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  • Author
  • Journalist
· Austrian · 1897–1990

Alfred Perlès

Miller's Paris sidekick and Clichy flatmate — the 'Carl' of Tropic of Cancer, co-conspirator of the lean years, and later author of My Friend Henry Miller.

In images

Details

Lived
1897–1990
Born
1897
Birthplace
Vienna, Austria
Died
27 January 1990
Place of death
Wells, England
Nationality
Austrian
Roles
AuthorJournalist
In fiction
Carl in Tropic of Cancer

About Alfred Perlès

A Viennese journalist adrift in Paris, Alfred Perlès shared Miller's hungriest years — including the Clichy flat whose comedies fed both men's books — and worked beside him on the Chicago Tribune's Paris edition. He is the 'Carl' of Tropic of Cancer and the co-spirit of Quiet Days in Clichy, and with Lawrence Durrell he co-ran The Booster, the Villa Seurat circle's gleefully unserious magazine. His 1955 memoir My Friend Henry Miller repaid two decades of shared hunger with interest.

Alfred Perlès Featured in These Books

Cover of Aller Retour New York by Henry Miller

Aller Retour New York

by Henry Miller

How Alfred appears in its pages: The addressee — Miller's closest Paris friend and Clichy flatmate, to whom the entire book is written. New Directions calls it Miller's longest and best letter.

Read the character guide
Cover of Quiet Days in Clichy by Henry Miller

Quiet Days in Clichy

by Henry Miller

How Alfred appears in its pages: The narrator's flatmate and closest friend: a writer who works nights at a newspaper, pawns his typewriter whenever money runs short, and is incapable of refusing anyone. He is Alfred Perlès, the Austrian writer, under a changed name.

Read the character guide
Cover of Murder the Murderer by Henry Miller

Murder the Murderer

by Henry Miller

How Alfred appears in its pages: Miller’s closest Paris friend and the addressee of the essay’s opening section, written during their wartime separation.

Cover of What Are You Going to Do About Alf? by Henry Miller

What Are You Going to Do About Alf?

by Henry Miller

How Alfred appears in its pages: The “Alf” of the title: Miller’s closest Paris friend, presented here as a gifted writer who needs six months free from wage work.

People Alfred Perlès Knew

Relationships with other people, with sources for each connection.

Illustrated portrait of Lawrence Durrell

Lawrence Durrell

  • Author
  • Poet

Met · 1937

Co-editors of The Booster, the Villa Seurat circle's gleefully unserious magazine — the alliance of Miller's two lieutenants, Paris 1937.

— Brassaï, Henry Miller: The Paris Years (1995); Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller: A Private Correspondence (1963)

Illustrated portrait of Henry Miller

Henry Miller

  • Author

Met · 1928

The sidekick of the hungry years: flatmates in Clichy, colleagues on the Paris Tribune's night shift, and co-editors of The Booster — Miller filed him into Tropic of Cancer as Carl, and Perlès answered decades later with My Friend Henry Miller.

— Brassaï, Henry Miller: The Paris Years (1995)

Alfred Perlès’s Places

The cataloged places connected to Alfred Perlès — through the books, and through the documented record.

Places you can enter today appear first, followed by addresses to see from outside and sites that have vanished.

The Villa Seurat today — pale modernist façades, black-framed studio glazing, and cobbles down the private lane

Apartment · Parc de Montsouris

Outside only

18 Villa Seurat

The circle's constant — the Clichy flatmate followed Miller to the Villa Seurat years and co-edited the group's hijacked magazine, The Booster, with Miller and Durrell from 1937.

Visit the place

Connections and Sources

Alfred Perlès’s connections to people, places, and works, with the sources behind each one.

Met · 1937

Lawrence Durrell

Co-editors of The Booster, the Villa Seurat circle's gleefully unserious magazine — the alliance of Miller's two lieutenants, Paris 1937.

— Brassaï, Henry Miller: The Paris Years (1995); Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller: A Private Correspondence (1963)

Frequented · 1934–1939

18 Villa Seurat

The circle's constant — the Clichy flatmate followed Miller to the Villa Seurat years and co-edited the group's hijacked magazine, The Booster, with Miller and Durrell from 1937.

— Brassaï, Henry Miller: The Paris Years (1995)

Met · 1928

Henry Miller

The sidekick of the hungry years: flatmates in Clichy, colleagues on the Paris Tribune's night shift, and co-editors of The Booster — Miller filed him into Tropic of Cancer as Carl, and Perlès answered decades later with My Friend Henry Miller.

— Brassaï, Henry Miller: The Paris Years (1995)

References

References

The sources below include biographies, scholarly essays, interviews, and primary materials that informed this page. They reflect both the historical record and ongoing critical conversations about Alfred Perlès and their work.

  1. 1Henry Miller: The Paris Years

    Biography
    Brassaï, 1995
    Used for

    Biographical evidence used to verify chronology, relationships, and historical context connected to Alfred Perlès.

  2. 2Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller: A Private Correspondence

    Letters
    Used for

    First-person evidence and historical context used in preparing the Alfred Perlès page.

i
Why these sources are here

These references anchor the page in the documented record and in the scholarly conversations around Alfred Perlès. Every claim on this page traces back to one or more of the works listed here.

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