Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch (New Directions Paperbook): 161

In his great triptych “The Millennium,” Bosch used oranges and other fruits to symbolize the delights of Paradise.Whence Henry Miller’s title for this, one of his most appealing books; first published in 1957, it tells the story of Miller’s life on the Big Sur, a section of the California coast where he lived for fifteen years.Big Sur is the portrait of a place-one of the most colorful in the United States-and of the extraordinary people Miller knew there: writers (and writers who did not write), mystics seeking truth in meditation (and the not-so-saintly looking for sex-cults or celebrity), sophisticated children and adult innocents; geniuses, cranks and the unclassifiable, like Conrad Moricand, the “Devil in Paradise” who is one of Miller’s greatest character studies.Henry Miller writes with a buoyancy and brimming energy that are infectious.He has a fine touch for comedy. But this is also a serious book-the testament of a free spirit who has broken through the restraints and clichés