The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí

Contents

Dalí opens the book with the statement: "At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily since." According to Time, Dalí wrote with a highly detailed, methodical style that layered words the same way as paint. For example, he states in an early section about his childhood home:

Dalí states in the book:

• At the age of five years, he encountered an almost dead bat covered with ants and then put it in his mouth, bit it, and then tore the bat almost in half.
• As a young child, he wore a king's ermine cape, a gold scepter, and a crown and then posed for himself with a mirror. He tucked his genitals inside the outfit to look more feminine.
• He stood out dramatically from the poor children in his school by carrying a flexible bamboo cane adorned with a silver dog's head figure and a sailor suit with gold insignia.
• Due to a "refined Jesuitical spirit", he remained a virgin until age 25. As an adolescent, he resisted the sexual advances by his girlfriend for five years until he left her, doing so mostly out of his enjoyment of being in control.
• He became interested in necrophilia, but was then later cured of it.
• While walking down the Boulevard Edgar-Quinet in Paris in 1934, he became so disgusted at the sight of a blind double-amputee that he kicked him.

Reception

Time stated that Dalí's autobiography was "one of the most irresistible books of the year." The magazine called it "a wild jungle of fantasy, posturing, belly laughs, narcissist and sadist confessions", while also commenting that "[t]he question has always been: Is Dalí crazy? The book indicates that Dalí is as crazy as a fox."

Essayist, journalist, and author George Orwell wrote a notable criticism of the book titled Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dalí in 1944.

In July 1999, an article by Charles Stuckey in Art in America stated that Dalí's book "arguably revolutionized a literary genre". He argued that Dalí's book had been intended as slapstick humor and has been generally misinterpreted by critics. He also wrote:

Influences

American writer and humorist James Thurber wrote a semi-autobiographic article for The New Yorker called The Secret Life of James Thurber on February 27, 1943. In the article, Thurber referred to Dalí's title and parts of his style in comparison to his own life. In particular, Thurber noted with dismay that his own autobiographical book, My Life and Hard Times, sold for only $1.75 a copy in 1933 while Dalí's book sold for a full $6.00 in 1942.

References

References

1. Salvador Dalí. (1993). "The secret life of Salvador Dalí". Courier Dover Publications.
2. (December 28, 1942). "Art: Not So Secret Life". [[Time Magazine.
3. Jonathan Jones. "Why George Orwell was right about Salvador Dalí". [[The Guardian]].
4. Jim Lindgren. (September 28, 2009). "Roman Polanski, George Orwell, and Salvador Dali". [[The Volokh Conspiracy]].
5. Orwell categorized Dalí's book among other recent autobiographies that he considered "flagrantly dishonest", and he stated that "his autobiography is simply a strip-tease act conducted in pink limelight". He denounced Dalí's accounts of [[domestic violence
6. Stuckey, Charles. (July 1999}} {{Dead link). "The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali – Review". [[Art in America]].
7. [http://www.compedit.com/james_thuber_and_depression_humor.htm JAMES THURBER AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION] {{webarchive. link. (April 2, 2010 .)
8. [[James Thurber]]. [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1943/02/27/1943_02_27_015_TNY_CARDS_000190190 “The Secret Life of James Thurber”]. ''[[The New Yorker]]'', February 27, 1943, p. 15