Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller

The correspondents were Lawrence Durrell &Henry Miller & The letters were the beginning of an important, wonderfully readable private record - a 25 year revelation of two of the most renowned writers of our age. The letter which started it all was the 23-year-old Durrell's fan letter to Miller regarding 'Tropic of Cancer': "I have never read anything like it. I did not imagine anything like it could be written; and yet, curiously, reading it I seemed to recognize it as something which I knew we were all ready for." The 43-year-old American answered from Villa Seurat in Paris: "I particularly prize your letter because it's the kind of letter I would have written myself had I not been the author of the book. That isn't just sheer vanity and egotism, believe me. . . . Your letter is so vivid, so keen, that I am curious to know if you are not a writer yourself." From the very beginning the exchange was animated. The two damned censorship, exchanged ideas and reactions to art and writing. Miller called Durrell a "stinking genius"-the best praise the young Durrell had had: 'Your encouragement has driven me crazy almost. . . . Mark my words, one of these days you will wake up and find that I have earned the magnificent adjectives in your letter." They wrote about their pasts: "My so-called upbringing was quite an uproar," said Durrell. "I have always broken stable when I was unhappy. The list of schools I've been to would be a yard long." And they discussed their individual problems: "Now don't, my dear good Durrell, ask me to weep with you because you are alone," wrote Miller. 'You ought to be proud of that. That's in your favor. You can't be alone and be with the herd too. You can't write good and bad books. .