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Lesson 1 (from Chapter 1)

Objective

Chapter 1

The student will take notes from a teacher lecture on the background of TROPIC OF CANCER and Henry Miller.

The student will identify the themes which are important to understanding the novel.

Lesson

1. It is important for the teacher to define the radical departure of Miller in using vocabulary that, before his time, was only alluded to in euphemisms. Reading Miller out of prurient curiosity completely misses the point and that kind of reading is what caused the book to be banned in America for many years. The novel is semi-autobiographical and leaves the reader with the idea that there is more truth than fiction because much of it is too outlandish to be pure fiction.

2. For discussion: Miller talks of perpetual hunger which is both a symbol and a symptom of his poverty in Paris. Second only to his constant hunger is his preoccupation...

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