The Diary of Anaïs Nin
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The Diary of Anaïs Nin is the published version of Anaïs Nin's own private manuscript diary, which she began at age 11 in 1914 during a trip from Europe to New York with her mother and two brothers. Anaïs Nin would later say she had begun the diary as a letter to her father, Spanish composer Joaquín Nin, who had abandoned the family a few years earlier.
Over the years, the diary would become Anaïs Nin's best friend and confidante. Despite the attempts of her mother, therapist Rene Allendy, and writer Henry Miller, to break Anais Nin of her dependence on the diary, she would continue to keep a diary up until her death in 1977.
As early as the 1930s Anaïs Nin had sought to have the diary published. Due to its size and literary style, she would not find a publisher until 1966, when the first volume of her diary would be published, covering the years 1931-1934 in her life. The published version of her diary would be very popular among young women, making Anaïs Nin a feminist icon in the 1960s. Six more volumes of her diary would follow.
[edit] Expurgated Diaries
The series of published diaries that made their appearance starting in 1966 are now sometimes referred to as the "expurgated" editions. This is because in 1986, Rupert Pole, Anaïs Nin's widower, began to publish what are now termed the "unexpurgated" versions of the diary. The "unexpurgated" versions of the diaries are more sexually frank than the versions published in the 1960s and 1970s.
[edit] Vol. 1 (1931-1934)
First published 1966, it depicts Anaïs Nin living just outside of Paris with her husband, banker Hugh Guiler. She has just published her study of D.H. Lawrence and is about to meet Henry Miller and his fascinating wife June. Anaïs Nin's father soon re-enters her life.
