Interview with Clara Oropeza

“I have always been interested — some might even say obsessed — with Anaïs Nin’s capacity for poetic introspection,” said Clara Oropeza. She recently channeled her passion for the French-American writer into a book, Anaïs Nin: A Myth of Her Own. Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Oropeza has been the director of the multi-literacy English transfer program for 13 years. She is the author of a number of essays, but this is her first book. I caught up with Oropeza, who spoke about the “minotaur myth” and what Nin can teach us about living in the world today.

What initially drew you to Nin’s work, and how did your interest develop and change during the writing of Anaïs Nin: A Myth of Her Own? I’ve been fascinated by her courage, as she was unafraid to identify with a feminine subjectivity and pioneered a voice against misogyny. Then, ever since reading the sensationalization that followed her posthumously published unexpurgated diaries, I felt a strong interest in one day digging into her archives, and together with research be able to offer some additional perspective and context for them.

I know you’re interested in Nin’s posthumously published Incest: From a Journal of Love. Without a comprehensive understanding of the milieu in which these diaries were written, one could be left feeling confused or merely questioning Nin’s sexual exploits. And there’s so much more there. A large intention for my book was to do just that: provide a larger context for readers to hopefully have more information with which to better appreciate not only those dark and creative years of Nin’s life and writing, but to better understand her as a writer.