DALI, Salvadore. Diary of a Genius. Solar Books / Creation Books, 2007. First Thus. Square 8vo. Perfect bound into Wrappers. New. 191pp. DalÃ's second volume of autobiography, DIARY OF A GENIUS covers his life from 1952 to 1963, during which years we learn of his amour fou for his wife Gala, and their relationship both at home in Cadaqu»s and during bizarre world travels. We also learn how Dalà draws inspiration from excrement, rotten fish and Vermeer's Lacemaker to enter his ÎrhinoceronticÌ period, preaching his post-holocaustal gospels of nuclear mysticism and cosmogenic atavism; and we follow the labyrinthine mental journeys that lead to the creation of such paintings as the Assumption, and his film script The Flesh Wheelbarrow. This new edition includes a brilliant and revelatory essay on Salvador DalÃ, and the importance of his art to the 20th century, by the author J G Ballard.