One of the first female writers of erotica, Anaïs Nin is perhaps most famous for her soul-penetrating diaries, her bohemian love affair with writer Henry Miller and an incestuous relationship with her father at the advice of her psychologist. She was also heavily involved in the psychoanalyst scene, and was interested in integrating and harmonising the self through the process of writing. Therefore it is no surprise that she idealised the idyllic island of Bali—a quiet refuge in which man lived in harmony with his universe....
In 1955, Anaïs first took LSD under the guidance of Aldous Huxley and wrote a beautifully evocative description of her visions and subconscious landscape which included images of Javanese temples, Balinese music, symbolic dance gestures before finally finishing with the conclusion, “Ah, I cannot capture the secret of life with WORDS.” She was beginning to reveal what her soul desired deep down—for Anaïs, utopia was a state of mind in which the artist had access to the world of dreams. Perhaps this is why she fell in love with the mysticism and art of Bali. In her final journal (volume 7 of her diaries) she finished with a reflection on her trip to this island, complete with magical descriptions of sacred cremations, opulent gardens, temple dances, Wayang shadow puppets, natural-material bungalows used as hotels, the haunting music, and the sophisticated and gentle ways of the Balinese people.
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