The Key to Reality

"Everything I imagine exists. So what exists is greater than what I imagine."

 

Originally published in 1944, and here presented for the first time in English, expertly translated from the French by Sue Boswell, The Key to Reality, by the avant-garde Romanian author Ilarie Voronca, is one of the great surrealist short story collections. Featuring fifteen pieces of prose, including a selection of dream-like "notes", the present book introduces the reader to an office worker who has in his desk drawer, amongst other things, a horse and a tree; a story-teller who has a path running through his bedroom; a street vendor whose customers might be imaginary, as might be his wares.

 

At once enchanting, visionary, and poignant, The Key to Reality is a masterpiece of narrative reflection that operates like a series of magic spells which, with great poetic beauty, transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.