Mudrost srca

by Henry Miller

U ovom izboru priča i eseja, Henry Miller razjašnjava, uživa i uzdiže se, pokazujući svoje vladanje širokim rasponom raspoloženja, stilova i tema. Pišući "iz srca", uvijek s osvježavajućim nedostatkom suzdržanosti, Miller izravno uključuje čitatelja u njegove misli i osjećaje. “Njegov je pravi cilj”, napisao je Karl Shapiro, “pronaći živu jezgru našeg svijeta kad god on preživi i u bilo kojoj manifestaciji, u umjetnosti, književnosti, u samom ljudskom ponašanju. Tada pjeva, hvali i viče iz sveg glasa s neobuzdanom veselošću po kojoj je poznat.”

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Philosophy, Writing, Literature, American, Classics

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1941

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

[Tammy Marie Jacintho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miller's essay on CREATIVE DEATH should be enough to own this book.

His voice carries intimations of Whitman and Emersonian thought. He digs deep into the poets, the philosophers— even into spiritual thinkers such as Krishnamurti. He tackles the Holy Ghost with symbolic significance and ease. His language thrusts us into the momentum of ideas as they begin to build beliefs... and a man.

Henry Miller surrenders. We perceive "the as-yet-unknown blossom," the "seasonal phenomenon" as he waxes and wanes.

He calls us, as individuals, "to live." And to LIVE means "to be aware... joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. In this state of god-like awareness one sings; in this realm the world exists as poem.”

There is no better gift than “The Wisdom of the Heart.”

[Madelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is my favorite book! i have re-read it over and over again since my freshman year "writing the essay" course. we were supposed to read academically-accepted, canonized or modern (i.e. susan sontag) essayists. but i saw this book and i knew: a lasting relationship was to be formed immediately. whenever i'm having trouble with an essay, i open up this book and the words i like come back to me, the ones that taste good and perhaps make my essays generally unacceptable to my professors. ask me if i give a damn. you know i don't.

[Iria Garcia Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few books that really got into my heart and my soul. I feel so connected with this book. Miller reflects on our emotions, on the search for identity, growth, on what it means to live, to love, to suffer, and in essence to be human. He shares his philosophy, his wisdom, in his characteristic raw fashion but with exquisite sensitivity and depth. Two of my favourite quotes from the book, an appetizer for what is to be found: "I don't want my Fate or Providence to treat me well. I am essentially a fighter". "It is this about art which is therapeutic: significance, purposelessness, infinitude". In my opinion, a book that one should read and re-read throughout life.

[Jukka]

Wisdom of the Heart - Henry Miller
A collection of essays and some short fiction. Really enjoyed this. Again like Miller in general you will find this dry if your not into this sort of thing. Found the short fiction, The Alcoholic Veteran with the Washboard Cranium and the pieces on Balzac's Seraphita and Louis Lambert really interesting.
I love Seraphita, it is so much of a change (and strange) for Balzac, and Miller's thoughts are very helpful. Randomly i reflected back on two other strange and wonderful works of fiction Brand by Ibsen and Modern Mephistopheles by Louisa May Alcott. I'll stick in reviews for these two later.

[Michael]

Good Miller.

[Cátia Vieira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miller writes from the heart. He’s raw, honest and authentic. I know that I was destined to discover and love his work because he’s my reflection. «The Wisdom of the Heart», first published in 1941, is nothing but a collection of stories and essays that are told right from the heart. Paris, painters, writers, writing, identity and the soul are some of the topics Miller explores throughout this book. I don’t have much to say. Reading Miller is going back to my oldest friend, to my oldest companion, to my ancestry. I'll leave you with two fantastic quotes from this book:

«Writing, like life itself, is a voyage of discovery.»

«There is no need for God because it is all one creative substance born out of darkness and relapsing into darkness.»

I'd like to thank New Directions Publishing for the review copy! For more reviews, follow me on Instagram @booksturnyouon

[Charles Samuels · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite Miller essays always begin with him making an utterly pretentious statement and then following it with quasi-Eastern-religious platitudes. Let's face it, he was completely full of shit. That is why I love him. That is why he is a genius. That is why you should read him too.

[Avolyn Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fits and bursts of brilliance. Unfortunately a lot of cultural references I was too lazy to google and thus the subject matter of many essays was often a bit lost on me. I'm sure a simple search here and there would have illuminated the references but I was just too lazy.

[A. B. J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jedna od Millerovih neocekivanih 🤗 Ono, iako je i ovdje dosta grub, to se ne moze mjeriti sa njegovim stavovima u najpoznatijim djelima... No, nekako, imam dojam da je Miller vrhunski pisac, samo zato sto je tako usrana osoba. Sebican, bahat, vjeruje da mu sve treba doci samo od sebe. Pise tocno kako misli. Sto je uistinu fascinantno.

[Isaias Garde · Rating 5 out of 5]

De la mano de Editorial Stirner, recibimos esta gran novedad: en edición y traducción de Víctor Olcina, La sabiduría del corazón de Henry Miller. El libro, aparecido originalmente en 1941, reúne una colección de impactantes ensayos y reflexiones acerca del arte y de la vida que plasman la desbordada y certera visión de este autor que, desde las márgenes pasó a ocupar un puesto clave en el ámbito cultural hasta convertirse en un clásico del siglo XX.

Henry Miller es el testigo ineludible de un tiempo intenso que todavía nos convoca y para cuya cabal comprensión ahora contamos con esta excelente traducción de Olcina que transparenta fielmente el registro vertiginoso de este verdadero "ojo cosmológico", como Miller bautiza a su amigo el pintor Hans Reichel en uno de los ensayos que integran este volumen.

Isaías Garde

Podés comprar el libro en la página de la editorial Stirner y próximamente estará disponible en Argentina a través de Waldhuter

304 páginas. Rústica con solapas.

Título completo: La sabiduría del corazón
Título original: The Wisdom of the Heart, 1941, New Directions

Edición y traducción de Víctor Olcina
Correcciones de Adriano Fortarezza
Ilustración de portada de Peter O’Toole

ISBN: 978-84-09-10701-8
Depósito legal: M-14853-2019

[Sabine Hélène · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love him or hate him, this controversial author whose works were banned in America until 1961, also tried his hand at writing some decorous philosophical essays - I can imagine the suaveness with which he voiced the thoughts collected in ‘The Wisdom of the Heart’ to have been yet another talent which helped draw those young, often venerable maidens, lovingly usurped as muses, to his lips.

Unlike Miller’s most famous novels, Tropic of Cancer and Black Spring, this collection of texts doesn’t contain the same plethora of stylistic and thematic tendencies for which he became so notoriously recognised. And, although I wás anticipating some easy reading, I actually found myself bored at times with the tediousness and continued rephrasing of homogeneous opinions.

Nonetheless, flicking through the 250 pages I count a number of passages I annotated - some indeed for the content, some for the rich metaphorical language… almost like a tiny harvest of baroque pearls, enough, I guess, to string together as a keepsake.

[Hobart Frolley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretentious, arrogant, misogynistic, psuedointellectual, hipster-spiritual drivel with only the boneheadedly self-projected shell of an appearance of substance....there are rare moments of beauty which is why this got a 2 instead of a 1, but it is the worst type of mid 20th century american writing. Pedantic, cloying, self-righteous....I can honestly say now after reading this that I will never read anything else by this author.
Henry Miller = Most Overrated Author I Have Read Yet....

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry Miller often provokes many emotions in people. Depending on the book or books that they have read. I've always loved his collection of essays, "Stand Still Like the Hummingbird". So, I couldn't wait to finally get my hands on a copy of this book, "Wisdom of the Heart".

The first three essays in the book were quite good and got me hooked. Essentially they were about his philosophy that you must lose something of yourself to find something. To embrace the pain to find the pleasure. Right on track on his writing of my other favorite book from him.

Unfortunately after those brilliant essays, he turned back into that angry man who I met briefly in "Tropic of Cancer". That was a book I really couldn't get into. After a while the anger took over and it was hard to read the philosophy in what he was trying to say. All you felt was anger. So, needless to say I became quickly disenchanted with several of the essays after, "Reflections on Writing". I was hoping it wasn't the only 3 essays that I would like. So, with trepidation, I kept reading.

He finally got back to the writing I've come to really like when I read, "Into the Future". He was back to speculating on artistic life by comparing DH Lawrence's concept of the Holy Ghost with those in history that personify it. It basically asks the question that do artists have to suffer for their art? Is it a necessity? Although Miller seems to have answered it to his satisfaction, I'm not sure he has done so to my satisfaction but I did enjoy his journey into the question.

In the end he explores Balzac and what he considers to be one of his pinnacle works. His essays just didn't have the same flair and philosophy I had come to expect from Miller. Still, he comes off with the philosophy that an artist must suffer for his work and then overcome that suffering to surpass even his own ego. I'm not sure I buy that, but it is an interesting philosophy.

In the end, I did not enjoy this essay book as I had with "Stand Still Like the Hummingbird" which is still one of my all time favorite books. His anger in "The Wisdom of the Heart" is very obvious and the book doesn't seem to string the essays in a cohesive way as my favorite book. I'm disappointed, but still have my favorite on my keeper shelf.

[Olivier Goetgeluck · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware."

"No daring is fatal."
- René Crevel

"In the ultimate sense, the world itself is pregnant with failure, is the perfect manifestation of imperfection, of the consciousness of failure. In the realization of this, failure itself is eliminated."

"What is needed more than lifeboats is lighthouses. A fuller, clearer vision - not more safety appliances!"

"Normality is the paradise of escapeologists, for it is a fixation concept, pure and simple. It is better to stand alone and to feel quite normal about our abnormality, doing nothing whatever about it, except what needs to be done in order to be oneself."
- Howe

"Being is burning."

"Attachment to any system is suggestive of anxious escape from life."

"The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way. Unless we become our own leaders, content to be what we are in process of becoming, we shall always be servitors and idolaters."

"The man who decides to live his own life is without fear; he lives positively, not negatively."

"The highest activity is an effect rather than an act."

"Man has no other real enemy than this which he carries with him."

"Life, as it is called, is for most of us one long postponement. And the simple reason for it is: FEAR."

"Nothing is dead, except in the imagination."

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry Miller was an eclectic spiritual searcher whose mind was every bit as inquisitive and daring as his libido -- perhaps more so. Several essays in The Wisdom of the Heart rival the thought of Merton and Camus. This is a strong statement coming from me. I'm referring especially to Balzac and His Double, but also to Seraphita, both of which are illuminating discourses, not only on the writings of French novelist and self-proclaimed genius, Honore Balzac, but on the spiritual dimensions of art and the artist -- not to mention, the artist's acceptance of his or her fatedness, at all costs. So far, Wisdom of the Heart is my favourite Miller. In reading it I discover a mind overshadowed by the popularity of his more blatantly sexual works, Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. Both books broke censorship ground in the "sex, drugs, rock 'n roll" '60s, and made this "Old Dog" a sexual guru to my lost and never-got-found generation. If only we'd paid more attention to the flip side of him then.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry Miller is quite an outspoken reviewer in this compilation, of several of his contemporary and senior European writers and philosophers. This is only my second reading of Henry Miller, and is by far more clear than my previous attempt with Black Spring. Maybe the simple purpose of giving praise to those he deemed worthy provided a good break from the soul searching which is sometimes difficult to follow in a more serious work. It would be nice if the subjects with whom Miller writes were a tad more familiar to American readers , but this would probably detract from the base of his commentary here, as a traveler and free thinker.

[Dennis R. Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel a connection to this writing, whether it is the Tropics, or simply essays. I identify with the lewd, the obscene, and the gentle rages of the heart. I think it was the first book I ever loaned out that didn't return because it was so good.

[Jessica Malice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because I love Anaïs Nin SO MUCH. however instead of learning what she liked about him I only learned that Henry Miller is a pompous, pretentious ass. oh, wait..

well I never said Nin was without flaw.

[Sorin Hadârcă · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greu de apreciat căci sub aceeași copertă coabitează o serie de eseuri (unele din ele șontăcăiesc spre ocultism) și vreo trei povestiri care-s de-a dreptul geniale. Rezumat: viața-i un purgatoriu, dar ne putem folosi imaginația pentru a ne crede în Rai.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting collection of essays, good one to have on hand and keep reading as the moment hits you.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the one book that "changed my life" more than any other, along with Siddhartha and a few others. Also was my first Henry Milller, and still his finest work in my eyes.

[Elleaura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing philosophy!! <3

[Ron Khare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miller writes with such profound insight, it transcends the suffering he undertook to get there.

[Jin Kim-peña · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome writing

[Tessa Nadir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henry Miller a fost o personalitate interesanta si originala a vremurilor sale. Ca scriitor e celebru pentru opere precum: "Tropicul Cancerului", "Primavara neagra", "Tropicul Capricornului" si trilogia "Rastignirea trandafirie" ce este alcatuita din "Sexus", "Plexus" si "Nexus".
Faimoasa este si relatia de dragoste dintre el si scriitoarea Anais Nin iar cercul lor de prieteni a cuprins nume ilustre precum T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Lawrence Durell etc.
"The wisdom of the heart" a aparut in 1941 si este o antologie de eseuri si povestiri din care voi analiza cateva in cele ce urmeaza:

"Moartea creativitatii"- este un eseu despre scriitorul D. H. Lawrence si afirmatia acestuia conform careia "trebuie sa ne uram predecesorii imediat pentru a ne putea elibera de autoritatea lor."
Mai departe ni se spune ca Lawrence a vazut in Soare sursa vietii iar in Luna cea a non existentei si considera ca trebuie sa te orientezi dupa acesti doi poli: "Cel ce se apropie de soare, spunea el, este lider, aristocratul aristocratilor. Sau cel care, asemenea lui Dostoievski, se apropie de luna nonexistentei noastre."
Scopul vietii este sa traiesti, sa fii constient la modul lucid, senin, voios, extaziat. Pentru artist nu exista decat prezentul, "eternul aici si acum" si acesta isi trage seva mai ales din lucrurile pe care nu le intelege. Artistul "se ingroapa in mormantul poeziei sale" pentru a deveni nemuritor. De asemenea: "Cand omul devine pe deplin constient de puterea lui, de rolul lui, de destinul lui, inseamna ca e artist si inceteaza lupta cu realitatea. Devine tradator al rasei umane."
Un eseu profund si bine structurat pe care il recomand indeosebi celor care doresc sa citeasca despre scriitorul D. H. Lawrence, dar nu numai. Cugetarile filozofice despre viata: "...viata are o semnificatie simbolica. Cu alte cuvinte, viata si arta sunt unul si acelasi lucru", moarte: "Simtul misterului, care sta la baza oricarei arte, este amalgamul tuturor spaimelor fara nume inspirate de cruda realitate a mortii. Moartea trebuie asadar invinsa - sau deghizata sau transformata. Totusi in incercarea de a invinge moartea, omul a fost inevitabil obligat sa invinga viata", conditia artistului si omului sunt si ele demne de urmarit.

"Reflectii asupra scrisului" - din acest eseu am retinut mai multe citate, despre arta, scris in general sau despre soarta si menirea scriitorului: "Scrisul, ca insasi viata, este o calatorie initiatica. Aventura este una metafizica: o metoda de abordare indirecta a vietii, de dobandire a unei imagini mai curand totale, decat partiale a universului."
"Tocmai aceasta calitate a artei este "terapeutica": semnificatia, lipsa unui scop, infinitatea."
De asemenea, Henry Miler ne ofera si propriul exemplu, ne povesteste cum a inceput el sa scrie, ce greutati a intampinat, cum s-a simtit: "Eu am inceput intr-un haos si intuneric absolut, intr-o mlastina sau un smarc de idei, emotii si experiente. Nici macar acum nu ma consider scriitor in sensul obisnuit al cuvantului."
"Devin din ce in ce mai indiferent la soarta mea ca scriitor si din ce in ce mai sigur de destinul meu ca om."
"...nu exista niciun divort intre persoana mea ca scriitor si persoana mea ca om: ratarea ca scriitor inseamna ratarea ca om."
"Nu cred in cuvinte, indiferent daca sunt insiruite de catre cel mai iscusit om: cred in limbaj, care este ceva dincolo de cuvinte, ceva despre care cuvintele ne ofera doar o iluzie necorespunzatoare."
"Scriitorul cu adevarat mare este chiar simbolul vietii, al imperfectiunii."
Tonul este sincer si entuziast, atinge multe intrebari pe care un tanar debutant ar putea sa le aiba, ofera raspunsuri, incurajeaza, asadar eseul merita citit.

"Ochiul cosmologic" - in acest eseu autorul reia tematica despre conditia artistului si omului de geniu ce este neinteles, marginalizat si prea putin cunoscut sau apreciat. Ofera exemplul prietenului sau, pictorul Reichel: "Cand vorbesc despre Reichel, ma refer la orice artist talentat care se simte singur, ignorat, neapreciat. Reichel-ii acestei lumi sunt ucisi ca mustele. Asa va fi mereu; pedeapsa pentru faptul ca esti diferit, pentru ca esti artist este crunta."
"Asta-i un om disperat si, in acelasi timp, plin de dragoste. Incearca cu disperare sa cuprinda lumea cu dragostea asta pe care nu i-o aprecieaza nimeni. Si, simtindu-se singur, mereu singur si neconsacrat, il chinuieste o tristete neagra."
Tablourile lui Reichel au o caracteristica iesita din comun: fiecare are un ochi desenat- ochiul cosmologic. Pictorul zicea adesea ca daca doar el se uita la tablourile sale si nu si invers atunci acestea nu sunt reusite.

"Filozoful care filozofeaza" este un eseu despre lucrarile lui Hermann von Keyserling. Henry Miller ne spune ca "filozofia in sine ma excita, la fel de mult ca vinul bun: o accept nu numai ca pe o parte legitima a vietii, ci ca un sine qua non, ceva fara de care nu exista viata."
Despre Keyserling afirma ca e diferit fata de alti filozofi si ca are un "panteon in loc de creier". Iar despre cartea acestuia ne marturiseste ca: "... m-am uitat in jur si am vazut ceea ce nu mai vazusem niciodata - cosmosul. Si atunci mi-a picat in mana una dintre cartile lui Keyserling - Inteligenta creativa - pe care am citit-o pe nerasuflate. A fost ca prima imbucatura de paine dupa un post lung; pana si coaja groasa, uscata avea un gust grozav."
In concluzie pot afirma ca Henry Miller a fost un om si scriitor fascinant, magnetic, interesant si inteligent, calitati ce se reflecta din plin in aceste creatii. Mi-au placut foarte mult aproape toate eseurile si vi le recomand.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miller sheds his “dirty old man” image from his Tropic books and the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy to take on the mantle of “philosopher king” in this uneven collection of essays and memoirs in which he tries to find the wisdom in art, both his and that of some of his admired fellow artists.

Why I say “uneven” is because he is full of subjective praise for many of the writers, poets, photographers, and philosophers he discusses here—Reichel, Keyserling, Cendrars, Brassai—without giving us concrete examples of what they did to achieve greatness. It is only when he gets down to dissecting D.H. Lawrence and two novels of Honoré de Balzac that he delves into their biographical detail to provide context for his praise.

His essay, “Reflections on Writing,” is most absorbing. In it, he proposes:
a. That he lives for himself, without the least egotism or selfishness – (a paradox in itself!)
b. A great writer is the very symbol of life, of the non-perfect.
c. One adopts the lying mask in order to reveal the truth (or lying to tell a higher truth?)
d. Writing is not an escape but a deeper plunge into the brackish pool.
e. No one who gives himself up voluntarily to the experience can drown in the ocean of reality.
f. No daring is fatal.

Where Miller excels is in describing the underbelly of Paris where he roiled in squalor and sexual escapism during his wilderness years to bring forth autobiographical novels such as Tropic of Cancer and Black Spring. He even inserts a longish memoir piece, “The Alcoholic Veteran with the Washboard Cranium,” about a meeting with a mentally damaged attention seeker who triggers recollections of his own seedy life on the margins in the City of Light. Another strong autobiographical piece, “Madame Claude,” (I am not sure if this is a chapter extract from one of his Paris novels) portrays the life of a pimp living with a whore and both wondering whether they will infect each other with VD – an occupational hazard.

I found some of his essays started off on one theme and ended on another, and the switch could be deliberately anarchic or the functioning of an addled mind. That said, he is the master of metaphor and verbal dexterity, and his prose flows smoothly. On the anarchic side, he is anti-establishment (he did not like Roosevelt and was an early-generation anti-vaxxer) and justifies his rebelliousness for being born prematurely (in the 7th month) and subject to early childhood illnesses as a result.
His central message is “live in the moment.” He believes that when we are able to do this, art will become inconsequential and life will triumph. This belief is embodied in the two final pieces he dissects: his reviews of Balzac’s novels Seraphita and Louis Lambert. The flesh battles with the intellect in these two novels, a battle Balzac (and Miller) was caught up in throughout his life.

As an aside on Balzac—another of my favourite authors—according to Miller, this French coffeeholic did not find his voice until he had written forty volumes of work (hope for us, perhaps, who toil away at our work looking for a connection with the zeitgeist?). And to find that authentic voice, Balzac chose the path of renunciation of the flesh and accepted the hell on earth that life becomes for a man of genius. Perhaps Miller was seeing parallels between Balzac and his own life’s path in Paris.

[Paul B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised to see so many people reading this 1960 collection of essays by Henry Miller (1891-1980) well into the 21st century. I bought it in 1975. The receipt is still nestled between pages 138 and 139. I had recently read Sexus: Book One and Book Two Complete in One Volume, Plexus and Nexus, but these essays read like half-baked existentialism. Since I was a grad student reading more thoroughly baked existentialism in 1975, the book sat on the shelf until this year. I suppose anyone who finds this book in 2022 has their own reasons for reading it, but if not, here goes.

Miller campaigns for a "be-here-now" philosophy of life in these essays, leavened with occasional bits of psychoanalysis. The essays were all apparently previously published. They appear in my edition without the benefit of any introduction or apparatus that would tell the reader where they came from or when they were written. I get the impression that he would have collected a publishing fee for many of the chapters, while the novels he wrote were being suppressed in the U.S. and the U.K. Today, you can only write this kind of stuff for free on social media platforms. No one (well, hardly anyone) will pay you for it.

I was thinking to myself, "Miller would be embarrassed by this stuff if he could see it today," but the essay, "Reflections on Writing" explains that by the time The Wisdom of the Heart came out, living out his philosophy would have provided enough distance from any former self that he simply didn't care. He was consistent, at least. Most of the other essays deal with people who are almost forgotten today. Nobody reads Hermann von Keyserling today, but Miller thinks he's the only philosopher who actually philosophizes. The same goes for Eric Gutkind or E. Graham Howe, the psychoanalyst who is the subject of the title essay. Miller seems to have had a penchant for picking losers.

Like Friedrich Nietzsche (who Miller mentions) or Martin Heidegger (who he doesn't), Miller deploys a little parlor trick, separating himself and his readers from the great unwashed who can't/won't ascend to the heights of living in the moment. It comes up in almost every essay, and becomes stale as a result. This is not to say anything against the message. I just prefer the more poetic and less elitist versions we got from the Beatles: "I say "yes"; you say "no". You say stop; I say go, go, go."

Things get much better when Miller turns to storytelling, and the closing essays on Balzac reach a higher level of sophistication. There is one short essay I truly loved: "Benno, the Wild Man from Borneo." If having your own Wikipedia page is the contemporary mark of renown, Benjamin "Benno" Greenstein appears to be another forgotten figure, but you can Google some of his art, which looks pretty cool to my eyes. Miller's essay wouldn't tell you much about him, but it's the kind of writing that propelled me through more than a thousand pages of The Rosy Crucifixion. It reads like Hunter S. Thompson. Actually, Thompson reads like a toned-down version of Miller from this essay.

That "be-here-now" thing: it's better performed than described.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best Miller i have read....and yet still much to ruminate about whilst reading which is always good as it shows the book is at least engaging.
It's a book really made up of essays generally about writing or writers ..at worst it gives you desire to seek out works by the authors Miller himself holds in such esteem...at best you get tales of high living in low places.
Not maybe the best place to state with Miller as there is a risk at times of the subject matter in various essays being enthused and yet alas..somewhat dry...

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a lil too heavy on the essays about writers for me to enjoy. I’m at a point now where i’ve read many many more words from Miller about DH Lawrence than of DH Lawrence’s own words, so this one wasn’t as enjoyable as a couple other collections of his essays i’ve read. There is a great short story in here about.. you guessed it.. a writer. No, it really is quite good. I’m probably gonna read everything Henry Miller wrote eventually, so this needed to be done.

[Brian Washines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry Miller's collection of essays possesses that same cerebral gusto as his other works. The Wisdom of the Heart takes a look at Miller's Francophilia regarding matters cinematic and literary, as well as remembering the odd interactions out in the greater expanses of our human culture. A good collection of Miller's writing.