'I, Salvador Dali, come from Spain, which is the most irrational and most mystical country in the world.' Dali's implicit suggestion is that Spaniards make good surrealists - as this volume confirms. Dedicated chapters consider major figures such as Garcia Lorca, Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel, Rafael Alberti, Vicente Aleixandre, Luis Cernuda, Joan Miro and Gomez de la Serna; other less mainstream figures are gathered into surveys of work in particular genres. The emphasis throughout is on the theme, topic or aspect of a given figure's work that is typical, illustrative, informative and original, and the intention is to represent the broad evolution of Surrealism, from the early Freudian preoccupation with the unconscious, to the Hegelian metaphysics of 'the surrealist object', and finally to the politics of Marxist materialism. The introduction focuses on salient features of Surrealism in Spain, and considers the value of its contribution both in terms of its adherence to French theory and as a distinctive cultural phenomenon.