David Vilaseca Libri

A self-appointed «genius,» Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) represents one of the most original, controversial and profoundly subversive phenomena in contemporary Western culture. This study focuses on the artist's autobiographical writings - particularly on The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí (1942) - proposing that without a notion of fantasy and identification, we are unable either to understand Dalí's own subjective movements in the memoirs or what he has come to represent for us. The Apocryphal Subject is the first book to adopt a poststructuralist perspective for the study of Dalí's writings, offering new insights on, for example, the artist's attachments to Federico G. Lorca and his wife Gala. The book draws extensively upon current debates in deconstructive and psychoanalytic criticism (particularly on the themes of homosexuality, masochism, abjection and paranoia ), showing how no writer demonstrates more forcefully than Dalí the irreducible contradictions and plurality of desires which constitute our contemporary postmodern identities.

Exploring the intersection of identity and narrative, this work delves into the subjective experiences of gay Hispanic individuals through autobiography. It examines how personal histories are shaped by cultural, social, and political contexts, highlighting the complexities of self-representation. The analysis reveals how these narratives challenge dominant discourses and contribute to a deeper understanding of both Hispanic and LGBTQ+ identities, offering insights into the broader implications of storytelling in marginalized communities.