Tropic of Cancer (1934) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Henry Miller: The protagonist and narrator of the book. Henry is a writer struggling to make ends meet, but trying to enjoying life in the process. Miller scrounges meals, relies on friends and strangers for money and shelter, lands the occasional job, and contemplates the paradisiacal “whore” that is Paris.
• Carl: Add a description of this character.
• Van Norden
• Boris
• Fillmore
• Ginette
• Tania
• Joe
• Endree
• Mona
• Germaine
• Borowski
• Elsa
• Collins
• Marlowe
• Kruger
• Yvette
• Jimmie
• Claude
• Murray
• Bessie
• Serge
• Irene
• Cronstadt
• Kepi
• Mrs. Wren
• Eugene
• Peckover
• Matisse
• Fanny
• Gandhi
• Olga
• Lucienne
• Sylvester
• Pernod
• Marcel Le
• Swift
• Whitman
• Moldorf
• Macha

Quotes edit see section history

• “I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.”

• “I need to be alone. I need to ponder my shame and my despair in seclusion; I need the sunshine and the paving stones of the streets without companions, without conversation, face to face with myself, with only the music of my heart for company.”

• “Do anything, but let it produce joy. Do anything, but let it yield ecstasy.”

• “The man who raises the holy bottle to his lips, the criminal who kneels in the marketplace, the innocent one who discovers that all corpses stink, the madman who dances with lightning in his hands, the friar who lifts his skirts to pee over the world, the fanatic who ransacks libraries in order to find the Word- all these are fused in me, all these make my confusion, my ecstasy.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Paris
• America
• New York
• Europe
• Russia
• Goethe
• Montparnasse
• India
• France
• Anjou
• Strindberg
• London
• Rue Lafayette
• Rabelais
• Georgia
• Dalmatia

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• avec des choses inouies: French for "with extraordinary things"
• Comme un oeuf dansant sur un jet d’eau: French for "As an egg dancing on a jet of water."
• creosote: a possible reference to wood creosote, a yellowish liquid used as a disinfectant
• discomfited: disconcerted
• fronds: the leaves of cycads, palms, or similarly shaped plants
• Gare St. Lazare: one of the principal train stations of Paris (along with Gare d'Austerlitz, Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est, and Gare Montparnasse)

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Day of the Locust, and followed by The Maltese Falcon.

Preceded by Women in Love , and followed by The Naked and the Dead.

Preceded by As I Lay Dying, and followed by Invisible Man.

Preceded by The Postman Always Rings Twice, and followed by A Handful of Dust.

Preceded by Cyrano de Bergerac, and followed by The Crisis.

Preceded by Count Zero, and followed by On the Road.

Preceded by The Carpetbaggers, and followed by Winnie ille Pu: A Latin Version of A. A. Milne's 'Winnie-the-Pooh'.

Preceded by Orlando, and followed by The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Henry Miller (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.52

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Graphic sexual content.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( M ) › Miller, Henry
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Tropic of Cancer (IMDb): 1970

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

Books Cited by This Book edit see section history