Ladders to Fire

Cities of the Interior #1

by Anaïs Nin, Gunther Stuhlman (Foreword by)

Anaïs Nin's Ladders to Fire interweaves the stories of several women, each emotionally inhibited in her own way: through self-doubt, fear, guilt, moral drift, and distrust. The novel follows their inner struggles to overcome these barriers to happiness and wholeness. The author's own experiences, as recorded in her famous diaries, supplied the raw material for her fiction. It was her intuitive, experimental, and always original style that transformed one into the other. Nin herself memorably claimed that "it was the fiction writer who edited the diary."

Ladders to Fire is the first book of Nin's continuous novel, Cities of the Interior, which also includes Children of the Albatross, The Four-Chambered Heart, A Spy in the House of Love, and Seduction of the Minotaur. These loosely interlinked stories develop the characters and themes established in the first volume, leading slowly toward a resolution of inner turmoil and conflict.

This Swallow Press reissue of Ladders to Fire includes a new introduction by Nin scholar Benjamin Franklin V, as well as Gunther Stuhlmann's classic foreword to the 1995 edition.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Erotica, Literature, Feminism, Literary Fiction, France

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Writer 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%...

Reviews

[Ian "Marvin" Graye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Against the Fragility of Reflections

"Ladders to Fire" is as far from being a work of erotica as you can imagine. It’s more a work of neurotica.

I would have been reluctant to use the word "neurotic" had Nin not used it herself. I don’t mean it in any pejorative sense. Nin was trying to live and write about a heightened emotional experience, far from any mainstream vision of safety and happiness.

Her novel has been described as "mere psychological case studies" and criticized for its relative lack of defined characters and narrative. However, that was the very point of her writing, and her works deserve a place in the vanguard of Modernism, if not Post-Modernism:

"Today, a novelist’s preoccupation with inner psychological distortions does not stem from a morbid love of illness but from a knowledge that this is the theme of our new reality…The constant evasion of emotional experience has created an immaturity which turns all experience into traumatic shocks from which the human being derives no strength or development, but neurosis."

Much of the factual basis of the novel derives from her diaries. She wrote not just voluminously, but intensely. Then, when it came to novelise her writing, she transformed it, she distilled it, she extracted its essences, like a parfumier, conscious that what emerged in the novel had to sustain a myth.

If water is the stuff of life, then this novel is the steam, the condensation, the ultimate distillation of love.

This is no mere reflection. This is direct insight.

Out of this heightened, individualistic subjectivity would emerge a deep understanding of generality:

"It is in the moments of emotional crisis that human beings reveal themselves most accurately …The heightened moments … are the moments of revelation. It is the moment when the real self rises to the surface, shatters its false roles, erupts and assumes reality and identity. The fiery moments of passionate experience are the moments of wholeness and totality of the personality."

The title of the novel hints at these concerns. The fire is the passion inherent in such moments. The ladders are the vehicles by which we attain the heights where we can experience them. Like Baron von Munchhausen’s ladder to the sky, we have to lift ourselves into this arena. When we get to one height, we have to pull the ladder up, and start the next stage of our ascension.

Lillian"trapezes from one climax to another, from one paroxysm to another... Harmony, illusion, equilibrium [are] annihilated." She is the character most identifiable with Nin herself.

Jay is arguably Henry Miller. His nature is to devour, to consume a woman:

"He ate her as if she were something he wanted to possess inside of his body like a fuel. He ate her as if she were a food he needed for daily sustenance."

Lillian is not one to embrace "...the proper feminine inflection of ‘I shall do your will, not mine.’ " She is strong and combative, a warrior. She’s not afraid of obstacles:

"As she felt the obstacle, she also felt the force of her love, its impetus striking the obstacle, the impact of the resistance. The collision seemed to her the reality of passion."

She seeks always to triumph, to prevail: "She could not bear to yield, to be convinced, defeated, persuaded, swerved in the little things." Neither could she yield in life nor in passion: "Her enemy was the lover who might possess her." She could not be invaded, she could not be conquered, she could not be possessed, she could not be pleasured, apparently, by a man. However, Nin argues that this outcome is against nature:

"She felt no appeasement or pleasure from her victories. What she had won was not what she really wanted. Deep down, what her nature wanted was to be made to yield."

Such yielding need not be one-sided. It is best that it is mutual and reciprocated. This is where you encounter emotional risk:

"Death was postponed by living, by suffering, by risking, by losing, by error."

Lillian shares this need, "this hunger”, with Djuna, one of two characters based at least partly on June Miller. The need becomes love, the hunger becomes nourishment. The two feed off each other.

Lillian has a similar experience with Sabina, a character who is either based on June Miller or is a composite of aspects of both Anais and June. The two complement each other, and almost become one in the narrative:

"She saw that Sabina wanted to be she as much as she wanted to be Sabina... There was in both of them the dark strain of wanting to become the other, to deny what they were, to transcend their actual selves."

A male like Jay is little more than the threat of a wedge in the completeness of this one soul.

Some consider that Nin’s characters are fragmented selves and that this is the cause of their neurosis. I prefer to think that the fragmentation is a literary tool, that she has assembled her characters out of the panorama before her very eyes.

The narrative, therefore, is concerned with the desire of her literary constructs to become whole. They ascend the ladder to the fire, the crucible, the alchemy that will join both one person and two.



HAIKU:


"The Bread and The Wafer Suite":


Lillian and Sabina I

If I unmasked you,
I'd only reveal myself.
I love what I see.


Lillian and Sabina II

You're no femme fatale,
But didn't you just want him
To think that you were?


Lillian and Sabina III

You too have fears,
Though to me you seem so strong.
Can you do no wrong?


Lillian and Sabina IV

It's like your warm hand
Gripping me around the wrist.
I'm your prisoner.


Lillian and Sabina V

Oh, what a relief
To smoke opium like fog!
Oh, what a marvel!


Lillian and Sabina VI

Dancing together,
Sabina, dark and potent,
Leading Lillian.


SOUNDTRACK:

Anais Nin Reading About the Three Women Characters at the Party

http://anaisninblog.skybluepress.com/...

http://anaisninblog.skybluepress.com/...

Anaïs Nin on Lou Andreas-Salomé and Nietzsche:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a72IyI...

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/an...




"Dawn" by Ian Hugo

This color woodcut is a proof from the personal collection of Atelier 17 printmaker Ian Hugo, whose given name was Hugh Guiler and was married to the writer Anais Nin.

Hugo and Nin collaborated on a number of literary projects together, one of which was a collection of 5 of Nin's works titled "This Hunger."

Published in 1945 by Gemor Press, their own publishing company, the hand made book, done in an edition of 40, contained 5 color woodcuts by Hugo.

Later that year the story was expanded and incorporated into her first full length novel, 'Ladders to Fire.'

This image illustrated the first page of the chapter Hejda in 'This Hunger.'

http://www.annexgalleries.com/invento...


Anais Nin on Neurosis

Nin's Diary contains this material in support of an application for a Guggenheim Fellowship (that was rejected):

"The three first volumes [of my "continuous novel," Cities of the Interior] cover a depiction of the contemporary neurosis in novel form.

"The next three volumes will cover what I consider a philosophic demonstration of the understanding and mastering of the neurosis.

"In other words, a guidance under the form of fiction, the way out of the labyrinth of what the poet Auden calls 'The Age of Anxiety'...

"I sincerely believe my work is a contribution to a psychological understanding of the character and experience of our time...

"I believe that while we refuse to organise the inner confusions, we will never have an objective understanding of what is happening outside. "

[Rowena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all the other Anais Nin books I've read so far, this book has incredibly intense and neurotic relationships, quite unbelievable in a way. As always, Nin uses beautiful language (LOTS of metaphors and great vocabulary). It's hard for me to write a review that does any justice to Nin's works; it's like she goes digging deep into the human psyche, and uncovers things most people would never be able to do. That's one of the reasons I find her to be so fascinating.Still, as much as I enjoyed this book, this is definitely not her best work.

[Ivana Books Are Magic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first novel by Anais Nin, but I don't think it will be the last. Nin was somewhat of a controversial figure in her time. She is often cited simply as a writer of erotica, something I'm not sure I agree with. Reducing her to an erotica writer seems like oversimplifying her artistic career. For instance, this particular novel isn't very graphic at all. This book focuses more on the emotional states and inner life of its unorthodox and free minded protagonists then on any graphic descriptions of their intimate adventures (as is often the case with Henry Miller). This isn't erotica at all, even if the intimate life of its characters is examined psychologically, it is never described in detail. This book is under the influence of Freudian writing and studies, it talks a great deal about the effects childhood experiences have on the adult, it examines gender roles and identities, intimate life of its characters and so on.

I loved the psychoanalysis of the characters in this novel. It was quite convincing and logical. Nevertheless, the characters were more analyzed then developed through the course of the story. Their emotional and mental state of characters is examined, but many of them still don't seem completely real. At times you feel they are more character studies or patient studies then characters in a novel. By that I mean, the characters didn't seem to develop with their actions, relationships and the story. Rather they were examined, we got to see glimpses of their life- but I didn't have the feeling we saw them as whole. They seem more types and sketches, then well rounded individuals. However, the portrayal of women in this novel was still quite impressive. It was certainly interesting to read about them. I loved how the author examines and studies the emotional and psychological states of her female characters. The plot is a bit all over the place. It moved quite slowly in the beginning and then once Jay is introduced, it seemed to move too fast for my liking. Many questions were left hanging in the air. At times the novel feels more like a collection of philosophical short stories featuring the same protagonist then as a novel.

It is no secret that there are many autobiographical references in this novel. The female protagonist Lilian is based on Anais Nin and her lover Jay on Henry Miller. Other female characters are based on women Nin came in contact with and known. I have to say that Nin seems to be a much better writer than Henry Miller. Her writing is beautiful, soft and philosophical. Perhaps the plot lacks something, perhaps this book seems unfinished but it is miles above some of the Miller's writing- at least from what I've read so far. Nin's writing is more intellectual and interesting than Miller's. The only thing they have in common seems to be the same kind of nervous energy, but right now Nin seems like a more promising author to explore.

[Katya]

Anaïs Nin será, por força da classificação"erótica", das escritoras mais subestimadas da literatura de século XX - com algumas fortíssimas exceções durante o seu tempo de vida. Posto isto, à força de alerta, é inevitável que me repita sempre que falo da sua obra - ela prima por isso mesmo: existe um foco, um cerne comum em toda a sua escrita.

“The quest of the self through the intricate maze of modern confusion is the central theme of my work.”
(Anais Nin, Two Cities, Paris, 1959)

As suas personagens fragmentadas refletem uma sociedade moderna feita de retalhos e colagens várias. As suas mulheres são mulheres angustiadas e feitas de dualidades e paroxismos com que hoje nos identificamos mais completamente. Presas num limbo entre o sonho e a vida, sofrem frequentes revelações místicas, autênticos êxtases religiosos de cada vez que recuperam uma peça perdida da sua construção pessoal.

De certa forma, as suas criações refletirão as suas demandas enquanto mulher no mundo, refletirão os seus anseios por uma liberdade mais completa e uma igualdade que, e quando posta perante os homens, nunca consegue realmente alcançar.
Por isso mesmo, não raras vezes, Nin ousa criar paralelos míticos com as suas personagens e faz desfilar perante nós figuras que se metamorfoseiam em Medusa, Fauno, Centauro...

"A angústia era uma mulher sem voz gritando num pesadelo."
21

Fortemente influenciada pelos movimentos avant-garde europeus, domina tanto o surrealismo quanto a psicanálise freudiana, e produz construções em que aborda os instintos primários da humanidade através de uma prosa tão próxima da poesia que dói não poder estampar pelas paredes desse mundo fora as passagens dos seus livros!
E assim, acaba por criar personagens que se procuram encontrar pelo amor, pela união das formas, mas também pela união de fragmentos de que todos somos compostos, pela unidade erótica.

"Os anseios femininos e maternais estavam nela todos confundidos"
75

Em Escadas de Fogo, escolhe, uma vez mais, abordar a condição da mulher, as dualidades de género, as dualidades de comportamento e de emoção. Para isso cria, Lilian, eterna representante da inocência em busca, a todo o custo, da unidade completa. E assim, narrativa fora, a sua Lilian (a própria Anaïs, decerto, e tantas outras mulheres ao longo dos tempos) procura recuperar uma identidade dispersa por força das circunstâncias - enquanto isso criando ligações múltiplas que dão azo a tantas outras narrativas de busca paralelas à sua.

"Logo que se sentou ao pé dele, ele reassumiu imediatamente um aspecto de miragem: pálido e oblíquo como se viesse de um outro mundo. Apropriou-se da armadura e das defesas da mulher, e ela assumiu as do homem. Lillian era a amante seduzida pelo obstáculo e pelo sonho. Gerard observava o ardor dela, sentindo um deleite feminino diante daquele fogo todo que a sedução atiçava. (...)
Gerard estava fascinado e amedrontado. Corria o perigo de ser possuído. E porque é que isso era um perigo? Porque ele já era possuído pela mãe, e ser possuído duas vezes era o mesmo que ser aniquilado."
14

Ao longo do livro, os vários personagens debatem questões de poder, posse e papéis familiares e sociais. Cada um, a seu modo, anunciando-se como um representante das nossas ânsias, questionamentos e preocupações contemporâneas.

"-(...) Djuna, já alguma vez. reparaste que os homens não ficam magoados quando não conquistam uma mulher a quem fizeram a corte? Mas a mulher fica. Quando a mulher se arma em Don Juan e lhes faz a corte, se por acaso o homem recua, ela fica, de certo modo, mutilada.
-Sim, já reparei nisso. Suponho que seja uma espécie de culpa. É natural para um homem ser ele o agressor, por isso aceita bem a derrota. Para a mulher isso é uma transgressão, e por isso deduz que a derrota é causada pela agressão. Até quando se envergonharão as mulheres da sua força?"
27

Mas, Anaïs Nin não se fica pela sugestão de debate e assume uma posição firme perante a feminilidade e a procura do verdadeiro significado de feminilidade como mais ninguém o ousou fazer até então. Aborda questões culturalmente sensíveis, trata com despudor - e de forma quase clínica - temas como o incesto, o poliamor, a bissexualidade entre muitos outros.

"O delírio de o abrigar, cobrir e defender fê-la desdobrar por cima dele a sua força como um imenso tecto estrelado, e a dilatada imensidão da mãe infinita substituiu-se à imagem normal do homem cobrindo a mulher."
74

A sua leitura resulta sempre numa experiência quase etérea e espiritual - ajudada pelas imensas referências e inferências às várias artes. Mas, sobretudo, a sua escrita obriga-nos a tomar o lugar das suas Lilian, Sabinas, Djunas etc. e a não nos isentarmos de sentir a mesma necessidade de completude que elas sentem.

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Na adolescência li e reli, fascinada, os contos eróticos de Anaïs Nin.
Esperava sentir renascer, com este livro, o mesmo encanto mas, revelou-se tão entediante que nem o consegui terminar.

Está muito bem escrito.
As personagens estão profundamente caracterizadas. (As quatro primeiras páginas são uma maravilha.)
Mas...Muitos diálogos de "não sei quem sou", do "que sonho enquanto durmo". Muitas descrições alucinantes da realidade...
"Balouçar. Balouçar. O sossego da folhagem estival rente ao chão como um leito. Rolar. Rolar. Segurar e dobrar. Vapor. Vapor. Uma máquina com gigantescos gonzos oleados que produzia mel, rios de mel num leito de folhagem estival."
Isto é bonito mas tão rebuscado que não percebo nada.

[Kubilay K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ateş Merdivenleri: İsimsiz ıstırapların, gizemli ve yapayalnız hüzünlerin, karabasan haykırışlarının hikâyesi. Acının ve çirkinliğin kişisel bir deneyim olmaktan çıkıp bütün dünyanın acısına ve çirkinliğine dönüştüğü içsel odalardan yükselen dilsiz bir çığlık.

Anaïs Nin'in alametifarikası, "roman fleuve"si, İçsel Kentler beşlemesini anıtsal bir konuma yerleştiren o "öz"den başlamak gerek söze. Daha önce hiçbir erkeğin beceremediği kadar derinlikli bir şekilde, "kadın deneyimi"ni canlı ve çarpıcı bir anlatıma dönüştürerek Nin, aslında D. H. Lawrence'le palazlanan eril tepeden bakışlı erotik uzantılı anlatıyı, rahatlıkla feminist olarak nitelendirilebilecek bir bilinçle, yerle bir ediyor ve "amorf" bir anlatı yaratmakla suçlanacak alabildiğine cesur bir "duygu madenciliği"ne girişiyor. Bunu yaparken kullandığı ritmik dil, kurgu oyunları ve sembolizm de okura, zihinsel bir oyun alanında tatminsel bir deneyim sunuyor.

Nehir romanının ilk halkası Ateş Merdivenleri'nde Nin, kendi güncelerinden distile ettiği üç ana kadın karakteri (Djuna, Lillian, Sabina) ve Nin'in sanatında büyük etkisi bulunan Henry Miller'dan izler taşıyan erkek karakteri Jay'i, Woolf tarzını anımsatan kuvvetli bir izlenimcilik ile okuruna tanıtıyor. Dejavular, geçmişe isteyerek veya zorunlu geri dönüşler, zihinsel atlamalar, duygusal pencereler, metafiziksel dokunuşlar ile süreğen bir mikro anlatı beklenmedik bir "ruhsal kozmos" makro anlatısına dönüşürken, Nin'in yakut rengi mürekkebinden duygulardan müteşekkil bir sel peydahlanıyor.

Son tahlilde Nin, edebiyatın bir köşesine itilmiş, çiçeklerle "yumuşatılarak" erkeğe mahkum bir orgazm olarak sunulmuş kadın deneyimini, duygusal bir ince işçilikle, ustalıkla ve asilikle, modern edebiyatın orta yerine Chirico resimlerindeki heykeller gibi yerleştiriyor. Yalnız, ürkütücü, kudretli bu heykeller yayınlandığı ilk gün de olduğu gibi bugün de kasvetle üstümüze çöken eril tahakkümün sınırlarını bulanıklaştırıyor.

Bir barın kırmızı ışığının altında iki kadın buluşuyor, bir erkeğe gülüyorlar. Nin, erkek kulübünün partisinden Ateş Merdivenleri'ne tırmanarak uzaklaşıyor. Bir kahkaha bizi derinlere götürüyor. İçsel Kentler, burada başlıyor.

[Edita · Rating 4 out of 5]

He will die of hardness, and I from feeling too much. Even when people knock on the door I have a feeling they are not knocking on wood but on my heart. All the blows fall directly on my heart.

[laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

the four stars come with a little qualification: there were little snags for me at first, and at parts, because nin's deeply essentialist notions of women and men and how they relate sometimes amounts to descriptions of characters and situations that don't ressonate with me-- don't feel familiar and true. other times they do, perfectly. other times they do, terrifyingly. but the thing gains momentum, and at some point nin's writing becomes utterly translucent-- the author is refined out of existance and the thing is perfectly captured. anyway, after the first few pages, this book is a breeze and a dream, and it all culminates in a party, perfectly:

"in each studio there is a human being dressed in the full regalia of his myth fearing to expore a vulnerable opening, spreading not his charms but his defences, plotting to disrobe, somewhere along the night-- his body without the aperture of the heart or his heart with a door closed to his body. thus keeping one compartment for refuge, one uninvaded cell."

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was 15 I discovered this book at Borders (there, among all of those gaudy mid-'90s covers, was this relic from the '40s; I thought at the time that it was an old copy, placed there by fate for me alone) and quickly became entranced with Ms. Nin. I don't remember what happens in this book (arty women fight over a guy at an intense party, I think) so much as the feeling of it -- there's a perpetual mildly lascivious undercurrent, as though it's subtly demanding that all of your senses stand at full attention as you read. This made it remarkably compelling (I think it had a lot to do with what it was like to be 15).

The other thing I remember is that there are abstract drawings by Nin scattered throughout, which I suspect I would still think are awesome.

At the time, I felt like Ladders to Fire had changed my life. Now I'm inclined to think it was probably overblown. I should read it again.

[ciel · Rating 5 out of 5]

/ absolutely brilliant/ so many re-reads and interpretations to go/ lesbian flames/ incredible insights/ wonderful writing/ anaïs slays/ the ending was omg

[Mighty Aphrodite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anaïs Nin è in tutte le donne che descrive e che si agitano, senza meta e senza regole, all’interno dei suoi romanzi. Queste figure, che fanno dell’enigma un’arte, rappresentano, a loro volta, – in tutte le loro molteplici screziature – solo una delle innumerevoli facce che compongono il luminoso diamante della personalità femminile.

Non si può osservarle singolarmente, una per una, come piccole storie separate e in sé stesse complete, bensì lo sguardo sente la necessità di cogliere il loro intrinseco intreccio, la loro capacità di essere singolari e, al contempo, universali, avvinghiate in un lungo e doloroso abbraccio che permette loro di assaggiare, per la prima volta nella vita, il gusto dolce amaro della consapevolezza.

“Vide che Sabina voleva essere lei tanto quanto lei voleva essere Sabina. Entrambe volevano scambiarsi il corpo, il volto. In tutte e due c’era una tensione oscura che le spingeva a diventare l’altra, per non essere sè stesse, per trascendere il loro sè di quel momento.”

Come lasciarsi alle spalle le proprie fragilità, i propri dubbi, le proprie stantie certezze per farsi avvolgere finalmente dall’infinito, dallo scorrere lento e costante del tempo che ci modella come calda creta tra le mani dello scultore, come materia inerte, ma vitale pronta ad esplodere al primo urto?

Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...

[Damla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beş kitaplık bu nehir romanlara yılın başında başlamayı ve araya başka kitap sokmadan bitirmeyi istemiştim. Olmadı, şimdi okuyabildim. Ama bir yandan da diyorum daha iyi olmuş çünkü Fransız feminizmi ve şu ecriture feminine olayını öğrenmeden okusam eksik kalacakmış.

Dil kullanımına ve kitaptaki kadın imgesinin hangi kelime tercihleriyle, nelerle eşleştirildiğine bakarsak çok çok iyi. Kitabın başlangıç paragrafı bile bildiğimiz uysal, idealleştirilmiş ve 'angel in the house' tiplemesinin dışında; şehvetli, öfkeli, gürültülü, varlığı hissedilen yani erkeklere atfedilen tüm o özelliklere sahip bir kadın anlatımıyla başlıyor. Diğer yandan, toplumdaki rollere ve sterotiplere değiniyor, bu yönüyle Amerikan feminizmin bakış açısını da kullanabiliriz sanırım. İlerleyen sayfalarda özellikle "kocası iyi, çocukları iyi, peki kadın neden mutlu değil" sorusu yer alıyor. Kuram ve eleştiri derslerinde de özellikle üzerinden geçmiştik bunun. Kadının evinde, mutfağında her şeyi var. Kadının kocası iyi, çocukları iyi. Kadın neden hala mutlu değil? Neden hala mutlu değil çünkü söylenmesine izin verilmeyen, söylenmesine gerek bile görülmeyen bastırdığı onca duygu var, bastırılmış cinsellik var mesela. Sonra o bastırma nereye gidiyor, gidiyor tavan arasındaki deli kadını yaratıyor. Ben öyle hissetmiyorum ki tavan arasındaki o deli kadın hissediyor. Sonra da gotik türü doğuyor işte.

Anais Nin de cinselliği ve akışkan diğer duyguları çoğu yerde bastırmamış, sonra da erotik roman etiketi almış. Asıl anılması gereken post yapılsalcılığın baya başarılı bir uygulaması olmalıyken.

[Másha (maria)]

"Estarei a sonhar ou a morrer? Traz-me uma pessoa que saiba que entre o sonho e a morte há só um degrau frágil, uma pessoa que pressinta que entre este assassínio do presente, que o sonho consuma, e a morte há apenas um hálito ténue. Traz-me alguém que saiba que o sonho não conduz a lugar nenhum, a nenhuma explosão, o sonho de que não se aforda é a passagem para o mundo dos mortos! Quero que rasguem e manchem o meu vestido! "

[Lana Amir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an unexpected gem. It wasn’t plot-driven at all, but instead felt like a deep psychological exploration of several women’s inner lives. It delved into their neuroses, relationships with femininity, struggles with self-identity, creativity, and sexuality.

It’s the kind of book that invites personal reflection, especially for women with parts that most of us may find deeply familiar and resonant.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dramatische verkenning van intense (afhankelijkheids)relaties

[James F · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of the five novels which were republished as the "continuous novel" Cities of the Interior in 1959. Ladders focuses on the character of Lilian, who leaves her respectable middle class family to live with a bohemian artist, Jay; her friend Djuna; and various other women who interact with her. The characterization in this short novel is probably the most psychologically complex that I have ever read; the writing style is very metaphorical, resembling poetry more than prose. On the other hand, there is virtually no "plot" at all; particular external events play no role.

The novel is divided into two parts. The first part, "This Hunger", was originally written as a independent novella. It is apparently set somewhere in the United States during World War II, although the setting is fairly irrelevant. At some point, she leaves her husband and children -- although her feelings are analyzed continuously, we never actually see the breakup as an event or know exactly when in the story it occurs, only that by the end she has become involved with Jay. The second part, "Bread and the Wafer", begins with her having apparently lived for some years in Paris; we are never told, much less shown, how or why she, Jay, and several other characters have ended up in France, they are just there. If this book had been written in French rather than English, I think the whole text would have been in the imperfect tense; there are almost no particular events, but everything is described as typical or repeating -- she often did this, she usually did that. Although I don't know much about Nin's life, I gather from the descriptions of the novels on Amazon, etc. that the series is to some extent autobiographical; Nin was part of the same circle of expatriates in Paris as Henry Miller.

This was one of the first novels in the postwar era to discuss critically the questions of relationships between women (as friends, as rivals, and as lovers), and between women and men, that later became the subject of the feminist novels of the sixties and since. Unfortunately, most readers only know Nin for her written-to-order erotica such as Delta of Venus -- the only thing I had heard of before -- rather than these more interesting novels.

[antonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

underwhelming after reading A Spy in the House of Love – even though the cast of characters is largely the same (with a focus on different ones in each book), I perpetually got the feeling that something important was missing from the text. it sort of reads as if Anaïs wrote a good book but arbitrarily cut off many important lines from it. the characters are analyzed with an impressive, almost psychiatric level of awareness, but are left underdeveloped and not fully fleshed out. nonetheless, occasionally very beautiful writing

[Mahika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This draws majorly on her diaries, so that someone familiar with the diaries will recognize entire lines and passages apparently lifted from the diaries interposed here, seemingly into the aspects of her own self expressed in her characters.

The closest aesthetic comparison I can think of is Djuna Barnes, because of the shared pre-occupation with the dream and sleep, desire for possession, etc. Strange, because one of the main characters in Cities of the Interior is named Djuna. Actually, there are many similarities between the two: the Djuna character is impenetrable much like Barnes’ Robin in Nightwood; Jay and Dr. O’Connor both offer an attempt at a 'masculine wisdom' which is subverted by a feminine strange, unwieldy, 'mad' logic; Lillian desires to possess Djuna as Nora does Robin, etc.

The dream-like narrative strategy doesn't always work, and at times, it ineffectively reads like a case study of the character discussed. But I was astounded again by her skill at analysis here applied to the work of fiction. She has an eye throughout for the complex dynamics in romantic relationships:

“There was in both of them the dark strain of wanting to become the other, to deny what they were, to transcend their actual selves.”

Of Lillian, who finds that she wanted to serve “the God she had sought in Jay,” the genius she saw in him, thinking he would help her “create herself": “She had placed her own image in his hands for him to fashion…” Or of Djuna, whose eyes “wounded on the exterior, turned inward, but did not stay there, and returned with the renewed vision…. returned to the mirrors in the inner chambers, to the transformation by understanding and reflection, so that they could emerge and face the naked truth again…”

It offers rare insight into the psyche unlike any other writer I have read. It's a singular perspective Anaïs brings to writing.

“Now they danced mockingly, defiantly, as if they were sliding beyond the reach of man’s hands, running like sand…. They scoffed at those eyes which brimmed with knowledge for they knew the ecstasy of mystery and fog, fire and orange fumes of a world they had seen through a slit in the dream…”

“She merely turned her face away: she was too richly nourished with pollen, seeds and sap to wither before any man…”

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took a little while reading this book, which is surprising, I know, because this is supposed to be a fast read. Normally, I would completely devour longer and more complex works by Anais Nin in a mere day or so, but somehow, someway, with Ladders To Fire, I found my attention slipping, and after just a page or so, I had already grown bored of reading it. This both surprised and upset me as she's been one of my favorite writers for a while now. At first I thought it was just a slower novel than the rest, and would take some time to get into it, but as it went on, I feared the worst: For once, I have thoroughly disliked something by Anais Nin.

In everything else (which is quite a lot) that I've read by her, she manages to word everything so elequently, so deliciusly, reading her sliding through like a beautiful dance. She has ideas I could never imagine anyone having, and manages to explain the simplest of emotions in the most complex and abstract of ways, much like D.H. Lawrence (favorite writer of all time.) I loved her for this, for her spirit and energy, for the passion she puts into a single sentence, and the genuis of her creativity, and yet in Ladders To Fire, I found none of this. Instead it came off rather bleakly, not truely caring for any of the characters in it, or even for the storyline (if you could call it one.)

It pains me to say all of this about a writer I so dearly love, and yet I'm not going to be like some and go about claiming every single thing from that person is a work of art. Some of D.H. Lawrence's works I don't like either, yet does it make them any the less brilliant? Never. There were some ideas, some chapters in this that struck me as quite beautiful, and that I did ponder over for a little while, yet on the whole I finished it with having taken nothing from it, none of the usual pain and enjoyment, awe and love that I got from the others. I merely felt empty.

Empty is never good with books.

[Suzanne Mot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why this book is called erotica, it mostly arouse my intellectual properties not the sexual ones. I was amazed by the prose style from the beginning to the end. The only difficulty I had was to sometimes separate the female characters because they all had so many characteristics in common ( chaos, jealousy, deep sensitivity etc).
I was here just so I could say I read a book of Anaïs Nin and satisfy my curiosity, but I am certainly leaving this book and going for the next one. As I've heard, the characters in Ladder to fire are to be found in the rest of her books, in a way or another.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This fear appeared at the peak of their deepest moments, a precipice all around their ascensions. This fear appeared through the days of their tranquility, as a sign of death rather than a sign of natural repose. It marked every moment of silence with the seal of a fatal secret. The greater the circle spanned by the attachment, the larger she saw the fissure through which human beings fall again into solitude."

-part I -THIS HUNGER

[Ee Cheng Ooi · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a fleeting moment, I thought I caught a glimpse of myself in this novel. It was one of those moments where you realise something about yourself, and you feel seen in a way that you didn't know that you needed.

The moment came and went. Most of the novel felt like a mess. The prose was purple and overly oblique. I found myself shaking my head sometimes, thinking, "But what is actually going on here?" Maybe I don't have the intellect. I certainly don't have the patience.

[Bethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A transparently poetic and psychological short novel based on two women who love the same man; of their relationships with him and their friendship with each other. No real plot and it was mixed but it had some great parts to it in terms of psychological insight or emotional poetry.

[me_secina · Rating 4 out of 5]

νιν και αεί

[Olivia]

french psychosexual sex and the city

"He could read the fattest books, tackle the most immense paintings, cover the vastest territories in his wanderings, attack the most solemn system of ideas, produce the greatest quantity of work. He excluded nothing: everything was food. He could eat the trivial and the puerile, the ephemeral and the gross, the scratchings on a wall, the phrase of a passerby, the defect on a face, the pale sonata streaming from a window, the snoring of a beggar on a bench, flowers on the wallpaper of a hotel room, the odor of cabbage on a stairway, the haunches of a bareback rider in the circus. His eyes devoured details, his hands leaped to grasp. His whole body was like a sensitive sponge, drinking, eating, absorbing with a million sells of curiosity."

[Animal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lack of a uniform narrative, and the jumping from character to character makes the reading a bit tedious . Nothing really happens.
It’s also not that erotic, mostly neurotic.
However, the writing is incisive and beautiful. The little psychological character studies are deep and wild. The lines that stand out are bright and powerful making it well worth the read.

“My jungle is not the innocent one of Rousseau.
In my jungle everyone meets his enemy. In the underworld of nature debts must be paid in the same specie: no false money accepted. Hunger with hunger, pain with pain, destruction with destruction.."

[Alicja Placek · Rating 4 out of 5]

3/5
had these notes for the first ~130 pages:
crazy, lovely character descriptions, otherwise skin-itchingly boring (had to take a break every 5 pages). as a character study brilliant, as a novel not
lots of beautiful sentences losing charm under scrutiny

but then the last scene blooms like a wonderful kaleidoscope, loved to observe how differently the sketched characters stain their surroundings and interactions with their respective eccentricities
(a "come as your madness" party)

interesting like some kind of a beautiful puzzle game

and the characters outlined with such thick lines but also very visible in my friends, dreams, myself etc etc

boring but somehow also very very unique
not sure what to think

[Sania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anais nin what a writer you are 🙌🏻
Her prose goes beyond the ordinary, capturing the essence of existence in a way that could only be described as literary alchemy. Fucking insane. It's a damn shame to reduce all of her works to mere "erotica". She is a complete philosopher of the highest caliber who grasps the human condition at its finest

[really normal · Rating 4 out of 5]

i truly adore anaïs nin’s writing and they way she so able to weave the most intricate of sentences to make you feel so deeply— following these four women through their emotional encompasses and overcomings is such an experience and so incredibly raw and moving

[etherealacademia · Rating 4 out of 5]

the characters are fragmented, didactic, and archetypal. Nin never lets you get close to them.