612
PARTISAN REVIEW
song and her rich, dark voice went into the book. He wrote to Bertha,
hoping to put some of his love letters in the book. They didn't go in:
she replied that on the day that his actions had ceased
to
correspond
with his words she had destroyed his letters. "The bitch ," he growled
inwardly , and went on lO castigate her in hi s diary. From "Bezeq ue" he
extracted the story of the prostitute with th e dying mother. The Cirque
Medrano was revisited . That went in. George Grosz's paintings, as well
as Grosz 's and Spengler's ideas about " the late-city man ," were inserted.
H erbert Wilki e of Vali er, Montana, and Marseill es appeared, a "con–
fessed pederast." Nanavati, Eugene Pachoutinsky, Fred Peri es, Ger–
ma ine, Samuel Putnam, Zadkine, Mll e. Claude, Fraenkel, and Lowen–
fels appeared, each pursuing his own destiny, illumined by hi s own
mania. Th e higher mathematics of the gospel of death were formul ar–
ized . The whole Dijon Episode was spun out with high humor. For
good seasoning, Papini , Duhamel's
Salavin,
Rabelais , Proust, Whit–
man, Annie Besant's
Th e Ancient Wisdom,
and Keyserling's
Creative
Understanding
were stirred in. H enry had g iven up any des ire lO
defend himself. Defenseless, his single motto now as
Fais ce que
vou ldras:
do anything-so long as it yie lds ecs tasy.
Certainly, there were many presences here, but Mill er was finding
his own voice among theirs as he pounded at his typew riter in the
Hotel Central in a room next to Fred 's. He radiated the excitement of
his self-discovery.
In
those days, as Perles has sa id beautifull y, hi s
fri ends walked in his shadow, "and even his shadow was warm. " He
expanded in every direction: everything he did lOok on a new dimen–
sion. He was up every morning at six. With mountains of books piled
high on his work table, enormous charts tacked lO the walls, Beethoven
or jazz or an African laughing record bl aring at full volume from the
vicLrola (a present from Ana'is), his typewriter racing over the speed
limit, the gargantuan became commonplace and it almost seemed as if
the tiny hotel room could not contain him.
As a matter of practical fact , it was obvious to Henry and Fred that
they would save money and live more pleasantly by renting an
apartment together; not only would they be able lO divide the rent , they
would be abl e to prepare their own mea ls, as they could not do in the
hotel. Fred's affect ions settled upon a flat in a recently-built row of
apartment buildings at 4 rue Anatole Fran ce in Cli chy , just on the
outskirts of Paris.
It
did not particularly appeallO Henry for it was like
being transported back 3,000 miles and 20 years to the apartment rows
put up above Central Park. Henry would have preferred a studio or
