Anaïs Nin (1903-1977)
Erotica. Bigamy. Psychoanalysis. High-profile affairs. The biography of Delta of Venus author and scintillating memoirist Anaïs Nin has it all. Splitting her time between the literary crowds of Paris and New York, she didn’t achieve fame until her multi-volume diaries were published, beginning in the last decade of her life. It’s easy to see why the journals are so popular — they’re the perfect book-geek indulgence, chronicling her unconventional marriages and affairs with Henry Miller, Edmund Wilson, Gore Vidal, and featuring cameos by a who’s who of mid-century literati. Undeniably juicy, the diaries are also smart, thoughtful, and richly descriptive.
