Collages (original: 1964; edição: 1964)

Nin is one of my very favorite authors - she has a way of making even the most mundane topics *glitter* ( )

Marguerite Young said she loved this book the most of any written by Anaïs Nin. It was the literary form Nin had said she wanted to achieve in her writing most of all, but not at all what she is famous for. The text rambles much as the work of Young does, and the characters are just as eccentric and fantastic as well. Nin’s dreamscape challenges our own view of reality, and delightfully creates an alternative world many of us might enjoy and prefer than the one we think, or imagine, we live in. Though the work is erotic in the sense of its total aliveness, to my regret there is actually no graphic sex in it at all. But there is a vivid description of an LSD trip that Nin could not have made-up unless having had some prior use and experience in its mind-altering qualities. Even though the gifted Marguerite Young carefully introduced me to this book in one of her fair reviews, it still had many surprises. It is certainly a book I will revisit, if time permits. ( )

Not sure what happened here, where some characters came from or went or even exactly what their part was, but mostly I enjoyed it and had an idea of where I was, and the language itself could be just delicious, and the entire book was full of vivid colors, their sensations, like the inside of a kaleidoscope or indeed a collage. Not much plot or point really, but a collection of brightly patterned impressions of exotic cloth and spices, far-off countries and strange, idiosyncratic characters. Short and sweet. ( )

I loved the erotic element in Nin's other writings; here she focusses instead on the human element, exploring personalities and sensibilities, her writing suffused with clear detail and telling anecdotes. It was an entertaining read but also somehow disposable given the impact of her other work. ( )