I feel it incumbent on me to repost this.

Another writer comes to mind: Anaïs Nin. Totally self absorbed. There is nothing to be taken from her diaries or fiction.

Yes, Moby-Dick is semi autobiographical. I suppose Huckleberry Finn is too.

Think also: Thomas Wolfe.

Beginning writers are told to write about themselves. To draw upon their own experience.

let’s take Anaïs Nin for the moment. Her works are all about herself and her love affairs. I believe that this is true of her fiction as well,

How about Henry Miller, Nin’s companion and admirer?

Walt Whitman?

Miller’s works are all about him and his adventures. Yet somehow he gets outside of himself. And the people he encounters are not just reflections of him.

As did Walt Whitman.

The persona (Whitman himself) is omnipresent in Leaves of Grass.

So we encounter Whitman and conclude, take away from it, that he had an interesting life and interesting experiences in nineteenth century America? And nothing more?

See my post:

..– posted by Roger W.  Smith

    November 7, 2026