Henry Miller

American writer Henry (Valentine) Miller (1891-1980) is perhaps known more for his inability to publish his works than for the works themselves. Miller's infamous Tropic of Cancer, which was published in Paris in 1934 and in the United States in 1961, was the focus of discussions of obscenity and censorship both inside and outside the courts. Tropic of Cancer was a semi-autobiographical account of Miller's life in Paris from the fall of 1931 to 1932. Miller's more-debated works were sexual in content, and some were deemed pornographic by standards of the day.

Miller's life was marked by a series of turbulent, failed marriages, and stints of traveling to places such as Paris, London, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, and Cracow. His popularity was largely based on the furor surrounding his works. Miller has been called "arguably, America's best-known unread author," and "'the most litigated author of all time.'"

Miller's works include Black Spring, The Colossus of Maroussi, Tropic of Capricorn, The Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, Moloch, The Books in My Life, and The Cosmological Eye.

"Henry Valentine Miller."Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 10: 1976-1980. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1995. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004.