This Is Not Dalí's House

By now, Michael feels less like a guest and more like someone this house has grown used to having around. In the spring of 2026, he told me that a short story he'd written, titled "This Is Not Dalí's House" as a homage to this place, had been selected for publication in Conjunctions, one of America's leading literary magazines, alongside writers like Joyce Carol Oates, Rick Moody, and Sandra Cisneros. It moved me deeply to see this place, the one I've cared for so carefully, live on in someone else's words. I'm honored to share part of Michael's story here.
Conjunctions 85: ANEW, cover
Conjunctions 85 — "ANEW," edited by Bradford Morrow

The story opens somewhere between waking and the first light over Portlligat Bay — a place, the narrator insists, he doesn't return to because Dalí once lived here, but because almost no one lives here now.

The Dalí House and Museum opens at 10AM. Those who stumble on a list of the Top things do to in Cadaqués will find it. They will then attempt to find it. They will escape the ice-cream parlored esprit of Cadaqués, sun-screened and guided by phones. They will huff and puff over a ridge patrolled by spiteful cats. They will navigate an awkward downhill crawl to the sea, past a blue door set in stratified stone, and, on its silver handle, they will read black words on a white sticker. This is not Dalí's house. It pushes as it pulls.

The blue of the door is the blue of the Cadaquesencs. Charged with assertion and caution. A swaggering flash of go away. As flourish, it succeeds. As ward, historically less so. It is blue that is neither royal, cerulean, nor azure. In our meetings, it would be made certain. In our meetings, we would match, assign, and refer to it by its hex. We would call it #0b04d6.

There's a comfort in being behind a door that's not yours. A wall that's not yours. The approaching footsteps. The knock. Not for you. She's woken. I can hear her getting ready inside the hut. The telltale water through pipes. The clattering of potions and lotions. An elegant bull pawing the earth.

Among Dalí's various inventions, there were those without a place. Devised as such. To be unplaceable. Attempts to find their fit would be met by an anxiety that persisted until the object was discarded. This is not Dalí's House. It is simple, intuitive, everything with its purpose. The hut contradicts the garden and neighboring sprawl of whimsy. There are no cricket cages, lip sofas, or stuffed polar bears. There is a hammock that serves as hammock, water that tastes of water, an oven that cooks food.

Michael Murphy's story printed in Conjunctions 85
A page of "This Is Not Dalí's House" in Conjunctions 85
"This is not Dalí's house. It pushes as it pulls."

The full story appears in Conjunctions 85: ANEW, alongside work by Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Lethem, Sandra Cisneros, and others.

Read the full story →
Excerpt published with permission of the author, Michael Murphy. Conjunctions 85: ANEW, edited by Bradford Morrow. Learn more at conjunctions.com.

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