The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
nonfiction | |
Publisher | New Directions |
---|---|
Publication date | 1945 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
Pages | 292 |
Preceded by | Sunday After the War |
Followed by | The Time of the Assassins: A Study of Rimbaud |
The Air-Conditioned Nightmare is a memoir written by Henry Miller, first published in 1945, about his year-long road trip across the United States in 1940, following his return from nearly a decade living in Paris.
Background
Miller was born and raised in New York City, and moved to Paris in 1930, at the age of 38.[1] He conceived of a book about traveling across the United States as early as 1935, after returning to Paris from a trip to New York. He wrote to Hilaire Hiler about plans for a book that would be "a loaded gun to the head of America."[2]
By June 1940, his book on his time spent in Greece,
Summary
Miller and Rattner left from New York in October 1940, driving south towards Florida before heading west. Miller brought along a few of his favorite books, including Mysteries by Knut Hamsun and Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.[2] Miller wrote to Nin that he let Rattner do most of the driving, despite the fact that he considered himself the superior driver. They spent a night at Caresse Crosby's estate in Bowling Green, Virginia, where Salvador Dalí and his wife were also staying. Miller and Dalí did not get along, with Miller describing Dalí as vain. They later stopped in Jackson, Mississippi to visit the writer Eudora Welty.[3]
During the trip, Miller briefly returned to New York several times, including for a month to see his ailing father, who died two hours before Miller's return. After the funeral, he resumed his trip.[2][3] By the time they reached Atlanta, Miller wrote, he was getting more disgusted with America every day. He did enjoy Charleston and New Orleans, and found Southwestern sites such as the Grand Canyon mysterious and appealing. Overall, however, Miller did not form a favorable impression of America, considering it cruel and sterile. "Nowhere have I encountered such a dull, monotonous fabric of life as here in America," he writes in the book's opening pages. He criticizes America for not valuing its creative citizens and for making life miserable for them.[3]
Publication and reception
Miller started writing the book in Detroit and wrote most of it in the summer of 1941 in
Miller was concerned about the reception the book would get, given his negative impression of the US during a time when patriotism was in vogue. Prior to its publication, he told
Second volume
In May 1947, Miller assembled a collection of short pieces for volume two of The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, which was published in November 1947 by New Directions under the title Remember to Remember. The collection of essays includes portraits of Miller's friends, assaults on the way of American life, and a long recollection of his years living in France. Miller had initially suggested titling the second volume The Egg in Its Prison or The Electrified Rat-Race; both titles were rejected by the publisher.[7]
In popular culture
British guitarist and ex-Genesis member Steve Hackett released an instrumental song named "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" on his 1981 album Cured.
The American band Mr. Bungle have a song titled "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" on their 1999 album California.
Doldrums, the alias of Canadian electronic musician Airick Woodhead, titled his 2015 release The Air Conditioned Nightmare, with the album's themes of disconnection and mankind vaguely linked to Miller's book of the same name.[9]
References
- ^ Mary V. Dearborn, The Happiest Man Alive: A Biography of Henry Miller, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991, pp. 22, 123.
- ^ a b c d Robert Ferguson, Henry Miller: A Life, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991, pp. 273-75.
- ^ a b c d e Dearborn, The Happiest Man Alive: A Biography of Henry Miller, pp. 213-17.
- ^ Arthur Hoyle, The Unknown Henry Miller: A Seeker in Big Sur, New York: Arcade Publishing, 2014, p. 62.
- ^ Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, New York: New Directions, 1945, copyright page.
- ^ Ferguson, Henry Miller: A Life, p. 280.
- ^ a b Hoyle, The Unknown Henry Miller: A Seeker in Big Sur, pp. 127, 145-51.
- New York Times, December 19, 1945.
- ^ Patric Fallon, "Doldrums: The Air Conditioned Nightmare," Pitchfork, April 9, 2015.