I discovered Anaïs Nin the way many people do, via Henry Miller. I haven’t read either of them for a very long time and haven’t felt any need to, but as I recall the attraction of Nin was that really liked and really wanted sex, at a time when few women of my acquaintance felt that way. Yes, I was young and green in judgment, but at least I never put a birdcage on my head.
The one thing I missed at the time as I read Nin’s diary and her ‘erotica’ was that she was a walker, but I know this now thanks to Kerri Andrews’ Wanderers: A History of Women Walking.
Andrews writes, ‘For Nin there was an important link between sexual experience, sexual confidence and the development of her literary voice, all of which were bound up with the ways in which she walked through the city.’
That all sounds fair enough, but there’s more. Andrews also writes ‘Walking the streets of Paris in this hyper-aroused state seems to create within Nin an almost-orgasmic connection with everything she encounters ...’
Please note that’s ALMOST orgasmic, or in other words, not actually orgasmic at all, and the paragraph continues, and here’s the beauty part ‘These sensations are enhanced by way of the state of partial dress, with little by way of underwear, that Nin describes as “walking poor”’
I missed that at the time and as far as I know I’ve never previously heard that expression.
I haven’t been able to find an image of Nin walking poor, or walking any way at all, but here she is as a Spanish dancer.
And here she is on one of those quotation sites.
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