Anaïs Nin: The Item of Three

Anaïs Nin introduces herself as one of three parts; the shabby writer, the elegant woman, and the wife. She confides that she is simultaneously all of these things and none of them, because they are all illusions as defined by the people that recognize her as such. The one place that she seems to be able to to identify herself is within the pages of her diaries. It is there that Nin is able to exist for herself. She sees her life as an endless story. The diary is where she is able to reflect on and affirm her relationships. In this reading she examines her first encounter with Henry Miller, Artaud, and her reunion with her father. While she admits that her diaries are like opium and that she can't live without them, even they cannot make her happy. She concludes; “I am not made for happiness. It is like sleep.”

This is a 1976 rebroadcast of Anaïs Nin reading Volume I of her celebrated diaries in 1966. She is joined by her husband, Rupert Pole, who reads the male dialog of Henry Miller and Artaud.

Anaïs Nin (1903-1977 ) was a publisher and novelist, best known for her collection of diaries; which span 60 years of her life. Her personal accounts on her bohemian and sexually promiscuous lifestyle attracted the likes of many as they often involved other noted figures in the 20th Century arts and literature world. Her writing had a profound impact in the wake of the 1960s feminist movement. Her body of work includes; Cities of the Interior, Under the Glass Bell, Delta of Venus, Henry and June, and Little Birds. In 1974, she was elected into the United States National Institute of Arts and Letters.

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