Salvador Dalí, or the Art of Spitting on Your Mother's Portrait

Among the many books written on or by Salvador Dalí, this is the first to give a complete, well-documented picture of his life and art. Carlos Rojas's approach to Dalí is somewhere between biography, Freudian analysis, and art and literary interpretation. Dalí is haunted from earliest childhood by the specter of his elder brother who died as a toddler shortly before Dalí was conceived (both brothers and the father bore the same name), as he is haunted by the devouring phantom of his mother, that praying mantis on whose portrait he would like to spit. Dalí is seen as endlessly struggling to affirm his identity and existence. A combination of genius, madman, neurotic, and spoiled brat, Dalí is illuminated by his work, while the known facts of his life, his own writings, those of his sister, and of others, are used to analyze the paintings, which are described in considerable detail. Rojas also provides sustained analyses of Dalí's relationships, including his influential amorous and intellectual affair with Federico García Lorca.

“This book should have appeal for almost anyone who has ever heard of or is interested in Dalí himself, or even in the type of art which he represents and of which he has become one of its best known and most notorious representatives. The translation respects the original in form, content, and spirit, but at the same time gives its readers in English an appealing version of the text.”—Vincent Cantarino, Ohio State University

“What Rojas offers, in addition to a vast synthesis of pre-existing documentation, is objectivity of attitude (to his sources as well as his subject), and a blend of the approaches of the novelist and the critic, a creative interpretation.”—Janet Pérez, Texas Tech University

Carlos Rojas is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Spanish Literature at Emory University and author of several books including El mundo mítico y mágico de Salvador Dalí (1985).

Art History & Architecture

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