FICTION

Hidden Faces

by Salvador Dalí
Pushkin. Jun. 2024. 448p. tr. from French by Haakon Chevalier. ISBN 9781805330554. pap. $19.95. F
COPY ISBN
In the grandiloquent preface to this eccentric 1944 work, audacious surrealist Dalí (1904–89) proclaims his intent to counter the modern mania for speed with a “long and boring ‘true novel.’” He very nearly succeeds. The plot of this extravagant funhouse is a raveled skein of mistaken identities and romantic entanglements betwixt an indulgent aristocrat, his idolized inamorata, a disfigured Yankee pilot, a wealthy American heiress, her polyamorous admirer, and various others, including Adolf Hitler. All of this is rendered in a mannered, ostentatious style described by the book’s translator, Chevalier, as a “lush jungle” of “superfluous epithet” and “elaborate festoons of redundancy,” never using one word where two—or five—will do.
VERDICT This isn’t as entertaining as Dalí’s gleefully self-mythologizing memoirs, but the outré decadence of his lone novel is not without its perverse delights, marking this out for cult status among devotees of Joris-Karl Huysmans and the Marquis de Sade.
Reviewed by David Wright , May 01, 2024
Comment Policy:
  • Be respectful, and do not attack the author, people mentioned in the article, or other commenters. Take on the idea, not the messenger.
  • Don't use obscene, profane, or vulgar language.
  • Stay on point. Comments that stray from the topic at hand may be deleted.
  • Comments may be republished in print, online, or other forms of media.
  • If you see something objectionable, please let us know. Once a comment has been flagged, a staff member will investigate.

RELATED 

FICTION

The Devil’s Charm
by Frampton, Megan
MEDIA

The Grey Wolf
by Penny, Louise
MEDIA

The Eyes Are the Best Part
by Kim, Monika
FICTION

The Oligarch’s Daughter
by Finder, Joseph
MEDIA

Sacrificial Animals
by Pedersen, Kailee
MEDIA

Anyone’s Ghost
by Thompson, August
More
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?