ABSTRACT
This chapter further explores the intersection of Nin’s diarist and novelist credos through a close reading of her novelette Winter of Artifice. I explore how Nin transmogrifies personal myth from the unexpurgated posthumously published Incest: From a Journal of Love into an archetypal exploration of a father and daughter relationship, art and psyche in Winter of Artifice. I look at how Nin uses the mystical bride as a metaphor for a psychological reality that turns a new self-directed Eros toward the protagonist, herself. By framing Incest: From a Journal of Love within a greater scope of her diarist and novelist credos, as a way to better recognize Nin’s creative process, I further propose that the polemic surrounding Nin’s posthumously published diaries Incest: From A Journal of Love should not eclipse Nin’s literary achievements.
