--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think Henry Miller has had huge…" description: "\"I think Henry Miller has had huge influence not because he wrote about sex, but because the memoir or the nonfiction novel has become such a monumental..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2a/leslie-fiedler-13246_books_i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influe_2493623.png" --- # I think Henry Miller has had huge influence not because he… ![“I think Henry Miller has had huge influence not because he wrote about sex, but because the memoir or the nonfiction novel has become such a monumental force in American publishing, if not in literature.” quote by Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2a/leslie-fiedler-13246_books_i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influe_2493623.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2a/leslie-fiedler-13246_books_i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influe_2493623.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2a/leslie-fiedler-13246_books_i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influe_2493623.png) > “I think Henry Miller has had huge influence not because he wrote about sex, but because the memoir or the nonfiction novel has become such a monumental force in American publishing, if not in literature.” [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote credits Henry Miller for shaping the memoir and nonfiction novel, making them powerful in American publishing. **In simple terms:** Miller’s influence made memoirs a major publishing force. Key Takeaway Recognize memoirs as a key literary force. Themes literature influence publishing memoir nonfiction Mood analytical informative Type literary historical When to use this quote - publishing decisions - creative writing courses - literary criticism - author studies Key Concepts cultural impact genre evolution authorial voice Questions to Reflect On - What other authors contributed to memoir’s rise? - How does memoir differ from fiction in cultural influence? A Different Perspective It may overstate Miller’s singular impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Influence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/influence/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Memoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memoir/) [Nonfiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nonfiction/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Publishing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publishing/) [Sex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sex/) ## Related quotes > [I think it's silly for anyone to think you could write under the influence, but if they'd like to think that, I'd like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-johnson/i-think-it-s-silly-for-anyone-to-think-you-could-write-under-the/) [Denis Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-johnson/) > [There were musicians that influenced me, but they weren't all women. Teena Marie was a big influence because she wrote and produced her own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/queen-latifah/there-were-musicians-that-influenced-me-but-they-weren-t-all-women/) [Queen Latifah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/queen-latifah/) > [Henry Miller wrote novels, but he calls his protagonist Henry, often Henry Miller, and his books are in this gray area between memoir and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/henry-miller-wrote-novels-but-he-calls-his-protagonist-henry-often/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [ \[Henry Miller\] was such a scribomaniac that even when he lived in the same house as Lawrence Durrell they often exchanged letters. For most… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/henry-miller-was-such-a-scribomaniac-that-even-when-he-lived-in-the/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [“The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we can never give enough of is love." Henry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-e-lund/the-one-thing-we-can-never-get-enough-of-is-love-and-the-one-thing-we/) [S.E. Lund](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-e-lund/) > [Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, Albert Camus, Graham Greene - they influenced my life to a profound extent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-theroux/henry-miller-jack-kerouac-albert-camus-graham-greene-they-influenced/) [Paul Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-theroux/) > [“Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-pavlina/life-has-no-other-discipline-to-impose-if-we-would-but-realize-it/) [Steve Pavlina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-pavlina/) > [Henry Miller is a famous writer whose work has fallen out of fashion, but I strongly recommend that readers who don't know his work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/henry-miller-is-a-famous-writer-whose-work-has-fallen-out-of-fashion/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [“It was the end for me. And yet not an end. In all the years which have since elapsed she remains the woman I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/it-was-the-end-for-me-and-yet-not-an-end-in-all-the-years-which-have/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [I think we, especially in American culture, are so afraid to talk about death. And I'm not talking about literal death. I'm talking about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amber-tamblyn/i-think-we-especially-in-american-culture-are-so-afraid-to-talk-about/) [Amber Tamblyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amber-tamblyn/) > [“- Do you have books? - Books on what? - any thing, comets, gravity, black holes ... - Yeah, I've got Shakespeare, some Henry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conversation/do-you-have-books-books-on-what-any-thing-comets-gravity-black-holes/) Conversation > [If Henry Miller often sounded like a village idiot, it is because, like Whitman, he was the rest of the village as well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-henry-miller-often-sounded-like-a-village-idiot-it-is-because-like/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [I read Henry Miller's 'Nexus,' 'Sexus' and 'Plexus' the summer after I graduated from college. It cemented my decision to spurn any and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berman/i-read-henry-miller-s-nexus-sexus-and-plexus-the-summer-after-i/) [David Berman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berman/) > [“If you're great, you can stay that way and people will believe in you, swear by you, turn the world upside down for you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/if-you-re-great-you-can-stay-that-way-and-people-will-believe-in-you/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [The book it reminded me of most is Henry Miller’s The Books in My Life. Like Miller, Shields manages to convey his affection for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-alexis/the-book-it-reminded-me-of-most-is-henry-miller-s-the-books-in-my/) [Andre Alexis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-alexis/) ## More by Leslie Fiedler > [I have, I admit, a low tolerance for detached chronicling and cool analysis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-have-i-admit-a-low-tolerance-for-detached-chronicling-and-cool/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [“Our great novelists, though experts on indignity and assault, on loneliness and terror, tend to avoid treating the passionate encounter of a man and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/our-great-novelists-though-experts-on-indignity-and-assault-on/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [The novel doesn't come into existence until certain methods of reproducing fiction come along.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/the-novel-doesn-t-come-into-existence-until-certain-methods-of/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [I love it now that a large minority of people who are handicapped prefer to call themselves crippled. This is all part of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-love-it-now-that-a-large-minority-of-people-who-are-handicapped/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [Saul Bellow never took my advice when he was my friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/saul-bellow-never-took-my-advice-when-he-was-my-friend/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [Of the female black authors, I really like Morrison's early books a lot. But she's really become so much a clone of Faulkner. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/of-the-female-black-authors-i-really-like-morrison-s-early-books-a/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [When I was 12 years old, someone took me to see Martha Graham. It was nothing like what I thought of as serious dancing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/when-i-was-12-years-old-someone-took-me-to-see-martha-graham-it-was/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [I long for the raised voice, the howl of rage or love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-long-for-the-raised-voice-the-howl-of-rage-or-love/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [I never met anybody in my life who says, I want to be a critic. People want to be a fireman, poet, novelist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-never-met-anybody-in-my-life-who-says-i-want-to-be-a-critic-people/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [Faulkner turned out to be a great teacher. When a student asked a question ineptly, he answered the question with what the student had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/faulkner-turned-out-to-be-a-great-teacher-when-a-student-asked-a/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [DeLillo never seems committed to me to what he is writing. Very nice surfaces, but he's got nothing underneath.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/delillo-never-seems-committed-to-me-to-what-he-is-writing-very-nice/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [Unless criticism refuses to take itself quite so seriously or at least to permit its readers not to, it will inevitably continue to reflect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/unless-criticism-refuses-to-take-itself-quite-so-seriously-or-at/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [I've had a tough time with Pynchon. I liked him very much when I first read him. I liked him less with each book.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-ve-had-a-tough-time-with-pynchon-i-liked-him-very-much-when-i-first/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [My assignment is what every writer's assignment is: tell the truth of his own time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/my-assignment-is-what-every-writer-s-assignment-is-tell-the-truth-of/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [I gave up writing blurbs because you make one friend and 200 enemies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-gave-up-writing-blurbs-because-you-make-one-friend-and-200-enemies/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) [Explore all 51 Leslie Fiedler quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. 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Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think Henry Miller has had huge influence not because he wrote about sex, but because the memoir or the nonfiction novel has become such a monumental force in American publishing, if not in literature.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leslie Fiedler" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influence-not-because-he-wrote/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influence-not-because-he-wrote/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2a/leslie-fiedler-13246_books_i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influe_2493623.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2a/leslie-fiedler-13246_books_i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influe_2493623.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2a/leslie-fiedler-13246_books_i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influe_2493623.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think Henry Miller has had huge influence not because he wrote about sex, but because the memoir or the…” — Leslie Fiedler", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Leslie Fiedler", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I think Henry Miller has had...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influence-not-because-he-wrote/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/i-think-henry-miller-has-had-huge-influence-not-because-he-wrote/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```