And This Just In, Babies...
Letters by Henry Miller to Hoki Tokuda Miller to spawn book in the Insomnia Series
"The Loujon Press in Arizona, who did the beautiful book on Hans Heichel, is serious about publishing 'The Insomnia Series.' He wants to do an extraordinary job-even better than the Heichel book. Is now trying to find someone to finance it. I will soon start to write the text to go with these water colors. This is where Hoki Tokuda, the siren of Imperial Gardens and Chinatown comes in. If I don't succeed in writing a song for you I will certainly write a text about you. . . In one way or another you will be famous in the next few years-before you are forty!"
(The "Insomnia Series" was published as "Insomnia: Or, The Devil at Large." The text, in the book, is handwritten. The images can be found behind the link, above, on Miller's daughter's website, which you should check out and buy stuff from.)
In 1966, Henry Miller was calling The Pacific Palisades home. On Wednesday nights, he'd go into Beverly Hills to visit his doctor and friend, Lee Siegel. He never brought along any "intellectuals," as he was "sick of hearing people discuss art and literature in [his] home;" it was a chance for him to have some fun.
On one of these nights, in Beverly Hills, Miller met a new love. Her name was Hoki Tokuda, and she was in the United States working at the-now extinct--Imperial Gardens. She was, by all accounts, an accomplished jazz singer and pianist. She was on a work visa. She'd also been in two films, by then. Japanese films, they were titled Nippon Paradise(1964) and Chinkoro Amakko (1965). (Those are IMDb links you're looking at, incidentally, and neither offers much to look at.)
She was twenty-seven years old.
Dated February 22nd, this is the first note from Miller to his newfound love in the collection of their correspondence, edited by Joyce Howard:
Dear Hoki
I hope to see you one evening this week at the Imperial Gardens. Maybe I will bring my friend Joe Gray along. He wants to meet nice Japanese girl.
Henry Miller
Insomnia Series
.
an excerpt from. . . Agnostic Dyslexic Insomniac Lying Awake All Night Staring At The Ceiling Contemplating the Existence of Dog
"I don't know how it is in Japan, but in America I have the impression that we seldom reread books. Here books (paper backs) are relatively cheap, easily discarded, and quickly forgotten. We do not take pride in exhibiting our personal library, as do the French and Germans, for example. We do not bring our paper backs to a binder and have them bound according to our taste. Nor do I encounter people who are seeking for books they read years ago in order to savor them anew. As with buildings, cars, clothes, wives and mistresses, here nothing lasts very long. We are the very opposite of the ancient Egyptians, who thought in terms of eternity. With us nothing is precious, nothing inspires or awe or reverence." ~ attributed to Henry Miller in a seance with a post-traumatic Letters by Henry Miller to Hoki Tokuda Miller. . .
I can't wait for the book to be published, I am looking forward to it.
Right-click link to open page in new window:
Gleaned from a nice Japanese Girl. . .
http://community.livejournal.com/__henrymiller/3939.html#cutid1
Quid Pro Quo on Henry Miller Community
http://community.livejournal.com/__henrymiller/3939.html
"The Loujon Press in Arizona, who did the beautiful book on Hans Heichel, is serious about publishing 'The Insomnia Series.' He wants to do an extraordinary job-even better than the Heichel book. Is now trying to find someone to finance it. I will soon start to write the text to go with these water colors. This is where Hoki Tokuda, the siren of Imperial Gardens and Chinatown comes in. If I don't succeed in writing a song for you I will certainly write a text about you. . . In one way or another you will be famous in the next few years-before you are forty!"
(The "Insomnia Series" was published as "Insomnia: Or, The Devil at Large." The text, in the book, is handwritten. The images can be found behind the link, above, on Miller's daughter's website, which you should check out and buy stuff from.)
In 1966, Henry Miller was calling The Pacific Palisades home. On Wednesday nights, he'd go into Beverly Hills to visit his doctor and friend, Lee Siegel. He never brought along any "intellectuals," as he was "sick of hearing people discuss art and literature in [his] home;" it was a chance for him to have some fun.
On one of these nights, in Beverly Hills, Miller met a new love. Her name was Hoki Tokuda, and she was in the United States working at the-now extinct--Imperial Gardens. She was, by all accounts, an accomplished jazz singer and pianist. She was on a work visa. She'd also been in two films, by then. Japanese films, they were titled Nippon Paradise(1964) and Chinkoro Amakko (1965). (Those are IMDb links you're looking at, incidentally, and neither offers much to look at.)
She was twenty-seven years old.
Dated February 22nd, this is the first note from Miller to his newfound love in the collection of their correspondence, edited by Joyce Howard:
Dear Hoki
I hope to see you one evening this week at the Imperial Gardens. Maybe I will bring my friend Joe Gray along. He wants to meet nice Japanese girl.
Henry Miller
Insomnia Series
.
an excerpt from. . . Agnostic Dyslexic Insomniac Lying Awake All Night Staring At The Ceiling Contemplating the Existence of Dog
"I don't know how it is in Japan, but in America I have the impression that we seldom reread books. Here books (paper backs) are relatively cheap, easily discarded, and quickly forgotten. We do not take pride in exhibiting our personal library, as do the French and Germans, for example. We do not bring our paper backs to a binder and have them bound according to our taste. Nor do I encounter people who are seeking for books they read years ago in order to savor them anew. As with buildings, cars, clothes, wives and mistresses, here nothing lasts very long. We are the very opposite of the ancient Egyptians, who thought in terms of eternity. With us nothing is precious, nothing inspires or awe or reverence." ~ attributed to Henry Miller in a seance with a post-traumatic Letters by Henry Miller to Hoki Tokuda Miller. . .
I can't wait for the book to be published, I am looking forward to it.
Right-click link to open page in new window:
Gleaned from a nice Japanese Girl. . .
http://community.livejournal.com/__henrymiller/3939.html#cutid1
Quid Pro Quo on Henry Miller Community
http://community.livejournal.com/__henrymiller/3939.html