Salvador Dalí's Literary Self-Portrait
Carmen García de la Rasilla
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Approaches to a Surrealist Autobiography 2009 This book remedies decades of critical neglect that has deprived the fields of art and literary criticism of one of the most important autobiographical and surrealist works of the twentieth century. It reveals the origins of the text, its relation to and role within Dalí's corpus, as well as its reception, provocative power, and lasting popular success. The study examines the literary contexts and sources of the text as well as its structural and narrative devices, and reveals its complex parodic mechanics that caricaturize the Freudian self. In addition, the book illuminates the pictorial elements of Dalí's narrative and the major components of his fictional self-portrait. Finally, an interpretation within the Freudian and Surrealist contexts of the fascinating and intricate drawings and photo montages of The Secret Life illustrates the uniqueness of an autobiography designed to be read as much as to be contemplated. |
About the author:
Born and raised in Spain where she earned a PhD in history from the University of Valladolid, Carmen García de la Rasilla was later trained as a literary critic in the United States and received a PhD in literature from The Johns Hopkins University. She has taught at Saint Mary's, Bowdoin, and Bard Colleges and is currently Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of New Hampshire. Author of a variety of essays on the work of Salvador Dalí, she has lectured in national and international academic forums. Other publications include a monograph on contemporary Spanish history and articles and book chapters on this subject as well as on comparative literature and Spanish surrealism.
