Perspective

Since she is a recently-arrived immigrant from France in America, Anais Nin writes from that perspective. Many of her notations compare Europe with America culturally, physically, spiritually and socially. Although America excites her with a kind of raw, pulsing energy Nin seems to long for the slower pace, refinement and social order of Europe even as those elements are being blasted into history by World War II. Since Nin is herself a player in her diaries, it is logical to consider her perspective on herself, which is shifting. For example, in moments of great lucidity she is capable of writing a forthright psychoanalytical portrait of herself and others in a kind of enlightened detachment. She understands her own and other's motives perhaps a little too clearly. She is aware that she needs to stop mothering and financing immature artists like Henry Miller, Kenneth Patchen and others. Yet, after...