Salvador Dali's surrealist masterworks are admired worldwide for their eccentric metaphors. Far lesser known, though, are his fascinating writings, where he occupies himself with verve and in bewilderingly unrefined style with the human body and sexuality. The French art critic and writer Catherine Millet has studied Dali's artistic oeuvre and his writings for years. Her essay is the expression of a very personal reading of his self-reflecting texts. This pivotal book explains Dali's influence on his contemporary artist colleagues and reveals the narcissism, the constraints and the visual inventiveness of the most famous - and the most notorious - of the surrealists. The text is completed by rarely published photographs and paintings by Dali and others that illustrate Millet's ideas. She (Millet) mainly draws upon the painter's writings, which she fortunately saves from oblivion. Readers of The Sexual Life of Catherine M. will find an extraordinary sequel in her vision of the textual life of Salvador D. A most unusually intimate view. - Le Monde AUTHOR: Catherine Millet is editor in chief of Art Press magazine, published in France. She is the author of several books, including The Sexual Life of Catherine M. SELLING POINTS: . A personal view on Salvador Dali's oeuvre: indiscreet, provocative and suprisingly illuminative 1 colour, 62 b/w illustrations