Avida Dollars: Salvador Dali, novelist

Q. Avida Dollars

A. This was head honcho Surrealist Andr� Breton's anagram of the name of his former friend Salvador Dal�, and a less than complimentary swipe at the latter's well-documented love of cash.

�

Q. Novelist

A. Even people with no interest in or knowledge of art will be familiar with at least aspects of Dal�'s work - after all, The Metamorphosis of Narcissus was one of the best-selling posters of the 1970s and Dal�esque motifs such as floppy clocks are all over the place in popular imagery, particularly in advertising. Not so well known is that he also produced 'the great Surrealist novel', which has been described as 'Dal�'s delirious swansong before his long descent into vacuous self-publicity'.

�

Q. So, it's pretty good, then

A. Some love it, some hate it, but, whatever your opinion, it's an interesting adjunct to the paintings of the man who may well be the most famous artist of the 20th century.

�

Q. What's the book called

A. First published in French in 1944, it appeared in its present form in English in 1973 as Hidden Faces (currently available in paperback, ISBN 0 7206 1139 3).

�

Q. Why French

A. Although Dal� was from Catalonia in Spain, because the Surrealist movement was based in Paris, French was the language of Surrealism. Having said that, the book was written in New Hampshire, as Dal� spent most of the war in the USA.

�

Q. OK. So what's it about

A. The story centres on the intrigues and love affairs of a group of dazzling eccentric aristocrats who, in their luxurious and extravagant lifestyle, symbolise the decadence of the 1930s. Gathered around the couple in the middle of the action - the haughty, sadistic Count Herv� de Gransailles and the adoring Solange de Cl�da - are various drug users, lesbians, a martyred notary, an American airman, whose mutilated face is covered by a white leather mask, and even Adolf Hitler.

�

Q. What did Dal� say about it

A. 'As far back as 1922 the great poet Garcia Lorca had predicted I was destined for a literary career,' and that 'the passional trilogy inaugurated by the Marquis de Sade had remained incomplete: Sadism, Masochism...It was necessary to invent the third...that of synthesis and sublimation: Cl�dalism, derived from the name of the protagonist of my novel.' Cl�dalism is also a pun on cl�f (French for key) and Dal�, so it can be read as a key to his personality, should you so choose.

�

Q. And what did the publisher say about Dal�

A. Peter Owen, who first published the book in English, recalls for the answerbank: 'On my first meeting with him in Paris Dal� suggested I visit him at his home in Cadaqu�s in Spain. As I left he said to me, "Dal� loves money." When I arrived in Spain I found him wearing a djellaba and sitting with two topless women for company beside a phallus-shaped swimming pool that he'd designed...I bought the book there and then, paying more than I had ever done before for any book.'

�

See also the article on Surrealism

�

For more on Arts & Literature click here

�

By Simon Smith