Cities of the Interior Summary
Anaïs Nin

Cities of the Interior Summary

In her 1974 preface to the Swallow Press edition of Cities of the Interior, Nin writes that although none of her novels were planned ahead, she conceived of Ladders to Fire (1946) as "part of a larger design." Her only preconception was that it was to be "a study of women." Indeed, the theme of all of these novels could be seen as the lyrical expression of the female sensibility, of women's views on, and search for, love, liberation and self-expression.

They are not novels of ideas or specific social protests. During the social unrest of the 1960s Nin was often claimed by various groups as a spokeswoman for their particular causes. But Nin's protest runs deeper. Her sharp disagreement with what she termed the "socalled realists," their too literal transcription of reality and their masculine bias, began much earlier and has ramifications which carry far...

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