The Custom House of Desire: A Half Century of Surrealist Stories

by J.H. Matthews (Editor, Introduction, Translator)

These translations of 47 short narratives by 24 surrealist writers span the period from 1922 (two years before Andre Breton's Manifesto of Surrealism codified surrealist principles) to 1973 (four years after the dissolution of unified surrealist group activity in France). The selections have been chosen to illustrate the whole gamut of surrealist short narrative style, ranging from fully structured tales to products of "automatic" writing.

Genres: Fiction

318 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Perry Ruhland · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual with anthologies, the quality of the stories within is extremely varied, but when it hits, it hits. A special mention goes to the three stories by Jean Ferry in here, each one more bizarre and terrifying than the last.

[Linda Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not that I don't "like" surrealism, but I couldn't give five stars because I couldn't read everything in it. I really wanted to because my brain is surrealist for sure. There are 47 stories, widely variable. The ones I read completely or skimmed seem to hint at some of what's written today, sometimes called "absurdist" writing. All of it's translated from French, Belgian, Greek, Peruvian, Spanish, etc., or was written in English to begin with. I don't think I see anything, or ever have, as totally as it is...I am a big fan of pareidolia and simulacra and in a way that's part of surrealism. The translations by Matthews are, I'm sure, very good. BTW, this edition has as cover artwork, a reproduction of "the central portion of a 1936 pencil drawing by Salvador Dali: "The Lips of Mae West".

~~ Linda Campbell Franklin

PS. I want to add that one of the stories, "The Inventor of Gratuitous Time" by Robert Lebel, is an interesting one to read just before reading "The Catcher in the Rye" by Salinger. Also, I feel quite at home in Lebel's story because of my own house and its stuff and bricolage and accumulation and interwoveness. ha ha

[Ben Haines]

the author seemed really into this stuff. did a good job providing at least some context on what stories were kind of going for and why they might be interesting. but some of them were still just kind of nonsense to me.

Liked Leonora Carrington's The Debutante, A neutral man, A man in love. Leopoldo Chariarse's Unacceptable Mixture. Jean Ferry's Garbage men's strike, fashionable tiger, kafka.

The inventor of gratuitous time, the railroad ticket rite, the cancer, the children's marquis de sade, wearing one's heart on one's sleeve, dreams that money can buy. The pommeraye arcade maybe my favorite? Bunch of Prassinos - The Big Bank Check, The Wool Dress. The Beginnings of a Journey.

idk

[Jesse]

The Custom House of Desire: A Half-Century of Surrealist Stories by J.H. Matthews