Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

On January 26, 1965, a yet unknown Japanese writer sent his first letter to the famed American author, Henry Miller. This day marked the beginning of what would evolve into the Miller-Ueno correspondence: an undiscovered glimpse into the mind of the aged Miller, reveling in his ideals of the Orient. Over the course of the next 15 years, Ueno Kenichi and Miller would exchange more than a combined 500 letters, in total. Miller was Ueno’s master, while Ueno became Miller’s eye-of-Japan, providing Miller with glimpses of everyday life in a country he longed to visit but ultimately a country that would remain in the eye of his imagination. In this presentation, I reveal a side of Henry Miller that has yet to be explored by his biographers as the Miller-Ueno correspondence has hitherto been unknown. Utilizing nearly 200 previously undiscovered, privately-held letters from Miller, I will demonstrate that Japan—and Miller’s popularity in Japan—preoccupied much of the old author’s interest and affection. I refer to the 15-year exchange of letters as the “last correspondence” since this was Miller’s final in-depth correspondence in which he exchanged some of his most profound ideas on life and philosophy with a male companion. Ueno served as a unofficial representative for Miller in Japan while also seeking wisdom from his master, Henry Miller.