Tropic of Cancer

... is a fictional account of Henry Miller's adventures in underground Paris, among prostitutes, pimps, and penniless painters and writers. It has been described as "a classic of erotic literature, shattering every taboo in its frank, unapologetic portrait of desire."

It was first published in 1934 by the Obelisk Press in Paris, but this edition was banned in the United States. A "prequel of sorts", entitled (you guessed it) Tropic of Capricorn, was published in Paris five years later, but was similarly banned in the USA.

In 1961, the publication of Tropic of Cancer in the US by Grove Press led to obscenity trials that tested American laws on pornography. The book was finally declared non–obscene in 1964 by the US Supreme Court.

Until that time, only smuggled copies were available in the United Kingdom. Scotland Yard contemplated banning it in the 1960s, but decided not to because established literary figures such as T. S. Eliot were prepared to defend the book publicly.

Tropic of Cancer is now regarded as an important work of 20th–century literature. The reviewer of a 2010 biography, in the New York Times, wrote that "Henry Miller's contributions to 20th–century culture are undeniable, chief among them the free speech that we now take for granted in literature."