on desperation and originality (miller)

…the man who is about to blow his top does not have to fix his eye on the Iliad, the Divine Comedy or any other great model; he has only to give us, in his own language, the saga of his woes and tribulations, the saga of his non-existentialism. In this mirror of not-ness everyone will recognize himself for what he is as well as what he is not.

- 58, "Part Two: Peace and Solitude: A Potpourri," Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Boch, Henry Miller