particular relevance to the censorship codes which kept his Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn out of this country for so long, 'Obscenity and the Law of Reflection'.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir

427 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association, and mysticism. His most characteristic works of this kind are Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn, and the trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, which are based on his experiences in New York City and Paris (all of which were banned in the United States until 1961). He also wrote travel memoirs and literary criticism, and painted watercolors.

Reviews

[Joshua Buhs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, maybe not the best choice for getting re-acquainted with Henry Miller. All of the usual faults, as well as the good points.

Remember to Remember is not a novel--not even really a book. It seems to be a bunch of cast-offs put together after "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" and brought out as volume two of that book. The essays vary widely--from a discourse on bread o personal vignettes--and there is nothing really holding them together, besides being written by Miller, and no reason to the order. That said, there are some interesting points, and Miller is always thoughtful, willing to take on the weak point of his arguments--and make them strong, thus resisting easy dismissal.

It is clear from this book, most of which was written in the early 1940s, that he was having a hard time adjusting to life in the United States after 10 years in Europe--forced to return, he says here, because of the impending war. He found America soulless and, worse for Miller's standpoint, body-less: the body was home tot he soul, and the mechanism through which the divine was touched. America was empty, focused only on making money.

There are an even dozen essays here; half of them are descriptions of men who have touched Miler's life. For the most part, these leave me cold. Miller wants to get at the essence of the person, which means that much of the essay ends up being a piling upon of adjectives and descriptions, all rather abstract for my tastes. No surprise, then, that I found Astrological Fricasse, the most interesting, since it was rooted in events. (I have no idea whether the events actually happened or not; one does not ask Miller such questions: the events provide access to truth whether autobiographical or fictional.)

The other six are political--in one way or another--and often deal with the comparison between a spiritually vacant America and a spiritually rich Europe. "The Staff of Life" locates this difference in the bread Americans consume, which is flavorless and terrible, compared toEuropean bread. (And this was a couple of years before Siegfried Gideon would make the same complaints in "Mechanization Takes Command.") "Murder the Murderer is a protest against World War II--and shows Miller's deep thinking on the subject. The essay isn't just a crude hatred of war--something Tiffany Thayer might have said, for example, murder the murderers. Miller is trying to get at the urge to murder that resides in people, and that is what needs to be murdered.

The titular essay, and probably the best, has some of the same nuance. In it, Miller first evokes that phrase--Remember to Remember--then take sit apart, noting that memory is something beyond the ability to remember--before coming back to it at the end. This essay most clearly marks out the differences he sees between Europe and America, but he also acknowledges that Europe can be corrupt and even putrid--look at all the wars that start there--but that is still a sign of its vitality, he says, that people are struggling. Only those with a body can decompose, and so Europe can--and its soul can be threatened--but that is more than America can advertise, since it has neither soul nor body but is just a bundle of processes.

[Alessandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Gli uomini di buona volontà non necessitano di governo per regolare i propri affari. In ogni epoca c’è una piccola minoranza che vive senza prendere in considerazione, o desiderare, un governo. Questi uomini non hanno mai provocato una guerra. Finché dura la civiltà è possibilissimo che questa minoranza sostanzialmente non aumenti mai. Tali uomini non sono il prodotto delle nostre organizzazioni religiose o dei nostri sistemi educativi; essi vivono al di fuori dei sistemi culturali del tempo. Il massimo che possiamo dire, per spiegare la loro comparsa, è che sono esseri evoluti. E qui dobbiamo assolutamente mettere il dito sull’inconveniente di tutti gli schemi, utopistici o di altra specie, per il miglioramento della società umana: l’incapacità inerente a tutti loro di riconoscere che la razza umana non si evolve alla stessa velocità né col medesimo ritmo. Dove si perviene soltanto alla realizzazione d’un sogno e d’un desiderio – e che altro si può ottenere, concentrandosi sulla società anziché sull’individuo? – c’è confusione e illusione. Anche se gli cacciate baionette roventi nel didietro, non potete spingere gli uomini in paradiso tutti in una volta. È questo fatto, naturalmente, che i cosiddetti realisti, che sono sempre disfattisti, prendono a pretesto con gusto sinistro, onde scusare e perpetrare il mestiere dell’assassino. A ogni guerra essi sostengono di difendere la società da un orribile destino, o di proteggere i deboli e gli inermi. Gli uomini di giudizio che sono davvero gli uomini di buona volontà, e che si trovano in ogni strato della società e non in una classe in particolare, non avanzano mai simili pretese. Li si accusa spesso di essere assenti, lontani, fuori dal mondo. Eppure è a loro che si rivolgono gli uomini in cerca di conforto e di guida nell’ora del bisogno. Perché anche il meno intelligente sembra avvertire che il disinteresse sincero è una sorgente di forza."

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 2 out of 5]

We know that Miller had planned initially to put pen to paper, two volumes of The Air-Conditioned Nightmare. The subsequent volume, Remember to Remember is a follow-up only in the sense that it conserves the same man airing comparable estimations. Both volumes are assorted compilations of sketches. Remember to Remember is built around individuals rather than places, for Miller's travel had ended in 1944, when he settled in Big Sur. Here again, he makes a point of discovering unsung intellect and prefers to believe that the authentic artist is until the end of time noteless, obscure and uncelebrated. Much ado about nothing, this book, really.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever I grow fatigued of reading, I return to Henry Miller and a great flame re-emerges inside of my soul.

‘Remember to Remember’ is a sequel to his ‘Air-conditioned nightmare,’ which I read last year and which was one of my favorite books of the year. Imagine my joy when I found there was a sequel to it that I didn’t know existed!

In the Air-Conditioned Nightmare series, Miller returns home to America from his love France at the dawn of World War II. With a small sum, Miller drives through America in an attempt to rediscover his homeland which he bitterly left years ago and he discovers that America is still the soulless nightmare he abandoned.

Miller writes about America better than anyone else I’ve ever read. He has no Illusions about the avaricious wasteland he inhabits. As someone who has traveled through a large portion of this country, I agree with his diagnosis of the spirit of this land. Industrialism, capitalism and large scale environmental destruction in favor of highways, super markets, and enough to plastic to corrupt our bloodstream has eroded much of the natural beauty, spirit, community, and art that this great land is still capable of.

This isn’t to say Miller is completely a cynical, miserable person. Miller at his core is deeply passionate about beauty, art, and romance. In his essay ‘Remember to Remember,’ Miller speaks at length on the soul of France, of her bread, her artists, her birds, her music and when Miller speaks about France or artists that inspire him, you see a man who is deeply in love with the world, a man who lives and breathes art and beauty, a man who is disappointed and angry at a society that grinds through its brightest creatives while uplifting middlemen, warmongers, and politicians.

Everything I’ve written of Henry Millers has truly touched me, I could read 100 pages of his ramblings quicker than one chapter of another book. And when I’m asked to recall what I read, usually I couldn’t even tell you.

I picked up a copy of his ‘Tropic of Capricorn’ by chance one day and I’m so thankful I did. Henry Miller’s voice is like none other and he consistently reminds me how good it feels to fly through the pages of a great book. I hope to read much more of his in the future.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another collection of essays centered somewhat on his return to America, this is a prime example of Miller both at his most acerbic- when reflecting upon America, and having to leave Europe, and his most generous- when describing his artist friends and reminiscing about his time in France. A great collection.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times, Henry Miller runs off at the mouth, and some of the essays in Remember To Remember could have been whittled down to a tenth of their size. But it is not my job to edit Henry Miller. The important thing is that I think his instincts are superb. He will spend dozens of pages on a painter like Abe Rattner. When I look up the painter's work, I am enthralled. In the end, I just soldier on through his prose, knowing that when he gets really enthusiastic about something, he goes all out. Several of the essays, particularly the hilarious "Astrological Fricasse" about a Hollywood party full of poseurs; "Remember to Remember," an elegy on France and the French; and "Artist and Public," a plea for government subsidy to artists, make the whole experience worthwhile.

[Joana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end is a cold, dead mystery, like Mesa Verde. We sit on the top of an Enchanted Mesa, but we forgot how we got there, and what is worst, we do not know how to climb down anymore. We are on top of the Mountain that was God and it is extinct - " the most lovely inanimate object in existence."

[Matthew Stolte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good lines about the artist in society & history of some particular artists Miller was aquatinted with.

[Caroline Goossens · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Rita Samson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ik vond het niet erg bijzonder, veel liever heb ik de herinneringen over Parijs gelezen van Hemingway. Het filosofische in dit boek sprak mij niet echt aan.

[Unclemark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very rich and very interesting read.