Tropic of Cancer (novel)

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Tropic of Cancer

Author	Henry Miller
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Obelisk Press
Publication date	1934
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	NA
Followed by	Tropic of Capricorn

Tropic of Cancer is a novel by Henry Miller, first published in 1934 by Obelisk Press in Paris and still in print (Grove Press 1987 paperback: ISBN 0-8021-3178-6). Its publication in 1961 in the United States by Grove Press led to an obscenity trial that was one of several that tested American laws on pornography in the 1960s. While famous for its frank and often graphic depiction of sex, the book is also widely regarded as an important masterpiece of 20th century literature.

The novel is set in France (primarily Paris) during the 1930s. It is written in the first person, as are many of Miller's other novels, and often fluctuates between past and present tense. Some chapters follow a strict narrative and refer to Miller's actual friends, colleagues, and workplaces; others are written as stream-of-consciousness reflections. There are many passages explicitly describing the narrator's sexual encounters, but the book does not solely focus on this subject.

The novel included a preface credited to Anaïs Nin (although allegedly penned by Miller himself).

In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Grove Press, Inc., v. Gerstein, cited Jacobellis v. Ohio (which was decided the same day) and overruled state court findings of obscenity.

A copyright infringing "Medusa" edition of the novel was published in New York City in 1940 by Jacob Brussel; its title page claimed its place of publication to be Mexico. Brussel was eventually sent to jail for ten years for the edition, a copy of which is in the Library of Congress under call number PS3525.I5454 T7 1940.

1 Critical reception
2 Cultural references
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Critical reception

George Orwell called this novel "the most important book of the mid-1930s," and Miller "the only imaginative prose-writer of the slightest value who has appeared among the English-speaking races for some years past."^[1] Samuel Beckett hailed it as "a momentous event in the history of modern writing". Norman Mailer, in his book on Miller, Genius and Lust, called it "one of the ten or twenty greatest novels of the century". The Modern Library named it the 50th greatest book of the 20th century.

In his dissent from the majority holding that the book was not obscene, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Michael Musmanno wrote "'Cancer' is not a book. It is a cesspool, an open sewer, a pit of putrefaction, a slimy gathering of all that is rotten in the debris of human depravity." ^[2]

[edit] Cultural references

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The novel was featured in a 1991 episode of Seinfeld, The Library.
Tom Lehrer, after singing the song "New Math", says that he wants to write a math textbook because he "knows it will sell a million copies" by calling it "Tropic of Calculus".
The novel is read and discussed in After Hours, a film by Martin Scorsese. In the 1991 version of Cape Fear, also directed by Scorsese, the characters of Max Cady and Danielle Bowden discuss the book briefly.
Several prominent lyrics from Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album are taken from the novel. (examples required)
A quote from the novel ("Boris has just given me a summary of his views. He is a weather prophet. The weather will continue bad, he says. There will be more calamities, more death, more despair. Not the slightest indication of a change anywhere... We must get in step, a lock step, toward the prison of death. There is no escape. The weather will not change.") precedes Thomas Pynchon's short story, "Entropy."
In the novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut, the book is mentioned several times.
In the novel Factotum by Charles Bukowski, the character Henry Chinaski reads it on a long bus ride.
Madonna mentions the novel in her book Sex.
The book is briefly mentioned in the memoir Rocket Boys.
The novel is mentioned by the character Emma in "Pterodactyls," a play by Nicky Silver. "She reads poems by Emily Bronte and I read chapters from The Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller" (Act II, Scene 2).
Claire Danes' character in the film "I Love You, I Love You Not" can be seen reading the novel's sequel Tropic of Capricorn at the beginning of a scene in which she appears lustful and fantasizing about Jude Law's character.