Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Vintage (2013), Edition: Illustrated, 288 pages
Description
"Luis Bunuel lived many lives - surrealist, Spanish Civil War propagandist, hedonist, friend of artists and poets, and filmmaker. With surprising candor and wit, Bunuel offers his sometimes scathing opinions on the literati and avante-garde members of his sweeping social circle, including Pablo Picasso, Jorge Luis Borges, Salvador Dali, and Federico Garcia Lorca. These colorful stories of his nomadic life reveal a man of stunning imagination and influence."--BOOK JACKET.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jburlinson
To give a notion of how much a Buñuel maniac I really am, I bought a copy of this from a sidewalk bookseller in Merida, even though my Spanish (the first year of which I had taken 3 separate times) was atrocious. I couldn't even wait the year it took for an English edition to come out. For some
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reason, the book seemed so much more erudite when I struggled with the Spanish. Show Less
LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick
This is the autobiography of Luis Bunuel, the surrealist film director. I watched several of his films a few years ago, and once seen they are not easily forgotten. Though not one of the founding members of the Surrealist movement, he was welcomed into the circle and became a close friend of many
Bunuel was born in 1900, in a small town called Calanda in the Aragon region. Almost as a disclaimer, the biography begins with some musings on the vagaries of memory, and he makes the point that even if we remember something falsely, it is not the less a part of ourselves. This is perhaps quite the case, as he wrote this book in the last year of his life before he died in 1982. He then goes into his childhood in Calanda, which was essentially a feudal community that had changed little from medieval times, with a very strict Catholic worldview. Like many of the Surrealists, he grew up in a wealthy family and had the benefit of a good education, in his case initially with the Jesuits (like James Joyce). The driving idea behind surrealism though, as Bunuel explains it, is the idea of revolution and the surrealist act (ie creating a scandal or social shock). They thought of Surrealism as fundamentally not an aesthetic endeavour, but a moral or social one, though this in practice was just one facet of it.
Like most autobiographies, this will be most of interest to those with a pre-existing interest in either the protagonist or the area of their endeavours. Due to the nature of Surrealism, that its essence is hard to grasp, and deliberately so, there is a lot here that can be learnt about the movement. As an artistic phenomemenon it still has appeal, and considerably more depth than most other 20th Century creative movements, despite often not having an obvious aesthetic appeal. This book is not necessarily a good introduction to Surrealism by itself, but will be enlightening to those who have been perplexed by other products of this movement.
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of them, as well as becoming the foremost maker of Surrealist films. For those with an interest in Surrealism, this biography has much to offer in terms of the history of the group, their friendships and fallings-out, as well as Bunuel's own musings on Surrealism. However, there is also a wealth of social and political history, as Spain and Europe underewent much upheaval during these years. Bunuel is amusing throughout, and this is a trove of anecdotes and interesting events, conversations in cafes, scandal, and inspiration.Bunuel was born in 1900, in a small town called Calanda in the Aragon region. Almost as a disclaimer, the biography begins with some musings on the vagaries of memory, and he makes the point that even if we remember something falsely, it is not the less a part of ourselves. This is perhaps quite the case, as he wrote this book in the last year of his life before he died in 1982. He then goes into his childhood in Calanda, which was essentially a feudal community that had changed little from medieval times, with a very strict Catholic worldview. Like many of the Surrealists, he grew up in a wealthy family and had the benefit of a good education, in his case initially with the Jesuits (like James Joyce). The driving idea behind surrealism though, as Bunuel explains it, is the idea of revolution and the surrealist act (ie creating a scandal or social shock). They thought of Surrealism as fundamentally not an aesthetic endeavour, but a moral or social one, though this in practice was just one facet of it.
Like most autobiographies, this will be most of interest to those with a pre-existing interest in either the protagonist or the area of their endeavours. Due to the nature of Surrealism, that its essence is hard to grasp, and deliberately so, there is a lot here that can be learnt about the movement. As an artistic phenomemenon it still has appeal, and considerably more depth than most other 20th Century creative movements, despite often not having an obvious aesthetic appeal. This book is not necessarily a good introduction to Surrealism by itself, but will be enlightening to those who have been perplexed by other products of this movement.
Show Less
LibraryThing member joannajuki
Just as with Dylan and his "Chronicles", it proves that the maestro in one medium can be the maestro in another. Lovely to read and fascinating.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1982
Physical description
288 p.; 7.93 inches
ISBN
0345803701 / 9780345803702