Plexus (The Rosy Crucifixion, #2) by Henry Miller

Plexus (The Rosy Crucifixion, #2) Reviews

• 
  Vit Babenco

  Metaphorically speaking the world is a real network of nerves, blood vessels and lymphatics: a plexus.
  And Henry Miller is a human ganglion placed inside this huge Plexus…
  

  Often I have wondered, after reading about evenings with Mallarme, or with Joyce, or with Max Jacob, let us say, how these sessions of ours compared. To be sure, none of my companions of those days ever dreamed of becoming a figure in the world of art. They loved to discuss art, all the arts, but they themselves had no thought of becoming artists. Most of them were engineers, architects, physicians, chemists, teachers, lawyers. But they had intellect and they had enthusiasm, and they were all so sincere, so avid, that sometimes I wonder if the music we made might not have rivalled the chamber music which issued from the sacred quarters of the masters.

  
  So many have a potential and so few live up to it, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
• 
  Dalia Nourelden

  
  "ذات مرة ظننت اننى جرحت كما لم يجرح إنسان قط ولأن هذا الشعور انتابنى ،فقد نذرت نفسى لتاليف هذا الكتاب . لكن قبل أن أبدأ فى تأليف الكتاب بفترة طويلة برأ الجرح وبما اننى اقسمت على انجاز مهمتى لذا فقد نكأت الجرح المروع .
  بعبارة اخرى ..فلعلى عندما نكأت الجرح، جرحى ،برأت جروح أخرى، جروح أناس آخرين. شئ يموت وشئ يولد"
  
  ولازلنا مع هنرى مع عقله وجنونه وفلسفته وأفكاره وقراءاته يزيد عليها كوابيسه واحلامه وذكريات طفولته ومراهقته وشبابه ومعاناته .
  تركه لعمله حتى يتفرغ للكتابه بتشجيع من زوجته مونا التى كانت على استعداد ان تفعل اى شئ ليتفرغ هو لكتاباته ليصبح الكاتب الذى يريد ، كان طوال حياته يخبره أصدقائه انه كاتب وكان يرغب دوما فى الكتابة وكانت دائما راسه مليئه بالافكار التى احيانا لا يستطيع ان يترجمها الى كلمات على الورق .
  
  معاناته المادية وفقره واحتياجه الدائم لكنه كان دوما يجد من يساعده حتى لو كان شخصا غريبا تماما كان يستمع اليه ويعطيه نقودا او يقدم له طعام . عاد فترة ليعيش مع والده ووالدته واخبرهم انه يكتب قصص ومقالات وسيبيعها للمجلات وسيكسب مالا ،
  متى ياهنرى ؟
  قريبا هذه الامور تأخذ فترة بعد شهور سينشرون اعمالى
  وتمر الشهور
  اين ياهنرى اعمالك؟
  ستنشر.
  
  وسفره مع اصدقائه وعدم امتلاكه اى مال حتى انه كان ياكل اى شئ حتى لو كان عفنا فليس معه اى شئ .
  كانت حياه صعبه ومعاناته شديدة
  عمل كبائع وفى حانه وبائع الجرائد وبائع موسوعات مع محاولاته المستمرة للكتابة وارساله لكتاباته التى تقابل بالرفض
  والاعجاب الدائم الذى يلاقيه من الاخرين
  
  راسى تؤلمنى ..هنرى يتحدث فى كل شئ ،لست سهلا ابدا ياهنرى .
  
  ملاحظة اخيرة وهامة الجزء الاول كان ملئ بالاجزاء الجنسية هذا الجزء بالتأكيد اقل بكثير ، كانه ليس كاتب الجزء الاول صبوات.
  
  فاصل قصير وسأعود للجزء الثالث ، بعض الراحة ياهنرى وسأعود مرة اخرى 😀 للجزء الاخير
  
  ٨ / ٤ / ٢٠١٩
• 
  Kristin Myrtle

  I'm waiting until I finish the entire trilogy to write my full review. However I do have a few notes to make. There was little to no sex in this book! I know it's all saved for Sexus, but those sex scenes were so well written and so spectacularly erotic that I thought for sure some of that might seep into Plexus but no such luck. What impressed me the most was Miller's vocabulary. So much so that I kept a list of all the words he used that I had never seen before. I planned to look them all up later on in my huge old crumbling dictionary. And here is that list, it's fantastic:
  
  jeremiad, sisyphean, lied, horripilation, somnolence, efflorescence, plangent, ken, asperity, sorties, peregrinations, dithyrambs, colloquies, veridical, prestidigitator, lugubrious, semaphore, prate, cymbalon, bagatelle, mufti, pederasts, anent, sally, purlieus, fettle, jackanapes, palaver, celerity, sagacity, jocosely, cordon, viands, quorum, euchre, velleity, brogans, runneled, cortege, bantam, metempsychosis, limitrophe, steppes, verdure, lilliputian, eclosion, amanuensis, geodetic, quaternary, decan, thaumaturgists, fecund, circumlocutiousness (led me to prolix which I had to look up as well), acephalic, cantharides, crinology*, cacchination*, coterminous, cicerone, cimex (bedbug yuck!), lectularis*, cognomen, pasha, caparisoned, panoplies, verdigris, taboret, ructions, halvah, kirschwasser, strega, russe*, inveigle, arnica, cosmocrator, quoits, prepollent, parlous, anacoluthon, sesquipedalian (actually means one who uses long words LOL), gimcrack, socdolager*, gazabo, couvert, bonhomie, numismatics, celesta, telesme*, alderman, wend, thoracic, ablatives, gerundives, postprandial, palliation, dint, spifflicated, quondam, rambla, souks, encysted, funicular, bobolink, shandygaff, hodcarrier (hod was in the dictionary but not hodcarrier), tyro, chiffonier, auk, foraminifera, plaidoyer*, abstruse, samovar, porphyry, ebullition and percipience.
  
  The starred words are the ones I could not define. I actually looked up each and every one. Miller is a lingustic provocateur. His style continues to spellbind me.
  
  Update: All the starred words I just googled and found all the definitions!!! Oddly satisfying ❤
• 
  Ana

  I feel like any laudatory words on my part would simply do an unforgivable injustice to this man's writing. I keep having to stand back and re-read passages and whole chapters just because of their layering, so subtle on the surface and so complex in their structure, writing that seems to have just been carelessly thrown on the page but is in fact of a destructive force for those who understand it. Or, as is my case, for those who humbly try to...
• 
  وائل المنعم

  Henry Miller is the only artist i am really regret that I'd never meet him. He would be - without a doubt - my favorite friend, and I'd cling to him everywhere just to hear him talk.
  
  On the contrary of Sexus, plexus doesn't contain porn scenes, only a brief undetailed group sex scene. The time the novel covers is the first years after Miller married Mona, he was then a faithful lover and husband.
  
  I'm wondering since i start reading Miller how a character completely imaginable by him will look like, then Claude appear, and thanks god that Miller keep wrote only about himself and real people he known once.
  
  The most remarkable parts in Plexus are
  
  - Dave Olinski the 8 languages man from Tel Aviv trying to sell Miller an insurance policies.
  - The first attempts to be a full-time writer after quitting his job.
  - Writing Mezzotint and how he tried to start his book.
  - Osiecki and his fiancee Louella.
  - Playing Dr. Marx with Cromwell.
  - The three bears story which he keep inventing its events while telling it to Trix's children.
  - Macgregor monologue and dialogue with Hen.
  - The two Irish and the blind.
  
  I'll read Nexus then write a review about The Rosy Crucifixion as a complete work.
• 
  Autumn Christian

  A rambling, sometimes dense book that has rare moments of insight about the artistic life. Was 600 pages and could have been 300. Not Miller's best, but still an enjoyable read for Miller fans.
• 
  Sul6an

  آخر كتاب في هذه السنة ( 2014 )، كتاب الصلبِ الورديِّ الطويل للميللر المجنون، العابث، الزاهد، الحريق، الهادئ، الصوفي، الأبله، المثالي، اللص، العاشق، العربيد ... الذي تناقضاتٌ كثيرة - نعم ! والثرثار .. الثرثار جداً . القراءةُ للميللر أمتعتني بحق، وهو يستمتع أيضاً عندم�� يقرأُ، لكن متعته مختلفة وعميقة - يقول : " إذا كنت أقرأ كتاباً وتصادفَ أني وقعت على فقرة رائعة أغلِق الكتاب على الفور وأخرج لأتمشّى . كنت أكره فكرةَ الإنتهاء من قراءةِ كتاب جيد . كنتُ أزعجه على طول الخط، أؤخِّرُ المحتوم قدر الإمكان . لكني في الغالب كنت، حين أقع على فقرةٍ عظيمة، أكفُّ عن القراءة في الحال، وأنطلق إلى الخارجِ سواء أكانت تمطر، أو تُنزِلُ بَرَداً، أو ثلجاً أو جليداً، وأستغرق في التأمُّلِ . يمكن للإنسان أن يمتلئَ حتى الزبى بروح مخلوقٍ آخر حتى ليخشى ودون مبالغة أن ينفجر . إني أدَّعي أن كل إنسان قد مرَّ بهذه التجربة . ودعني أشرح أن هذا "المخلوق الآخر" هو دائماً نوعٌ من الـ alter ego (الأنا الآخر) . والمسألة ليست مسألةَ التعرف على روحٍ شقيقة، بل هي مسألة تعرفٍ على ذاتك؛ أن تقفَ وجهاً لوجهٍ مع ذاتك! يالها من لحظة! إنك بإغلاقكَ الكتاب تواصِلُ عمليةَ الخلق . وهذا الإجراء، هذا الطقس، إن صحَّ التعبير، دائماً واحد: اتصالٌ فوريٌّ يجري على الجبهاتِ كلها . زوالٌ تامٌّ للحواجز . وعلى الرغم من أنك تكون أشدَّ عزلة من أي وقت مضى - إلا أنك مع ذلك تكون أكثرَ التصاقاً بالعالم من أي وقت آخر . تكون مندمجاً فيه . وفجأةً يتكشَّفُ لك أنه حين خلق اللهُ العالمَ لم يتركه ليجلس ويتأمل - في مكانٍ ما من الأعراف[ غياهب النسيان ]. إن الله خلقَ العالمَ ومن ثم ولجَهُ: هذا هو معنى الخليقة ".
  
• 
  Victoria

  I have tried reading Henry Miller a number of times, and never got through his books, but Plexus was different. There are some passages in this book that are amazing, the way he talked about van gogh was incredible and page 404 I believe it was, incredible. Parts of the book rambled on too much for me, dream sequences that I had a hard time staying interested but most of this book was writing that is of a lost era. Its not going to happen anymore, like losing a generation....
• 
  Victor Fală

  Am ezitat foarte mult timp până am reluat citirea trilogiei "Răstignirea trandafirie", mai precis, până a citi ce-a de-a doua carte - Plexus.
  Deși l-am îndrăgit din prima carte citită pe Miller, ju știu ce dracu am ezitat atât. Dar cam vreo doi ani nu am citit de el nici o carte. Abia anul acesta, o dată începută și ,,Plexus", am citit și ,,Lume sexului" și ,,Zile liniștite la Clichy".
  Plexus îmi pare cea mai densă (zic asta cu foarte mare curaj, așa cum n-am citit încă ce-a de-a treia carte din trilogie - Nexus) din cele trei cărți care alcătuiesc trilogia. Sexus mi-a plăcut enorm, dar Plexus e mai aproape de mine datorită temei pe care o abordează aici și anume: perioada în care Miller începe să scrie, unde încearcă să o facă, să pună în sfârșit în lucru materialul pe care îl trăiește și, totuși, o face încă deplasat și stângaci. Abia peste douăzeci de ani are să scrie și trilogia și alte cărți de mare valoare, dar unele texte i se trag încă din această perioadă.
  Un lucru important pe care am avut să-l conștientizez odată citit acest volum e că Henry Valentin Miller e un autor prost de ficțiune, acolo unde încearcă să bage niște visuri, fantezii, situații pur ficționale - ratează; însă de-a lungul cărții un își povestește propriile trăiri și peripeții e absolut genial (și o spun cu toată sinceritatea).
  Aș încerca să citez aici, dar mi-ar lua o groază de timp și spațiu, însă sunt sigur că nu vor citi nici măcar 10% din cei care vor vedea postarea.
  Aș încerca să descriu idei, filosofii, situații din carte dar nu sunt rumegate destul și, sunt sigur, o să revin să recitesc tot ce am însemnat cu creionul de mai multe ori (dar am însemnat mult).
  Acum, cred, e timpul să-mi limpezesc balamucul din creier cu o pauză din lecturi și să mai mănânc & beu ceva bun (apropo, deși Miller a dus foame zdravănă, în carte o să găsiți muuuuultă mâncare; or, numai ducând foame îți vine să vorbești despre mâncare; iar scriitorii care vorbesc despre foamete și nu pomenesc diverse mâncăruri, de mai multe ori, nu sunt decât niște îndopați care ating subiecte ce nu i-a atins (e ca si cum ai zice că ai pipăit sânii profei de română în timp ce doar ai visat-o chiar la lecțiile în care ea îndruga acolo despre crengi și luceferi)).
  Copășei!
• 
  Boris

  Drugi dio trilogije "Ružičasto raspeće".
  Za razliku od Sexusa, kojeg je preveo Zlatko Crnković, Plexus je preveo Leonard Spalatin. Ističem ovo jer je izdanje Plexusa, kojeg sam čitao, (Otokar Keršovani 1969) prepuno tipfelera i grešaka, što nije bio slučaj sa Sexusom iako su izdavač i godina identični. Zašto je tomu tako, to ne znam, ali to ide na dušu lektora i prevoditelja...
  O djelu:
  Veliko iznenađenje, iako je ovo najopsežnija Millerova knjiga u njoj gotovo uopće nema opscenih ili ikakvih opisa seksualnih iskustava. Nisam siguran je li to dobro ili loše. Što se tiče Millerova stila, čini mi se da je malo proširio vokabular, ali sve ostalo zapravo je jednako, samo pristojnije. Moguće da su ga kritičari, izdavači li tko već nagazili zbog previše "prljavštine" pa je jednostavno kapitulirao, a možda je Miller jednostavno mislio da ga neće shvaćati kao ozbiljnog pisca ako ne napiše "pristojnu" knjigu. Ako tko zna zašto ili ima ideju zbog čega je tako naglo promijenio ploču u drugoj knjizi neka mi napiše u komentar! S obzirom da je riječ o istoj priči, dakle Plexus se tematski u potpunosti naslanja na Sexus, samo su se, eto, odjednom, bez navedenog razloga likovi prestali jebavati i opijati, doduše i dalje žderu i žicaju pare na sve strane.
  Kako bilo, Plexus ima svojih dobrih dijelova, a zadnja dva poglavlja su bila fantastična, u njima je Miller najbolje filozofirao i pokazao da ima mogućnost popunjavanja fabule izvrsnim esejističkim digresijama, međutim većina knjige zapravo nije imala tu snagu, kako da se izrazim... čitajući Plexus uglavnom nećete obogatiti duh i neće vas ništa prosvijetliti i natjerati na razmišljanje i promišljanje o "velikim temama". Miller je jednostavan, pitak, i bekompromisan, iako je u Sexusu znao pretjerati sa seksom, u Plexusu je otišao u drugu krajnost, što jednostavno ruši logičku koncepciju s početka priče.
  Iako ovaj roman možda uopće nije slabiji od Sexusa, poanta je da s Plexusom nismo dobili ništa novog, osim što je proširio vokabular i upristojio se. Zbog toga mu ide zvjezdica manje s nadom da će treći dio - Nexus, donijeti nešto novo i da će fino zaokružiti ovu autobiografsku trilogiju.
• 
  David James

  Miller, Henry. Plexus (The Rosy Crucifixion, Book 2)
  
  I have always found Henry Miller addictive, having first read Tropic of Cancer in 1954, and smuggled it into England as if carrying dynamite. Ever since I’ve been a sucker for anything he wrote. I suppose I admired the man rather than the books themselves. He had done what many of us at some time in our lives have done or, rather, wished to do: given up the rat race. In his case it was choice rather than necessity that drove him into poverty and finding his destiny in writing. Unlike Orwell, whose experiments at living with the poor and downtrodden were exercises in discovering other lifestyles, Miller was less interested in his subjects’ welfare than his take on them. He loved the floating immigrant population of Brooklyn; Poles, Jews, Russians - they were his raw material. He had no Etonian background, no wealthy parents behind him, and no connections in the literary world. He began from scratch, borrowed books on his mother’s library ticket and read anything that took his fancy. ‘No doubt it is important to read the classics,’ he admits, but more valuable ‘to a writer at least, is to read whatever comes to hand.’ He wandered the museums and galleries, and the bars and speakeasies of Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx, bumming a crust, listening to life stories, picking up crazy people, and squatting in condemned rat-infested tenements.
  
  Plexus, the palm of his oeuvre says William Gordon, treats the period from his leaving the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company to his first (bad) marriage, his divorce and his obsession with Mona, an easy girl who believes in his ‘work’ and helps him emotionally and financially. Beginning with erotic bliss (see first volume, Sexus) his relationship with his new wife is ecstatic - until gradually things fall apart. The reader suspects and so does Miller that his wife is a loose woman, living off richer and often disturbed lovers. The bothers Miller not one jot. He loves stories or anecdotes and welcomes all comers!
  When I open a volume of Miller such as Plexus a huge grin comes over me. I know what to expect and am never disappointed. The account of his and friend Dr Kronski’s entertaining of the handsome and gullible Alan Cromwell, one of Mona’s beaux is sheer knockabout farce. To start with, Mona never appears to discuss the business proposition with her lover, so the three men drink, Miller listening in the role of Dr Marx, a Jewish surgeon to Kronski telling gruesome stories about animal experiments, one of which was about a rabbit that indvertently died. Afterwards Kronski made it into a stew! Unfortunately he’d forgotten the poison used as a sedative. ‘Cromwell, slightly sobered by the bloody tale, remarked that it was too bad that Kronski hadn’t died, then laughed so heartily over this thought that absentmindedly he swallowed half a glass of neat cognac. Whereupon he had such a fit of coughing that we had to stretch him out on the floor and work over him like a drowned man.’ Dressing and undressing the soused Cromwell and telling the revived guest that while he’s been ‘out’ Mona has phoned, saying she’d gone to Washington to meet him.
  
  Interspersed among Miller’s encounters with riff-raff in the streets, we find long passages of reminiscence and much philosophical rambling on Nietzsche, Lawrence, and Freud, Rank, Alan Watts, Van Gogh, Dostoyevsky and other writers. But wherever his steps take him in search of ‘a five spot’ a drink or anything but office slavery Miller is an entertaining guide.
  
  
• 
  Wendy Wax

  Plexus is the second and BEST novel in Henry Miller's "The Rosy Crucifixion" trilogy. Better than Tropic of Cancer (in my opinion). You'll have to go elsewhere to find a real review--I don't have the time to get into it. But I loved the book, dog-eared many pages, underlined constantly, had to tape the cover on twice, and look forward to reading it again.
  
• 
  Yehia Nasser

  هنرى ميللر كاتب بائس سعيد شهوانى فيلسوف انسان يجمع كل المتناقضات يبحث عن معنى فتضيع معه
  
  
• 
  Bryan--The Bee’s Knees

  3.5 rounded down
  
  Henry Miller is an author who I think would have affected me differently had I read him many years ago, as a late teen or early adult. Still though, his exuberance remains appealing--it's like a love letter to life, and an absolute refusal to be conventional in any way. In this regard, he reminds me a lot of Jack Kerouac, at least the Jack Kerouac of On the Road.
  
  The sense of life in the time he's writing about--the late 20s or early 30s--is also fascinating, as well as the lunacy of the conversations he gets into with his friends (and what an odd collection they are!) I thought these aspects were all highly positive, but when his narrative turned to descriptions of his dreams, or digressed into some of his opinions about the world, or got particularly vulgar, I felt my interest slipping away.
  
  In the end, I'd say I was pleasantly surprised--the few excerpts I'd read of some of his other work led me to think I might be disappointed with this one, but, even though I felt it's appeal was uneven, I liked it enough that I'll probably read more Miller in the future.
• 
  Wafa

  أي معذب هذا الميللر!! يبقى يجرك في صحراء سرده طوال الرواية ليكافؤك نهايةً بواحة عذبة لتسقي كل الظمأ الذي مررت به طوال الرحلة ويبقى طعم العذوبة التي ذقتها في الفصلين الأخيرين يحرضك للبحث الدائم عن واحات ميللر .. التي قد تعبر عوالم عدة لتعيش فيها بضع لحظات فقط
  
  أنت عجائبي جدا ياميللر
  
  ملحوظاتي
  لقد تقبلت الاشياء التي تعود الى الماضي فقط لكي احولها الى نهايات ابداعية
  
  اني افكر بالمستقبل طوال الوقت حدسي ييقول لي لعله سيكون طويلا وشائكا
  
  أحس في نفسي نشوة نورانية إلى درجة أني أستطيع أن أنير العالم، ومع ذلك فأنا حبيس معدن ما
  لويس لامبيرت بلزاك
  
  268+269- 273
  
  احداث سوريالية
  
  إذا كان الحل في الحياة هو أن يعيشها المرء اذن دعونا نعيش لنعش بمزيد من السعة والبحبوحة ان اساطين الحياة لا يوجدون في الكتب هم ليسوا شخصيات تاريخية انهم يقبعون في الخلود ولايكفون عن التضرع لأن نلحق بهم في الخلود
• 
  Aleksej Nilič Kirillov

  Quando la precarietà ti spezza non si può che leggere Miller, che della vita precaria ne fa un miracolo.
• 
  James The reading worm McKean

  This Henry boy can fair spin a yarn
• 
  Yasser

  ومازلنا مع ملحمة ميللر الثلاثية وصلبه الوردى نتابع معاناته واحلامه كى يصبح كاتبا كبيرا استقالته اخيرا من وظيفته وحياته الالية فهنيئا لك ياميللر لقد فعلتها واصبحت حرا معاناته مع زوجته مونا لتدبير نفقات المعيشة وكتاباته الاولى التى يحاول بها كسب قوت يومه احلامه الغريبة والتى يتذكرها بدقة رهيبة عن دراجته ومنزله واصدقائه رؤيته لفان جوخ الذى عانى من الصعوبات فى حياته وموته فقيرا ارائه عن ديستوفيسكى وانحدار الغرب لشبلنغر ..
  
  بعد ميللر فى هذا الجزء تماما عن البورنوغرافيا فاصبحت بيلكسوس اشبه بكتاب عن الدين مقارنة بسكسوس وذلك جعلها افضل منها واجمل .. كالعادة السرد الطويل يحكم اسلوب ميللر حتى فى روايته لاحلامه الغريبة والخروج من قصة الى اخرى والاستطراد المبالغ فيه ..
  
  سنجد معاناة ميللر الكبرى فى هذا الجزء حتى انه اضطر الى ان ياكل الطعام الفاسد الذى سيتم التخلص منه من المحلات والمطاعم ادارته لحانة تقصيره فى دفع نفقة ابنته التى لم يستطع سوى رؤيتها من بعيد وبكائه كثيرا خوفا من عدم معرفتها اياه او تحريض امها ضده ..
  
  ان هذه المعاناة الكبرى التى واجهها ميللر فى حياته مثلت صلبه الوردى ان تجرح وتنزف حتى اخر قطرة من دمائك لتزهر بعدها وردة ربما تحمل لك الامل فالى نيكسوس اخر جزء فى تلك الملحمة ..
  
• 
  Paul Gaya Ochieng Simeon Juma

  Yes, I longed to read Henry Miller for quite sometime. What I didn't know is the unfortunate dislike of some of his books like this one. A lot of rambling about books, people, and places. I did not like the plot at all. The main character is Henry Miller who is a poor and struggling writer. They move from place to place meeting different people some of whom are supportive but some are not. The author talks about life and various aspects of life. He talks of religion, philosophy, childhood, dreams, books et cetera.
• 
  Brendan

  Re-read, 01/2011: The central volume of Miller’s trilogy is the meat of his story, coming through a series of miserable events to realize that he must devote his life to writing. Of all the tellings of Miller’s formative years, this is my favorite version.
  
  
  henry miller basically owns your face.
• 
  Arthur Hoyle

  A window onto Miller's early years of struggle to become a writer as he surrenders his will to the chaotic personality of his second wife June (Mona). As with all Miller's "novels," the narrative moves through association, memory, and dream rather than a logically organized plot.
• 
  Abu Iyas

  دعوني أقول بوضوح وبدون مواربة، "بعد القراءة" لايكون لأي شيء في عالم الحقائق معنى أو أهمية بالنسبة لي. فقد كادت الأخبار اليومية أن تكون بعيدة عني كبُعد نجم الكلب.
  كنتُ في غمرة من مراحل التحوّل ...
  هنري ميلر ...
• 
  وليد الشايجي

  هنري يظهر للناس نفسه .. بكل سفاله و طيبه، بكل بساطه وعفويه. تحدث ميلر في هذا العمل باجزائة عن نفسه وعن مجتمعه في اهم حقبه من حقب المجتمع الامريكي
• 
  Helmi Chikaoui

  يبدو أني في كل فترة حرجة من حياتي صادفت المؤلف المطلوب لدعمي ، نيتشة ، دوستويفسكي ، إيلي فور ، شبنغلر : ما أروعه من رباعي! كان هناك اخرون، طبعا ، كانت لهم أهميتهم في لحظات معينة ، ولكنهم لم يكونوا يتصفون بسعة الأفق، وعظمة أولئك الأربعة، إنهم فرسان رؤياي الخاصة الأربعة! كل واحد منهم يعبر حتى الزبى على خاصيته الفريدة: نيتشة محطم الأصنام،ودوستويفسكي قاضي التحقيق العظيم، وفور الساحر،وشبلنغر صانع الأساليب. أي صرح!
  في يوم آخر، في أرض أجنبية، سوف يظهر لي شاب ويلقبني به "الصخرة السعيدة "، بعد أن يعي التغير الذي طرأ علي. وهذا هو اللقب الذي سأقدمه حين سيسألني خالق الكون العظيم - " من أنت؟"
  نعم، سأجيب دون أدنى شك: " أنا الصخرة السعيدة! "
  وإذا ما سئلت - " كيف وجدت الحياة على الأرض ؟ " - سأجيب: كانت حياتي صلبأ ورديا مطولا "
  في وقت من الأوقات حسبت أني تأذيت كما لم يتأذ أحد. ولأني شعرت هكذا أقسمت على أن أؤلف هذا الكتاب. ولكن قبل أن أباشر الكتابة بوقت طويل التأم الجرح. ولما كنت قد أقسمت على أن أنجز مهمتي أعدت فتح الجرح الفظيع.
  دعني أعبر بأسلوب آخر ... لعلي بفتحي الجرح جرحي أنا، أغلقت جروحا أخرى، جروح أناس آخرين. شيء يموت، وشيء يزهر . إن المعاناة مع جهل أمر رهيب. أما المعاناة عن عمد، من أجل فهم طبيعة المعاناة وإلغائها إلى الأبد، فمسألة مختلفة تماما. لقد ظل بوذا يركز طوال حياته على فكرة واحدة، كما نعلم، وهي القضاء على المعاناة الإنسانية.
  إن المعاناة ضرورية. ولكن لابد للمرء من أن يعاني قبل أن يتمكن من إدراك أن الأمر هو كذلك. وزيادة على ذلك فحينئذ فقط يتجلى المغزی الحقيقي للمعاناة الإنسانية. في لحظة اليأس الأخيرة - حين لا يعود في إمكان المرء أن يصبر على المعاناة! - يحدث أمر هو من قبيل المعجزة ، فالجرح الكبير المفتوح الذي كان ينزف عصارة الحياة يندمل، ويزهر الكائن الحي کوردة. و " يتحرر " المرء أخيرا، ليس مع " توق إلى روسيا "، وإنما مع توق إلى مزيد من الحرية، مزيد من النعيم. إن شجرة الحياة تبقى حية ليس بالدموع وإنما بمعرفة أن الحرية حقيقية وتدوم إلى الأبد.
  - الصفحات الأخيرة من " بليكسوس " الجزء الثاني من ثلاثية الصليب الوردي لهنري ميللر - ترجمة أسامة منزجلي
• 
  Verena Wachnitz

  Mixing biography with reflections about art, literature, life and purpose, Nexus is a thoroughly enjoyable read, in typical Henry Miller style, with many unforgettable passages.
• 
  Tatiana Averina

  If I would not have known that I picked up a book of a famous writer I would have thought that I was reading exercises of a person who is practicing a freewriting.
• 
  Terss

  Yıllardır okumak istediğim Henry miller'ın otobiyografik özellikler taşıyan serisinin ikinci kitabını nihayet okudum. Üçüncü kitabını okumayacağım. Kendi içimde bir saygı duruşu gibi. Bitmesini istemediğim bir hikayenin ucunu açık bırakmak gibi...
  Bu kitap bana okuma konusunda çok yol gösterdi. Henry miller'ı, Henry miller yapan kitapların peşine düşmek onun okuma serüvenine eşlik etmek çok keyifli ve öğreticiydi. Bilinç akışı nedir nasıl yazılır diyorsanız bence okumanız gereken en nadide kitaplardan biri.
• 
  Nicole D'Settēmi

  PLEXUS (The Rosy Crucifixion, #2) By Henry Miller
  A Review By Nicole D'Settemi
  
  Henry Miller's novels were really memoirs before memoirs were memoirs. Literary fiction at it's best. Miller is probably the most thought-provoking of the clique of memoir writers of that time, other than Anais Nin. Much like his lit fiction--her diaries were also really, memoirs, more or less. The two were a dynamic duo, and wrote together fiery, passionate works, which are some of the best of their line of work(s)--and of the century. Plexus, while one of my favorites by Miller, is actually not during that period, but before rather, while Miller was still married to and in love with the eclectic Mrs. Miller.
  Plexus opens with Miller and his eccentric, enigmatic wife--also known throughout the works of Nin as June Miller--but only as Mona then Mara, by Miller himself, choosing a locale together in the city to shack up in though broke, and walking the thin line from bohemian artists to just completely poverty-stricken. Somehow they manage to afford an upscale loft in the city though, as June shrewdly swindles her many string of admirers into providing them the funds to keep a [very fine] roof over their heads, the rather luxurious loft really quite ridiculous for them to be settled in, given neither is working. Yet, when you're dealing with creative, awe-inspiring artists, this just doesn't seem to apply like most of the rules of life. People such as Miller are ALWAYS forgivable, and while it may not be fair, it goes without saying--he did manage to write an amazing line of work. One must comprehend the "artist" lifestyle, to accept the sometimes off-putting behaviors (pretention, chaotic living, a rebellion against structure and middle-America, sponging off friends, etc.), which are more evident than ever in his line of works. Especially the Plexus, Nexus, Sexus series.
  The huge, thick Plexus, has Miller commenting on a range of topics, from his own personal struggle to continue life as the bohemian, his wife's drive to mold him into the next Dostoevsky so-to-speak, random ramblings of a great and profound mind on philosophy, to the interactions on a regular basis that kept Miller going despite the struggle to simply survive often. He is a philosophical street prophet more than anything, and this book emphasizes this as much as any of his books have. I enjoyed reading about the Millers, before everything shattered between the two as well. In Nin's works, she highlights the marriage while in shambles (partly due to her own affair with Miller), and Miller barely mentions "Mona" in those collections during his days in Clichy, in novels like Tropic of Cancer which he is best known for. Their marriage and love was a very passionate, furious one, and we witness the bond between them, which was rare and special.
  Miller also had an exclusive set of friends whom were lawyers, writers, artists and others, most of whom seemed all too willing to pay his living expenses while he honed his craft.
  Still, I would definitely recommend this to fans of the author, who I find was exceptionally bright and original. A true visionary and master of the craft.
• 
  Diego Fagundes

  “A whole lifetime lay ahead of me. In a few months I would be thirty-three years of age—and ‘my own master absolute.’ Then and there I made a vow never to work for anyone again. Never again would I take orders. The work of the world was for the other blokes—I would have no part in it. I had talent and I would cultivate it. I would become a writer or I would starve to death.”
  
  “Our grotesque life in the street, as boys, had prepared us for these mysterious encounters. In some unknown way we had undergone the proper initiation. We were, without knowing it, members of that traditional underground which vomits forth at suitable intervals those writers who will later be called Romantics, mystics, visionaries or diabolists. It was for such as us—then mere embryonic beings—that certain ‘outlandish’ passages were written. It is we who keep alive these books which are constantly threatening to fall back into oblivion. We lie in wait, like beasts of prey, for moments of reality which will not only match but confirm and corroborate these literary extravaganzas.”
  
  “The phrase so widely used today—the common man—strikes me as an utterly meaningless one. There is no such animal. If the phrase has any meaning at all, and I think Nostradamus certainly implied as much when he spoke of the Vulgar Advent, it means that all that is abstract and negative, or retrogressive, has now assumed dominion. Whatever the common man is or is not, one thing is certain—he is the very antithesis of Christ or Satan. The term itself seems to imply absence of allegiance, absence of faith, absence of guiding principle—or even instinct. Democracy, a vague, empty word, simply denotes the confusion which the common man has ushered in and in which he flourishes like the weed.”