cover image Henry Miller C

Henry Miller C

Kathryn Winslow, Winslow. Jeremy P. Tarcher, $18.95 (364pp) ISBN 978-0-87477-404-7

Winslow, a longtime friend of Miller's, begins her biography of the writer with a short section about his life up to 1944when at the age of 52 he settled at Big Sur along the California coastand then goes on to recall their 36-year association and aspects of Miller's subsequent life. Miller was nearly always short of money, and Winslow describes at length her establishment of ""M,'' a small gallery/bookshop in Chicago where for nearly a decade she sold only his watercolors, manuscripts and books (and sent him all the proceeds) and later, at his instigation, also tried raising money for Kenneth Patchen and Anais Nin. This warm, loving book does not successfully explain what it was about Miller that attracted so many admirers, but it tells a great deal about a compassionate friend, in the person of the author, who devoted many years to helping rescue him from poverty. Photos not seen by PW. 20,000 first printing. (October)