Reading Henry Miller to Revive the Spirit of Humanity

By: Erik Rittenberry

“By his refusal to live to the fullest he brings about the death of God and the utter meaninglessness of the world in which he finds himself.”

~ Henry Miller

Like all great writers, Henry Miller was no stranger to controversy. His early biographical novels were banned for three decades by the British and United States governments for their so-called “sexual adventures and challenged models of sexual morality.”

Like many artists, prophets, and truth-tellers who challenged the status quo, Henry Miller faced intense censorship. His work was condemned as obscene and immoral by the petty authorities of his time.

Now, nearly 60 years since the ban on his most significant books was lifted, Miller remains largely overlooked and under-read, particularly in the United States, where, unfortunately, many of the greats are often ignored.

One of the most fierce and remarkable writers the world has known, a writer who had this exceptional skill at coalescing the intellect with the spirit, a type of writer we desperately need today to help lift humanity out of the muck of its own making, has largely gone unread by the vast majority of the spiritually crippled people in the West.