Women & Writing
January 24, 1972 – Northwestern University

This lecture opens up with Nin describing a Furrawn, “a kind of talk that leads to intimacy.” She reads a well known passage about her, Miller, and Durrell in Paris and how at the moment described she knew she had to go another way, “the woman’s way.” Nin then reports about the importance of relating and intimacy, logic and the nature of emotions. Nin discusses the first diary, Sei Shōnagon’s The Pillow Book. The lecure continues about the public’s unwillingness to accept the same quality in women’s writings that they accept from men. Nin states “The personal world of women, to some extent, saved her from this plague of alienation.” Nin lectures about women’s books that have come “too soon” and how the public was not ready for such books. She gives the names of authors and explains the books they have written. She tells of how DH Lawrence read his girlfriend’s diary to know her better and to discover the language of women’s feelings, emotions, and intuition. Nin expresses the need of language for women and how the diary shows the more she wrote the clearer she thought. “That finally by writing, I taught myself how to talk with others.” Nin stays focused on the topic of women and writing but also uses her speech to encourage women to write their inner lives. She relays a story about Zelda Fitzgerald and how Zelda relinquished the publication of her own diary after F. Scott stated he needed her diary for his writing material. Nin sees Zelda as giving up something (writing) that could have saved her. She asks the audience if they would like to ask questions now, to approach her afterward, or for her to read another passage. She ends by reading a passage about Cities of the Interior and the evolution of women finding her own language.

This “summary” of the Anaïs Nin Audio Files was written by Steven Reigns.

Steven Reigns is a poet, artist, and educator living in Los Angeles. A collector of Nin memorabilia and a latent Nin scholar, he has been interested in Nin since 1991.

Studs Terkel Interview
January 1972, Northwestern University

A musical intro is interrupted with Nin reading from her fourth Diary. This passage could have been written today as she talks about technology and how it has a potential to create greater distances, not bridge them.

“We have reached a hastier and superficial rhythm, now that we believe we are in touch with a greater amount of people, more people, more countries. This is the allusions which might cheat us of being in touch deeply with the one breathing right next to us. It is a dangerous time when mechanical voices, radios, telephone, take the place of human intimacies, and the concept of being in touch with millions brings a greater, and greater poverty in intimacy and human vision.”

Terkel talks about the young’s attraction to her work. Nin talks about her relationship with them, about Edmund Wilson not remaining open as he aged and how all of her other artist friends have remained open. Nin talks about Under a Glass Bell “This book which seems to be all fantasy and actually every one of those stories is based on a real persons, on a real situation, they begin in reality and take their roots in reality….then I embroider on that.” They discuss Nin’s houseboat, the story and themes of displacement. They discuss DH Lawrence and his relationship with feminism. Nin quotes him and says how she is not as harsh on Lawrence as others. Terkel prompts Nin to read a passage about woman and her conflicts to find her own language and discove her own feelings. Nin mentions her personal issue from growing up, “I had a sense of guilt about creating and being successful before my brothers were.” Nin is pleased the diary gives her a way to examine her own growth, “The mystery of growth was always terribly interesting to me as a child.”

Nin remains steadfast in her appreciate of men and what they had given her, “I used man’s knowledge and that is why I am grateful for him, whether it was psychology…I took what was useful and left the rest. I learned from them, I learned freedom from Miller and converted it into feminine terms. I don’t think we need to let certain things stand in the way, we need to convert them.” Nin then discusses her feelings on analysis, “analysis is only for when we get troubled.” They talk about the press and Nin reads a passage about Gonzalo. Terkel is familiar with Nin’s work and seems charmed with her. He is highly familiar with her writings and prompts her numerous times to read passages. His analysis of the work is astute and Nin even comments on his reading of her work, “You seem compassionate in your reading of these characters.” One of Nin’s final comments, “I do not like dogma and will not wage war on man.” The end the interview discussing how the conversation could easily continue and they discuss the origins and pronunciation of her name.

This “summary” of the Anaïs Nin Audio Files was written by Steven Reigns.

Steven Reigns is a poet, artist, and educator living in Los Angeles. A collector of Nin memorabilia and a latent Nin scholar, he has been interested in Nin since 1991.

Bookbeat
Host: Robert Cromie, March 1, 1972
(A Woman Speaks lists this interview on January 22, 1972.)

Nin talks about the diary and its origins as a letter to her father, stating even that it should really be called a “journal” and not a “diary.” She describes the difficulty of publishing the Diaries and the reasons for editing people out of the published version. She explores her connection to the young, calling Gore “arrogant” and talks of how he had changed from when she first met him. She loves the young and “what they might become.” The conversation moves into war, politics, and her involvement in the feminist movement. Nin converses about converting her “anger into action” and how she self-published her books on her own press, the first book edition of 300, and her mistake of dividing the word “love.” Gonzales is not mentioned but there is talk of Edmund Wilson and her relationship with him. She also discusses the evolution of her friendship with Henry Miller. Nin reports about Maya Deren’s direction and how she now has a greater understanding of Deren’s going against actor’s safety and wishes, “The film was more important than ourselves.” Nin states how she doesn’t drink and how it might have interfered with her relationships with American authors who bonded over drinking. She reflects, “I’m in harmony with my life now.” Cromie is a kind and skilled interviewer who is clearly familiar with Nin’s work. This interview was after the publication of Diary 4.

This “summary” of the Anaïs Nin Audio Files was written by Steven Reigns.

Steven Reigns is a poet, artist, and educator living in Los Angeles. A collector of Nin memorabilia and a latent Nin scholar, he has been interested in Nin since 1991.

Anaïs Nin Audio Files:

We will be officially posting these summaries on our what’s new page
when our web site is updated by Anaïs Nin’s birthday February 21st. We are
posting individual “snippets” of the summaries Steven Reigns wrote, with immediate links to the audio files he has summarized because everyone who has read them has responded so enthusiastically to his words.

I’m so pleased to help with this project for the site. I quoted Nin as much as possible. I didn’t want to review the work as much as I wanted to summarize it. My desire was to create a guide for scholars and fans. If one wants to hear about her feelings on Vidal, they can quickly skim the summaries to determine which recording would be of interest.

After listening to the audio several times, I had a feeling that I had read what she was saying. I went to A Woman Speaks to discover Hinz used several of the recordings in her collection. I did spot an inconsistency with the date of the Cromie interview, and I added the specific day to the Women & Writing lecture.

Since these were all recorded around the same time, Nin repeated herself often. I’ve tried to highlight the non-repetitive comments.

–Steven Reigns

Steven Reigns (www.stevenreigns.com) is a poet, artist, and educator living in Los Angeles. A collector of Nin memorabilia and a latent Nin scholar, he has been interested in Nin since 1991.

Today we received, via our web hosting friend who has hosted our site for many years an email from Paul Herron, who has let us know that a photo we have up on the site was done by Jill Krementz and has asked that we put the appropriate copyright words under the photo. Until our web maintence master for our site can post the appropriate correction, we wish to note it on this blog. Below is the email and the gracious permission that Ms. Krementz has granted the site despite our inappropriate use of her photo.

Dear Moira (Anaisnin.org):

Thank you,
Paul Herron
Member, the Anaïs Nin Trust Committee

Rupert Pole gave the site a manila folder, filled with photos of Anaïs, labeled Internet This photo is taken of the two of them on the edge of their pool, beside the willow in their home in Silverlake. You can read about this storied home in a 1984 copy of Architectural Record that has a beautiful spread of photos as well as an article by Barbara Kraft,on the history of Anaïs’s House of Light.

The home also appeared in a 1999 Architectural Record, Houses of the Century issue, Rupert and Anaïs’s home was chosen as one of the houses of the “sixties” although only a small photo and a little drawing of Anaïs appeared (about a half page)

After Rupert’s death this summer, Janet Eastman, Lifestyle editor of the LA Times, did a story on the home that Rupert built for Anaïs by Eric Lloyd Wright grandson of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Eric Lloyd Wright helped with the story of his half brother, Rupert. Eric is the grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright. His father, also an architect, was Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. who was known as Lloyd.

This story can be ordered from the Times. The photos that were taken for the article might still be working as a link on our site where we post the direct link to the LA Times archives. Click on the link: Nin Scholarship and the In Memoriam Link for Rupert Pole (Feb 18, 1919 to July 15, 2006) from there, just scroll down to: Storied past, uncertain future with photo slideshow – LA Times