Tropic of Cancer

Tropic of Cancer (1934) was Henry Miller’s third novel after the never-published Clipped Wings (1922) and Moloch: or, This Gentile World (1928). Miller referred to it as his “Paris book,” and it was wildly controversial for its candid depictions of sex. It was the subject of legal disputes and censorship attempts for decades, though ironically it has never been out of print. Tropic of Cancer brings together various genres, including autobiography, memoir, manifesto, and philosophical tract. It also incorporates elements of the Surrealist and Dadaist movements, though Miller makes it clear throughout Tropic of Cancer that he does not want to be associated with any organized systems of thought or expression; in one of his epiphanic realizations, he says, “Who that has a desperate, hungry eye can have the slightest regard for these existent government, laws, codes, principles, ideals, ideals, totems, and taboos?” (249). As such, Tropic of Cancer was both participating in and actively detaching itself from the literary and political landscape in which it was written.

This guide refers to the 1961 Grove Press edition of Tropic of Cancer.

Note: To distinguish between the author and the narrator, the author will be referred to as “Miller” and the narrator will be referred to as “Henry.