A Spy in the House of Love

Ana?s Nin's "A Spy in the House of Love" is a short novel that seems to be more a dream rather than a narrative. The writer is not concerned with exploiting situations or characters -- rather she prefers to deal with the inner forces that move her main character here, Sabina. She is a married woman who in the 50's New York spends her time enjoying her freedom, meeting men and feeling guilty for betraying her husband. Sabina's conflict is what moves the narrative -- but no only it. Nin produces a character with a very believable life and thoughts. It is not a surprise that she is the only one which is fully developed throughout the book -- but, actually, it is not a problem that the other characters sound more like walking stereotypes. Less sensual than her masterpiece, "Delta of Venus", Nin's prose is dreamy, sometimes surreal, without logic. This characteristic is what makes the book beautiful. Just like Sabina, the readers feel like spying on something, something they are now allowed to know. As the narrator says at some point, a spy hasn't much chance, his/her life ends in ignominious death, but until then we can enjoy the pleasure of peeping on somebody's life.

I often find parallels between what I'm reading and what I'm watching and with A Spy in the House of Love I find an affinity between the book and a film, Dark City if that film were told from the point of view of John's "wife" and I also see an affinity with the anime series, Serial Experiements Lain. In all three cases they are stories of women struggling to find themselves among the artifice in which they live, whether it is self created or created by others. To put in terms the book uses, Sabina is like Duchamp's painting of Nude Descending a Staircase; she is a series of frames, a moment of action captured on canvas, but not a single destilled representation of that woman. No one will know what that woman looked like but they will know how she walked down the steps. Sabina has memories of past loves, past adventures, past meetings but so current feeling of who she is. She is a name. She has a husband who loves her dearly but she is constantly running from him looking for love among her artist friends. There is also clearly a strong note of autobiography in the last third of the book where Sabina meets up with the artist's enclave in New York and that gives this otherwise sensuous tale a note of sadness.

I actually owned this book for years before getting around to reading it, and then when I finally did I was kicking myself for not reading it sooner. "A Spy in the House of Love" is the story of a young woman named Sabina who, despite having a kind and loving husband, engages in adulterous affairs with men she barely knows. What is it that motivates Sabina? Is it a thirst for adventure? Lust? Resentment towards her husband or the roles society imposes on her? Instead of being a trite morality tale where the "sinner" is punished by facing horrible consequences (like the recent film "Unfaithful") this book explores, without judgement, Sabina's conflicted emotions and motives.

I just finished one of the most amazing book of the century gone by. I do not know why people always associate Anais Nin and her works to Erotica when there is so much more to it. Yes she did write a whole lotta sensous reading material but then again she was only portraying the truth, wasn't she? A Spy in the House of Love is all about a woman named Sabina and her life as she flows or rather drifts from one lustful experience to another. She lies, she deceives, she puts on an act only never to find solace in places where she looks for the most - in the arms of strangers but her own husband Alan. My feelings ranged like tidal waves while devouring this book. I felt like a thief hiding a secret and at the same time felt so connected with my emotions and responses to what my body demanded. Sabina as a character is so quite that sometimes her silence speaks volumes. The way she moves, the way Ms. Nin breathes life into her is absolutely a piece of art. Rising from the ashes and yet unforgiven. A true to life caricature of what desires can do and their power on our mortal lives.

It takes somebody who has lived all those situations to write such a wonderful story like this one which is full of love & desire.I guess Anais Nin was meant to write it with such vulnerability & passion because she herself,was a spy in the house of love.