Collages, a Novel

A transplant from Vienna to Malibu who is driven by her urge to observe and depict those around her, Renate is, as one of her friends describes her, “the freest woman I know.” 

The central character, Renate, is a sort of "master of ceremonies" for Nin's modern fairy tales, as she floats through the narrative and communes, in one way or another, with each of the "storytellers." 

Living in Malibu, working at the Paradise Inn restaurant, she encounters a series of people whose stories make up a larger Henri the chef; Count Laundromat; Varda the artist and his teenage daughter, Nobuko the actress; the French Consul in the Hollywood Hills; an aged lifeguard with a spiritual longing for the sea; and Bruce, the intimate with an unnerving secret. 

First published in 1964 and now reissued with a new introduction by Anita Jarczok, Collages showcases Anaïs Nin’s dreamlike and introspective style and psychological acuity. Seen by some as linked vignettes and by others as a novel, the book is a mood piece that resists categorization.

Based on a close friend of Nin’s, Renate is the glue that holds the pieces, by turn fragmentary and full, together. One character absorbs a lesson from the “Nothing is ever finished.” With each of Renate’s successive encounters, we take that message to be true.

Collages is Nin's most light-hearted writing, and, in that sense, is perhaps her most entertaining book.