Seduction of the Minotaur

Was already warned that this book is very very peak white sensual soulful woman ~Finding Herself~ in the tropics. And WOW I tell you... it really was. I mean at that time, Anais Nin probably could not conceive how her well-intentioned idealisation of “natives” in Mexico (she even idealises the beggars!) is damaging and she was probably having a far more compassionate view than most with their colonial mindset but it was still so jarring to read! Natives would be compared to animals even! I really do love the words of Anais Nin but this book was a bit confusing because the setting seemed not very important except to really show her gift of sultry descriptions. Although I guess she also wanted a background that would aid in showing show more the tension between the “western developed” world and its rationality against the “undeveloped indigenous” untouched by modernity and more in touch with spirituality/their inner selves/passion. “The primitives were wise to retain their rituals” at one point, was said. The lazy native, natives who run amok, and other colonial stereotypes were in abundance. The plot was ?? Confusing ? And secondary really to the ponderings that the characters had, the interiority of the protagonist and the monologues on the human condition and desire that she loves to do. The ending was so fractured from the rest of the book too and was clearly her running off with her writing fictionally about Henry miller and June. Also this is where the phrase that was wrongfully attributed to her was from! “We do not see people as they are, we see them as we are.” It’s actually a Talmudic phrase. Anyway if you are a fan of Anais as I am, maybe this book is worth a miss. show less

I found this a bit of a struggle. Just couldn't really connect with any of the characters and found it difficult to get into. It was also quite confusing in that the last 3rd suddenly jumps from Golconda to parts of the main characters past in Paris and Mexico City. I think the fact it is the 5th in a series of 5 books didn't help, but I didn't enjoy it enough to want to go back and read the others. Some of the description is very colourful and evocative of the Mexican landscape, but it just got a bit wearing overall.

Un text breu, delicat i poètic. Lillian ens descriu el seu retrovament amb Mèxic, l'arriba a la ciutat de Golconda desperta en ella records, misteris i nostàlgia del temps passat. Tots els colors, els aromes, els sons del tròpic, i la gent, la seva gent amb la seva calidesa i la seva aparent indiferència al pas del temps i de les coses. Tres mesos d'estada en aquest paradís, el temps del seu contracte com a pianista de jazz, fan que es plantegi la seva vida afectiva i les relacions amb el seu home, sempre esperant-la, així com també que recordi la relació amb el seu amant pintor mentre va ser a París.