%%
%%Zero-context entries are not allowed. Please add context before removing the comment tags.
%%

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tropic_of_cancer.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:310:The original cover, ironically, is one of the least contemptible covers the book has. And no, [[CoversAlwaysLie there is no giant crab]] in the story.[[note]]By the way, check the [[BannedInChina banned]] footnote[[/note]]]]

->''"I am living at the Villa Borghese. There is not a crumb of dirt anywhere, nor a chair misplaced. We are all alone here and we are dead."''
-->-- '''The book’s opening line'''

''Tropic of Cancer'' is a novel by Henry Miller, published in 1934. It’s known mostly for being the subject of much controversy in America for being considered obscene and pornographic.

The novel follows the author and his dealings in GayParee while struggling as a writer, having sex, meeting with friends, having sex, going to social clubs, having sex, uttering non sequiturs and, you know, [[OverlyLongGag having sex]]. It doesn’t really go in circles around sex, though, it focuses heavily on the other issues, all this mixing autobiography and fiction, past and present, with a [=Macragge1=] approach.

So, yeah, this may sound like your typical pretentious intellectual novel. And it is. However, the achievement of the novel is Miller's honest approach to reality, ignoring the sex taboo of the age. It was acclaimed by famous writers like Creator/GeorgeOrwell and Creator/SamuelBeckett.

It was successful enough to spawn a sequel, 1939's ''Tropic of Capricorn'', which was also controversial and banned in several countries.

----
!!Provides examples of:

* AllMenArePerverts: Averted. Since the book his written mostly in Miller’s perspective, we read his thoughts, so he’s the only recognizable pervert.
* AuthorAvatar: The main character is called Henry Miller, so...
* BookAndSwitch: Though the book was legally published on America for the first time in the 1960s, it was introduced illegally much earlier disguised with ''Jane Eyre'' book covers.
* CountryMatters: Van Norden particularly is obsessed with it.
* CultureClash: The Indian visitor mistakes a bidet for a toilet. Guess what he does with it.
%%* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench
* FirstPersonSmartass: Henry Miller makes himself sound '''so''' smart.
* GassyGastronomy: Nanantatee, who's from [[UsefulNotes/{{India}} Gujurat]], is noted to consume a lot of lentils and beans as part of his diet (with the ocassional drop of garlic). [[{{Narrator}} Frank Miller]] ocassionally snarks about his loud flatulence, at one point remarking how his tendency to omit "Excuse me" after the fact must be due to it missing from his Gujurati-to-English dictionary.
%%* GayParee
%%* GoodSamaritan: The Hindu man.
* IKEAErotica: This only happens with some situations, specifically the more cold and mechanical ones.
* ItsNotPornItsArt: Miller hated people who hated or loved the book as porn. To him, sex was just a part of life and it should be treated like that.
%%* LikesOlderWomen: Completely averted with Carl. And later played straight.
* MoralGuardians: They tried to ban the book in America for being pornographic.
* MostWritersAreWriters: Henry Miller, the author, writes about Henry Miller, the fictional character, trying to write a book.
* TheMuse: To the real Henry Miller, his lover, Anaïs Nin. To the Henry Miller of the book, Mona.
* ReallyGetsAround: Miller, but he’s not the only one. For example, Van Norden takes him to a bar and describes all the prostitutes with whom he has slept. According to him, there is hardly one in sight “he hasn’t fucked at one time or other.”
%%* RomanAClef
%%* SexSells: Oh yeah.
* {{Streetwalker}}: Apparently, Paris is full of them.
%%* ThreeWaySex
* TheTreacheryOfImages: Miller states near the beginning that “this is not a book.”
----