How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The town was a shambles; corpses, mangled by butchers and stripped by plunderers, lay thick in the streets; wolves sneaked from the suburbs to eat them; the black death and other plagues crept in to keep them company. (3.11)
Always the littérateur, Henry is quoting here from a book he read (The Stones of Paris in History and Letters, 1899). But, honestly, it may as well be any place he has visited or lived. We can't help but see a little literary inspiration here.
Quote #5
Looking into the Seine I see mud and desolation, street lamps drowning, men and women choking to death, the bridges covered with houses, slaughterhouses of love. (5.16)
Okay, now compare this this description to the one from The Stones of Paris in 1899. Things haven't changed much, right? Or maybe he and the other author just share a dark vision.
Quote #6
In the middle of the street is a wheel and in the hub of the wheel is a gallows fixed. People already dead are trying frantically to mount the gallows, but the wheel is turning too fast. (5.16)
Another hallucination brought to you care of Henry Miller. Our guy sees dead people everywhere, and not The Sixth Sense style. It's because he thinks that people who are living uncreative lives are dead anyway. Not to be judgey or anything.