dance about the rim of the crater

Published on September 5, 2004 By Cordelia In Misc

I believe that today more than ever a book should be sought after even if it has only one great page in it: we must search for fragments, splinters, toenails, anything that has ore in it, anything that is capable of resuscitating the body and soul. It may be that we are doomed, that there is no hope for us, any of us, but if that is so then let us set up a last agonizing, bloodcurdling howl, a screech of defiance, a war whoop! Away with lamentation! Away with elegies and dirges! Away with biographies and histories, and libraries and museums! Let the dead eat the dead. Let us living ones dance about the rim of the crater, a last expiring dance. But a dance!
Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, 1934

Comments

Sean

on Sep 07, 2004

You know, for all his blustering and ego, I really love Miller. I mean, just look at the way he uses language. He has a way of expressing the mundane in a way that makes you feel like a dullard for not sucking the marrow out of every moment.

Cordelia

on Sep 07, 2004

A dullard - that is EXACTLY how I feel reading Miller. I thought I'd feel all "oooh, I'm a bad girl", but really I felt he had a good eye for seeing the world, and a rapier wit to boot. Only read Tropic Of Cancer, though. Should really read more.

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