Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( ; ; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and

erotica Erotica is art, literature or photography that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erot ...

. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the daughter of the composer Joaquín Nin and the classically trained singer Rosa Culmell. Nin spent her early years in Spain and Cuba, about sixteen years in Paris (1924–1940), and the remaining half of her life in the United States, where she became an established author. Nin wrote journals prolifically from age eleven until her death. Her journals, many of which were published during her lifetime, detail her private thoughts and personal relationships. Her journals also describe her marriages to Hugh Parker Guiler and Rupert Pole, in addition to her numerous affairs with men and women, including those with psychoanalyst

Otto Rank Otto Rank (; ; né Rosenfeld; 22 April 1884 – 31 October 1939) was an Austrian psychoanalyst, writer, and philosopher. Born in Vienna, he was one of Sigmund Freud's closest colleagues for 20 years, a prolific writer on psychoanalytic themes, ...

and writer Henry Miller, both of whom profoundly influenced Nin and her writing. In addition to her journals, Nin wrote several novels, critical studies, essays, short stories, and volumes of

erotic literature Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (concept), eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically ...

. Much of her work, including the collections of erotica, was published posthumously amid renewed critical interest in her life and work. Nin spent her later life in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, where she died of

cervical cancer Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix or in any layer of the wall of the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that can invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later sympt ...

in 1977. She was a finalist for the

Neustadt International Prize for Literature The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for literature sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international literary publication, ''World Literature Today''. It is considered one of the more prestigious int ...

in 1976.

Early life

Anaïs Nin was born in Neuilly, France, to Joaquín Nin, a Cuban pianist and composer, and Rosa Culmell, a classically trained Cuban singer. Her father's grandfather had fled France during the French Revolution, going first to

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

, then

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, and finally to Cuba, where he helped build the country's first railway. Nin was raised a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

but left the church when she was 16 years old. She spent her childhood and early life in Europe. Her parents separated when she was two; her mother then moved Nin and her two brothers, Thorvald Nin and Joaquín Nin-Culmell, to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, and then to New York City, where she attended high school. Nin dropped out of high school in 1919 at age sixteen, and according to her diaries, ''Volume One, 1931–1934'', later began working as an artist's model. After being in the United States for several years, Nin had forgotten how to speak Spanish, but retained her French and became fluent in English. Anaisnin

On March 3, 1923, in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Hugh Parker Guiler (1898–1985), a banker and artist from Boston, later known as "Ian Hugo", when he became an

experimental filmmaker Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...

in the late 1940s. The couple moved to Paris the following year, where Guiler pursued his banking career and Nin began to pursue her interest in writing; in her diaries she also mentions having trained as a

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

dancer in Paris in the mid-to-late 1920s with Francisco Miralles Arnau. Her first published work was a critical 1932 evaluation of D. H. Lawrence called '' D. H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study'', which she wrote in sixteen days. Nin became interested in

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

and studied extensively, first with René Allendy in 1932 and then with

. Both men eventually became her lovers, as she recounts in her ''Journal''. On her second visit to Rank, Nin reflects on her desire to be reborn as a woman and artist. Rank, she observes, helped her move between what she could verbalize in her journals and what remained unarticulated. She discovered the quality and depth of her feelings in the wordless transitions between what she could and could not say. "As he talked, I thought of my difficulties with writing, my struggles to articulate feelings not easily expressed. Of my struggles to find a language for intuition, feeling, instincts which are, in themselves, elusive, subtle, and wordless." In late summer 1939, when residents from overseas were urged to leave France due to the approaching war, Nin left Paris and returned to New York City with her husband (Guiler was, according to his own wishes, edited out of the diaries published during Nin's lifetime; his role in her life is therefore difficult to evaluate). During the war, Nin sent her books to Frances Steloff of the

Gotham Book Mart The Gotham Book Mart was a famous Midtown Manhattan bookstore and cultural landmark that operated from 1920 to 2007. The business was located first in a small basement space on West 45th Street near the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater Distric ...

in New York for safekeeping. In New York, Nin rejoined Otto Rank, who had previously moved there, and moved into his apartment. She actually began to act as a psychoanalyst herself, seeing patients in the room next to Rank's. She quit after several months, however, stating: "I found that I wasn't good because I wasn't objective. I was haunted by my patients. I wanted to intercede." It was in New York that she met the Japanese-American

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

photographer Soichi Sunami, who went on to photograph her for many of her books.

Literary career

Journals

Nin's most studied works are her diaries or journals, which she began writing in her adolescence. The published journals, which span six decades, provide insight into her personal life and relationships. Nin was acquainted, often intimately, with a number of prominent authors, artists,

psychoanalysts PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk ther ...

, and other figures, and wrote of them often, especially Otto Rank. Moreover, as a female author describing a primarily masculine group of celebrities, Nin's journals have acquired importance as a counterbalancing perspective. She initially wrote in French and did not begin to write in English until she was seventeen. Nin felt that French was the language of her heart, Spanish was the language of her ancestors, and English was the language of her intellect. The writing in her diaries is explicitly

trilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monoling ...

; she uses whichever language best expresses her thought. In the second volume of her unexpurgated journal, ''Incest'', she wrote about her father candidly and graphically (207–15), detailing her incestuous adult sexual relationship with him. Previously unpublished works were released in ''A Café in Space, the Anaïs Nin Literary Journal'', which includes "Anaïs Nin and Joaquín Nin y Castellanos: Prelude to a SymphonyLetters between a father and daughter". So far sixteen volumes of her journals have been published. All but the last five of her adult journals are in expurgated form.

Erotic writings

Nin is hailed by many critics as one of the finest writers of female erotica. She was one of the first women known to explore fully the realm of erotic writing, and certainly the first prominent woman in the modern West known to write erotica. Before her, erotica acknowledged to be written by women was rare, with a few notable exceptions, such as the work of

Kate Chopin Kate Chopin (, also ; born Katherine O'Flaherty; February 8, 1850 – August 22, 1904) was an American author of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. She is considered by scholars to have been a forerunner of American 20th-century feminis ...

. Nin often cited authors

Djuna Barnes Djuna Barnes ( ; June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel '' Nightwood'' (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist lite ...

and D. H. Lawrence as inspirations, and she states in ''Volume One'' of her diaries that she drew inspiration from

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, m ...

, and

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he s ...

. According to ''Volume One'' of her diaries, ''1931–1934'', published in 1966, Nin first came across erotica when she returned to Paris with her husband, mother and two brothers in her late teens. They rented the apartment of an American man who was away for the summer, and Nin came across a number of French paperbacks: "One by one, I read these books, which were completely new to me. I had never read erotic literature in America... They overwhelmed me. I was innocent before I read them, but by the time I had read them all, there was nothing I did not know about sexual exploits... I had my degree in erotic lore." Faced with a desperate need for money, Nin, Henry Miller and some of their friends began in the 1940s to write erotic and

pornographic Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...

narratives for an anonymous "collector" for a dollar a page, somewhat as a joke. (It is not clear whether Miller actually wrote these stories or merely allowed his name to be used.) Nin considered the characters in her erotica to be extreme

caricatures A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

and never intended the work to be published, but changed her mind in the early 1970s and allowed them to be published as '' Delta of Venus'' and '' Little Birds''. In 2016, a previously undiscovered collection of Nin's erotica, '' Auletris'', was published for the first time. Nin was a friend, and in some cases lover, of many literary figures, including Miller,

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

Antonin Artaud Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud (; ; 4September 18964March 1948), better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely ...

Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer, literary critic, and journalist. He is widely regarded as one of the most important literary critics of the 20th century. Wilson began his career as a journalist, writing ...

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. His autob ...

, James Leo Herlihy, and

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial pa ...

. Her passionate love affair and friendship with Miller strongly influenced her both sexually and as an author. Claims that Nin was

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

were given added circulation by the 1990

Philip Kaufman Philip Kaufman (born October 23, 1936) is an American film director and screenwriter who has directed fifteen films over a career spanning nearly five decades. He has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award along with nominations fo ...

film ''

Henry & June ''Henry & June'' is a 1990 American biographical drama film directed by Philip Kaufman, and starring Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, and Maria de Medeiros. It is loosely based on the posthumously published 1986 Anaïs Nin book of the same name, ...

'' about Miller and his second wife June Miller. The first unexpurgated portion of Nin's journal to be published, '' Henry and June'', makes clear that Nin was stirred by June to the point of saying (paraphrasing), "I have become June", though it is unclear to what extent she consummated her feelings sexually. To both Anaïs and Henry, June was a

femme fatale A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...

irresistible, cunning, and erotic. Nin gave June money, jewelry, and clothes, often leaving herself without money.

Novels and other publications

In addition to her journals and collections of erotica, Nin wrote several novels, which critics frequently associated with the

surrealist movement Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

. Her first book of fiction, '' House of Incest'' (1936), contains heavily veiled allusions to a brief sexual relationship Nin had with her father in 1933: while visiting her estranged father in France, the then-30-year-old Nin had a brief incestuous sexual relationship with him. In 1944, she published a collection of short stories, '' Under a Glass Bell'', which was reviewed by

. Nin also wrote several works of nonfiction: her first publication, written during her years studying psychoanalysis, was '' D. H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study'' (1932), an assessment of the works of D. H. Lawrence. In 1968, she published '' The Novel of the Future'', which elaborated on her approach to writing and the writing process.

Personal life

According to her diaries, ''Vol. 1, 1931–1934'', Nin shared a

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

lifestyle with Henry Miller during her time in Paris. Her husband Guiler is not mentioned in the published edition of the 1930s parts of her diary (Vol. 1–2), though the opening of Vol. 1 makes clear that she is married, and the introduction suggests her husband declined to be included in the published diaries. The diaries edited by her second husband, after her death, say that her relationship with Miller was very passionate and physical, and that she believed that it was a pregnancy by him that she aborted in 1934. In 1947, at age 44, Nin met former actor Rupert Pole in a Manhattan elevator on her way to a party. The two began a relationship and traveled to California together; Pole was 16 years her junior. On March 17, 1955, while still married to Guiler, she married Pole at Quartzsite, Arizona, returning with him to live in California. Guiler remained in New York City and was unaware of Nin's second marriage until after her death in 1977, though biographer Deirdre Bair alleges that Guiler knew what was happening while Nin was in California but consciously "chose not to know". Nin called her simultaneous marriages her "bicoastal trapeze". According to Deidre Bair: In 1966, Nin had her marriage with Pole annulled due to the legal issues arising from both Guiler and Pole trying to claim her as a dependent on their tax returns, but she and Pole continued to live together as if married until her death. According to Barbara Kraft, Nin wrote to Guiler asking for his forgiveness. He responded by saying how meaningful his life had been because of her. After Guiler's death in 1985, Pole commissioned the unexpurgated versions of Nin's journals. Six volumes have been published: '' Henry and June'', ''

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

'', ''

Incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

'', '' Nearer the Moon'', '' Mirages'', and ''

Trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

''. Pole arranged for Guiler's ashes to be scattered in the same area where Nin's ashes were, Mermaid Cove in

Santa Monica Bay Santa Monica Bay is a bight of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn between Point Dume, in ...

. Pole died in 2006. Nin once worked at Lawrence R. Maxwell Books, at 45 Christopher Street in New York City. In addition to her work as a writer, Nin appeared in the

Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927 – May 11, 2023) was an American Underground film, underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and writer. Working exclusively in short films, he produced almost 40 works beginning i ...

film '' Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome'' (1954) as

Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...

; in the Maya Deren film '' Ritual in Transfigured Time'' (1946); and in ''Bells of Atlantis'' (1952), a film Guiler directed under the name "Ian Hugo" with a soundtrack of

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

by Louis and Bebe Barron. In her later life, Nin worked as a tutor at the International College in Los Angeles.

Death

Nin was diagnosed with

in 1974. She had cancer for two years as it metastasized, and she underwent numerous surgical operations,

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...

, and

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

. Nin died of the cancer at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

, California, on January 14, 1977. Her body was

cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

and her ashes scattered over

in Mermaid Cove. Her first husband, Hugh Guiler, died in 1985, and his ashes were scattered in the same cove. Rupert Pole was named Nin's

literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film rights, film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially ...

, and he arranged to have new, unexpurgated editions of Nin's books and diaries published between 1985 and his death in 2006. Large portions of the diaries are still available only in expurgated form. The originals are in the UCLA Library.

Legacy

The

feminist movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and wom ...

in the 1960s gave feminist perspectives on Nin's writings of the past twenty years, which made Nin a popular lecturer at various universities; contrarily, Nin dissociated herself from the political activism of the movement. In 1973, prior to her death, Nin received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the Philadelphia College of Art. She was also elected to the United States

National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...

in 1974, and in 1976 was presented with a ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' Woman of the Year award. The Italian film ''La stanza delle parole'' (dubbed into English as ''The Room of Words)'' was released in 1989 based on the ''Henry and June'' diaries.

directed the 1990 film ''

'' based on Nin's diaries published as '' Henry and June: From the Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin''. She was portrayed in the film by actress

Maria de Medeiros Maria Esteves de Medeiros Victorino de Almeida, DamSE (born 19 August 1965), known professionally as Maria de Medeiros (), is a Portuguese actress, director, and singer who has been involved in both European and American film-productions. Ear ...

. In February 2008, poet Steven Reigns organized ''Anaïs Nin at 105'' at the

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

in Westwood, Los Angeles. Reigns said: "Nin bonded and formed very deep friendships with women and men decades younger than her. Some of them are still living in Los Angeles and I thought it'd be wonderful to have them share their experiences with in" Bebe Barron, an electronic music pioneer and longtime friend of Nin, made her last public appearance at this event. Reigns also published an essay refuting Bern Porter's claims of a sexual relationship with Nin in the 1930s. Reigns is the President of the Board of the non-profit organization devoted to Nin's legacy, the Anaïs Nin Foundation. Cuban-American writer Daína Chaviano paid homage to Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller in her novel ''Gata encerrada'' (2001), where both characters are portrayed as disembodied spirits whose previous lives they shared with Melisa, the main character—and presumably Chaviano's

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

—, a young Cuban obsessed with Anaïs Nin.Rodríguez, Antonio O. and Andricaín, Sergio. "Fusión de erotismo y magia: ''Gata encerrada'' es una novela cautivadora".

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

en Español, July 11, 2001 The Cuban poet and novelist Wendy Guerra, long fascinated with Nin's life and works, published a fictional diary in Nin's voice, ''Posar desnuda en la Habana'' (''Posing Nude in Havana'') in 2012. She explained that " in'sCuban Diary has very few pages and my delirium was always to write an

apocryphal Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...

novel; literary conjecture about what might have happened". On September 27, 2013, screenwriter and author Kim Krizan published an article in ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' revealing she had found a previously unpublished love letter written by

to Nin. This letter contradicts Gore Vidal's previous characterization of his relationship with Nin, showing that Vidal did have feelings for Nin that he later heavily disavowed in his autobiography, ''Palimpsest''. Krizan did this research in the run up to the release of the fifth volume of Anaïs Nin's uncensored diary, ''Mirages'', for which Krizan provided the foreword. In 2015, a documentary film directed by Sarah Aspinall called ''The Erotic Adventures of Anais Nin'' was released, in which Lucy Cohu portrayed Nin's character. In 2019, Kim Krizan published ''Spy in the House of Anaïs Nin'', an examination of long-buried letters, papers, and original manuscripts Krizan found while doing archival work in Nin's Los Angeles home. Also that year,

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

published the book ''Anaïs Nin: A Myth of Her Own'' by Clara Oropeza, that analyzes Nin's literature and literary theory through the perspective of

mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

studies and

depth psychology Depth psychology (from the German term ''Tiefenpsychologie'') refers to the practice and research of the science of the unconscious, covering both psychoanalysis and psychology. It is also defined as the psychological theory that explores the rel ...

Bibliography

Diaries

* '' The Diary of Anaïs Nin'', in 7 volumes * '' The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin'' (1914–1931) in 4 volumes **Linotte: 1914-20 (1987) **1920-23 (1983) **The Journal of a Wife: 1923-27 (1984) **1927-31 (1985) * '' Henry and June: From a Journal of Love. The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin (1931–1932)'' (1986), edited by Rupert Pole after her death * '' Incest: From a Journal of Love'' (1992) * '' Fire: From a Journal of Love'' (1995) * '' Nearer the Moon: From a Journal of Love'' (1996) * '' Mirages: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1939–1947'' (2013) * '' Trapeze: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1947–1955'' (2017) * ''The Diary of Others: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1955–1966'' (2021) * ''A Joyous Transformation: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1966–1977'' (2023)

Correspondence

* ''A Literate Passion: Letters of Anaïs Nin & Henry Miller 1932–1953'' (1988) * ''Letters to a friend in Australia'' (1992) * ''Arrows of Longing: Correspondence Between Anaïs Nin & Felix Pollack, 1952–1976'' (1998) * ''Morale des épicentres'' (2004) * ''Reunited: The Correspondence of Anaïs and Joaquin Nin, 1933–1940'' (2020) * ''Letters to Lawrence Durrell 1937–1977'' (2020)

Novels

* '' House of Incest'' (1936) * '' Winter of Artifice'' (1939) * '' Cities of the Interior'' (1959), in five volumes: ** ''Ladders to Fire'' ** ''Children of the Albatross'' ** ''

The Four-Chambered Heart ''The Four-Chambered Heart'' is a 1950 autobiographical novel by France, French-born writer Anaïs Nin, part of her ''Cities of the Interior'' sequence. It is about a woman named Djuna, her love, her thoughts, her emotions, her doubts, her decisi ...

'' ** '' A Spy in the House of Love'' ** '' Seduction of the Minotaur'', originally published as ''Solar Barque'' (1958). * ''Collages'' (1964)

Short stories

* '' Waste of Timelessness: And Other Early Stories'' (written before 1932, published posthumously in 1977) * '' Under a Glass Bell'' (1944) * '' Delta of Venus'' (1977) * '' Little Birds'' (1979) * '' Auletris'' (2016)

Non-fiction

* '' D. H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study'' (1932) * '' The Novel of the Future'' (1968) * ''A Woman Speaks'' (1975) * '' In Favor of the Sensitive Man'' (1976) * ''Conversations with Anaïs Nin'' (Edited by Wendy M. DuBow, 1994) * ''The Mystic of Sex: Uncollected Writings: 1930-1974'' (1995)

Filmography

*'' Ritual in Transfigured Time'' (1946): Short film, dir. Maya Deren
''Lascivious Folk Ballet''
(1946) - (Outtakes from ''Ritual in Transfigured Time''). *''Bells of Atlantis'' (1952): Short film, dir. Ian Hugo *''Tropical Noah's Ark'' (1952). *'' Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome'' (1954): Short film, dir.

*''Jazz of Lights'' (1954) *''Melodic Inversion'' (1958) *''Lectures pour tous'' (1964) *''Anaïs Nin Her Diary'' (1966) *''Un moment avec une grande figure de la littérature, Anaïs Nin'' (3 May 1968) *''The Henry Miller Odyssey'' (1969). *''Through the Magiscope'' (1969). *''Apertura'' (1970). *''Anaïs Nin at the University of California, Berkeley'' (December 1971) *''Anaïs Nin at Hampshire College'', (1972) *Ouvrez les guillemets'' (11 November 1974) *''Journal de Paris'' (21 November 1974) *''Anais Nin Observed'' (1974): Documentary, dir. Robert Snyder

Notes

Citations

Works cited

* * * * * *

External links

The Official Anaïs Nin Blog

Anaïs Nin Foundation
Contact the Anaïs Nin estate for rights and permissions requests
Official Instagram account
* *

(2022-03-21 in ''

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'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Nin, Anais 1903 births 1977 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American diarists 20th-century French essayists American people of Catalan descent American writers of Cuban descent American people of Danish descent American women diarists Analysands of Otto Rank Analysands of René Allendy Burials at sea Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from cervical cancer in the United States Former Roman Catholics French emigrants to the United States French erotica writers French novelists French people of Catalan descent French people of Cuban descent French people of Danish descent French short story writers Naturalized citizens of the United States Polyandry Women erotica writers Writers from Neuilly-sur-Seine Writers from Paris