Henry and June

Henry And June

Henry and June: From the Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin (full title Henry and June: From A Journal of Love: the Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin (1931–1932)) is a 1986 book that is based upon material excerpted from the unpublished diaries of Anaïs Nin. It corresponds temporally to the first volume of Nin's published diaries, written between October 1931 and October 1932, yet is radically different, in that that book begins with a description of the landscape of and around her home and never mentions her husband, whereas "Henry and June" begins with discussion of Nin's sex life and is full of her struggles and passionate relationship with husband Hugo, and then, as the novel/memoir progresses, other lovers.

This, the first of currently four volumes of unexpurgated diaries, concentrates on her passionate involvement with the writer Henry Miller and his wife June Miller.

It is noteworthy that Nin's source material —her diaries —was able to spawn two dramatically different narratives about the same time period, both widely read and praised. The expurgated diary reveals Nin the philosopher and amateur but astute psychologist. The unexpurgated diary reveals a woman breaking out into wild sexual discovery. It is introduced with surprising insight by her 2nd —coterminous —husband, who clearly understood her and her work very well. This would seem to upend popular assumptions, as he was a much younger man.

A film based on the novel was released in 1990.