Spanish narrative fiction of the 1920s and 1930s is still an area which has suffered from critical neglect. Numerous authors of the time who were engaging with avant-garde experimentation produced works which were only read by a minority, and seldom re-edited. Antonio Obregón is one of these authors, who heavily influenced by surrealism wrote two novels Efectos navales (1931) and Hermes en la vía pública (1934), in addition to a collection of poetry. In this article I examine Efectos navales, and attempt to come to a greater understanding of how it fits within the paradigmatic framework of the modernist novel, arguing that it relies on surrealism as a way of breaking with 19th century realism and naturalism.