All About Anais Nin

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Anais Nin

Anais Nin would have been 105 this year, and if all the hype is anywhere near accurate, she probably would still be fucking. Every time I overhear or participate in discussions involving Nin, the conversation inevitably turns smutty. Granted, she did submit herself as a cultural galvanizer of female sexual liberation at a time in Europe when there was very little female-authored erotica available; but I've always believed that those diary entries concerning coital relations between her and her father were at best a metaphor inspired by her studies of Freudian psychology, and at most a pretty lucrative insurance policy for keeping her legacy eternally sensationalized. Rumors gold or pyrite, Nin was a powerful and courageous literary figure who happened to make many younger friends during her aging years in Silver Lake. Electronic-music pioneer Bebe Barron, writer and educator Deena Metzger, architect and environmentalist Eric Lloyd Wright, and writer and founder of Center of Autobiographic Studies Tristine Raine are four of these younger friends, now grown-up, who will honor the underdeveloped persona of Nin by reading passages from her work and telling their personal stories about, but not limited to, Nin the publisher; Nin the printing-press operator; Nin the college lecturer; Nin the mentor; Nin the friend. Don't worry, though — sex will surely come up in conversation. Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood; Tues., Feb. 12, 7 p.m. (310) 443-7000.