Henry Miller and How He Got That Way

Henry Miller and How He Got That Way is a scholarly examination of the author's place within the modernist literary tradition. This work of history and criticism analyzes the complex relationships between Miller and six influential writers, including Whitman, Dostoevsky, and Proust. By exploring various forms of intertextuality, the text demonstrates how these ancestral authors shaped Miller's style and how Miller's own writing retroactively impacted their legacies.

The study utilizes theories from Bakhtin, Barthes, and Kristeva to analyze polyvocity and language games. This volume of literature and fiction criticism frames Miller as a significant figure in the movements and periods of twentieth-century writing. Through an incisive critical approach, the book highlights the struggle to establish a distinctive voice within a distinguished lineage, rehabilitating Miller's reputation as a noteworthy modernist writer.