“Why are we so full of restraint? Why do we not give in all directions? Is it fear of losing ourselves? Until we do lose ourselves there is no hope of finding ourselves.”

American novelist, short story writer, and essayist

Henry Miller was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. He became known for reshaping modern prose through semi-autobiographical fiction that mixed personal experience with social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, surreal association, and mysticism. His best-known works in this mode include Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn, and the trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, drawn from his years in New York City and Paris. These books were banned in the United States until 1961. He also wrote travel memoirs and literary criticism, and he painted watercolors.