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Henry Miller
Van Norden is one of Henry’s close friends. He works at the newspaper with Henry, possibly in a slightly superior post. During one extended sequence, Henry helps Van Norden move apartments, providing a glimpse into the squalor and drunken rancor of Van Norden’s existence. Van Norden unapologetically devotes his life to relentless sexual conquest. He talks endlessly and very graphically about his sexual encounters. He shares Henry and Carl’s literary ambitions and proclivity to grapple with great existential questions, though he has seemingly integrated his love of complex literature into his womanizing routine, discoursing on obscure books to wow women before bedding them. He has never really loved; his failed approaches to his friend Bessie are the closest thing he shows to love. Van Norden confesses to Henry that he feels hopelessly divided internally, and that what he repeatedly seeks in sex is the feeling of pure annihilation at the moment of orgasm. This association of sex and self-obliteration reflects Henry’s own artistic philosophy, in which the compulsion to create something new becomes one with the urge to destroy everything that has come before. This philosophical kinship perhaps explains Henry and Van Norden’s close friendship, though Henry also believes that his own conception of sex sees more generative power in it than Van Norden’s, which is utterly nihilistic.
Van Norden Quotes in Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer quotes below are all either spoken by Van Norden or refer to Van Norden . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Pages 81-134
Quotes
"That guy," he begins, meaning Carl, "that guy's an artist. He described every detail minutely. He told it to me with such accuracy that I know it's all a god-damned lie... but I can't dismiss it from my mind. You know how my mind works!"
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Once out of his sight we began to laugh hysterically. The false teeth! […] There are people in this world who cut such a grotesque figure that even death renders them ridiculous. And the more horrible the death the more ridiculous they seem. It's no use trying to invest the end with a little dignity – you have to be a liar and a hypocrite to discover anything tragic in their going. And since we didn't have to put on a false front we could laugh about the incident to our heart's content.
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Van Norden Quotes in Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer quotes below are all either spoken by Van Norden or refer to Van Norden . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Pages 81-134
Quotes
"That guy," he begins, meaning Carl, "that guy's an artist. He described every detail minutely. He told it to me with such accuracy that I know it's all a god-damned lie... but I can't dismiss it from my mind. You know how my mind works!"
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Once out of his sight we began to laugh hysterically. The false teeth! […] There are people in this world who cut such a grotesque figure that even death renders them ridiculous. And the more horrible the death the more ridiculous they seem. It's no use trying to invest the end with a little dignity – you have to be a liar and a hypocrite to discover anything tragic in their going. And since we didn't have to put on a false front we could laugh about the incident to our heart's content.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
