This article was written by Jeffrey John Shea
The art of living is based on rhythm - on give and take, ebb and flow, light and dark, life and death. By acceptance of all the aspects of life, good and bad, right and wrong, yours and mine, the static, defensive life, which is what most people are cursed with, is converted into a dance, 'the dance of life.' The real function of the dance is- metamorphosis.
Henry Valentine Miller was born in Yorkville, New York, in 1891. His family moved to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, the 14th ward and then finally to a part of Brooklyn known as Bushwick, the place he would later refer to as "the street of early sorrows". Years later, in 1940, while living the life of an expatriate writer in Paris, France, a day-to-day, rollicking bohemian existence, he wrote the passage above. It would be his final year in Europe, the place where he first found acceptance, where a rich cultural landscape would nurture and mature his work. But it was a different burgeoning caldron of culture, life in New York City during the early 1900's, the same era that gave birth to Jazz music, which would bear the greatest influence on the man and his uniquely American art.
At around the same time that young Henry Miller was racing through the streets of New York throughout Brooklyn to Coney Island on his bicycle, Jazz music began to capture the attention of the world. In 1934, Louis Armstrong reached deep into his heart, exposed his soul to the world and harkened forth a uniquely melodic message of life. His was a singsong of soulful notes; a musical distillation of the human spirit resonating deeply with all the pain and joy that could be experienced in depression era America. With supreme musical sophistication, every detail of his intimate knowledge of the human condition burst forth. And as Jazz music rang true with life's celebration song, the world listened as it struggled with the inevitability of a Second World War. Henry Miller too was listening.
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