Student Blogs

 While reading "Paris Peasant" by Louis Aragon I was confused a lot of the time. I found it difficult to follow along with the text of the novel, as it did not seem to have much structure or storyline in my opinion. I also noticed that the beginning of the text was not very something that seemed to portray similarity to introductions of other texts that I have read in the past. I noticed that the beginning to this text was abrupt and I was confused initially at the structure of the introduction. That being said, I was able to notice that introduction or beginning of the text was quite meaningful and deep. The beginning of this text seemed to focus on life and its deeper meaning or at least that was the way that I had portrayed it. The text was very descriptive and it was slightly hard for me to follow along, but I was able to understand and interpret what was going on and how descriptive this novel was based on life. When the novel came to talking about certain buildings or places, I was pretty confused. I felt like I was not able to grasp on to the reasoning and the meaning behind the description of these places. My question about the text is what do we think makes the beginning of the novel seem so random or abrupt? During this novel, I had a hard time reading it due to the names of places being in another language. I found that I had more trouble understanding the storyline or flow of the text. I noticed that throughout this novel the author points out things in a way of including the reader in the text. This was interesting to me and helped me have an even deeper interest in the text. I wonder why the information about certain buildings or places is descriptive to the point where it talks about most fo the details you would find or observe when visiting any place. This was interesting to me as it makes me wonder what the purpose was behind the descriptiveness and if it leads to a deeper meaner or way of perceiving this text. I think that it is very interesting how descriptive this text is and I think that it adds beauty to this novel. I believe that this text allows readers to have a deeper level of understanding and meaningfulness. 

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The Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon is a wonderful culmination of intricate surrealism and elaborate imagery. I found myself deep... read full post >>

The first thing one discovers when reading this work is that it is not a traditional novel. It reads more like a travelogue or a meditation on the peculiar magic and mystery of place. The Passage de l’Opera seems to serve as a repository of memories, desires, fashions, etc. His meticulously detailed descriptions of cafes, […] read full post >>

 After reading the first couple of pages of Louis Aragon's Paris Peasant, I did not understand what I was reading at all. All the previous texts I have read are novels. My first initial thought is to try and highlight words to understand the reasoning behind the author and their story. With Paris Peasant, this got me nowhere, and after watching the lecture and searching some things up about this text, I realized that the way I was reading and analyzing the book was all wrong. Even though I still don't fully understand it, Surrealism is a way of releasing our unconscious minds. Louis takes us on a journey of his small peasant town in pairs, describing the architecture, the types of people it draws and how we always have a perceived notion or underlying feeling about these places or things. One of the questions that Jon wanted us to think about was the notion of time in Aragon's text. I feel like the sense of time is lost and moving so fast before anyone can realize it's passing by. The way Louis jumps from building to building or random facts about how he loves blondes to talking about the importance of error without evidence makes me think this. One of my favourite parts was when he talked about baths and how "man" perceives that baths pertain to sensual pleasure instead of just a way to clean ourselves. I never thought of thinking in this way. Everything we see in reality has a feeling associated with it in our unconscious mind. After I realized this, I started to understand how this text was written. I'm not going to lie, some parts still confused me a lot, but I began to sit back and simply enjoy the words. I let my own mind take over and just absorb the beautiful details of scenery and how passionate Louis was about this little town. In the beginning, I remember him mentioning how they were trying to change the roads in his city to make it more open and that he was scared and wasn't open to the idea of modernization. I agree with Louis; this small town holds the passages that its inhibitors walk on and venture down. It may seem like a dull reality above but hidden underneath are the dark, twisty unconscious minds that dare to dream of coming above the surface. Instead of being in the present moment with this book, I felt disconnected. I didn't feel like Louis walking through the town, I felt as if I was watching Louis stroll through the town instead. I didn't feel present in the story, like when I have those days where I feel so tired and disconnected in the world that I don't feel like myself. I think that's what Louis was trying to grasp, though, the difference between reality and dreaming. Surrealism.  

This leaves me with one question,

Do authors have a certain way they want you to read their book? / how does this impact what the reader gets out of the text? 

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 After reading the first couple of pages of Louis Aragon's Paris Peasant, I did not understand what I was reading at all. All the previous texts I have read are novels. My first initial thought is to try and highlight words to understand the reasoning behind the author and their story. With Paris Peasant, this got me nowhere, and after watching the lecture and searching some things up about this text, I realized that the way I was reading and analyzing the book was all wrong. Even though I still don't fully understand it, Surrealism is a way of releasing our unconscious minds. Louis takes us on a journey of his small peasant town in pairs, describing the architecture, the types of people it draws and how we always have a perceived notion or underlying feeling about these places or things. One of the questions that Jon wanted us to think about was the notion of time in Aragon's text. I feel like the sense of time is lost and moving so fast before anyone can realize it's passing by. The way Louis jumps from building to building or random facts about how he loves blondes to talking about the importance of error without evidence makes me think this. One of my favourite parts was when he talked about baths and how "man" perceives that baths pertain to sensual pleasure instead of just a way to clean ourselves. I never thought of thinking in this way. Everything we see in reality has a feeling associated with it in our unconscious mind. After I realized this, I started to understand how this text was written. I'm not going to lie, some parts still confused me a lot, but I began to sit back and simply enjoy the words. I let my own mind take over and just absorb the beautiful details of scenery and how passionate Louis was about this little town. In the beginning, I remember him mentioning how they were trying to change the roads in his city to make it more open and that he was scared and wasn't open to the idea of modernization. I agree with Louis; this small town holds the passages that its inhibitors walk on and venture down. It may seem like a dull reality above but hidden underneath are the dark, twisty unconscious minds that dare to dream of coming above the surface. Instead of being in the present moment with this book, I felt disconnected. I didn't feel like Louis walking through the town, I felt as if I was watching Louis stroll through the town instead. I didn't feel present in the story, like when I have those days where I feel so tired and disconnected in the world that I don't feel like myself. I think that's what Louis was trying to grasp, though, the difference between reality and dreaming. Surrealism.  

This leaves me with one question,

Do authors have a certain way they want you to read their book? / how does this impact what the reader gets out of the text? 

read full post >>

Initially, I was very lost on reading Paris Peasant. Often times, I tend to look too deep into a text to fully try to analyze what it is meant but it always leads me into overthinking the context. While reading Aragon’s “Paris Peasant”, I tried to keep an open mind, not letting myself get too […] read full post >>

For many of us, reading brings out a visual representation, so when I read a book or a story, I am able to visualize it in my head, letting me teleport to whatever I am reading. While reading Michael Proust’s Combray, I had a strong sense of melancholy. The setting felt dim and quiet and […] read full post >>

This week’s book, Paris Peasant, I did find to be quite enjoyable, slightly challenging to follow, but was also hard to put down. In the first parts of the text, I do have to admit I was not completely engaged, … Continue reading → read full post >>

Aragon’s novel gives an interesting insight into how French surrealist artists perceived the world in the 1920s. The unconventional narrative made me feel like I was reading about a confusing, nostalgic, and mesmerizing dream. However, the story is enriched by … Continue reading → read full post >>

    Louis Aragon’s Paris Peasant, at first glance, presents a deceiving title. On the surface it rings true: the main character is a middle class Parisian, a wanderer who is afforded the luxury to observe social institutions, characters and machinations, rarely without comment. Yet when peeling back the many layered onion that is the surrealist novel, […] read full post >>

Aragon’s Paris Peasant For this week I decided to first see the lecture video before reading the book and when I heard that it was about surrealism I got excited as I know a few things about André Bréton although I have never read a book written by him. But most importantly I got excited […] read full post >>

 Aragon, Ocean and Kerouac

As I read Paris Peasant, and delved deeper into the surrealist movement and its dealings with the unconscious state, my first thought was of Frank Ocean. In Paris Peasant, and surrealist works in general, images are strung together to create a surrealist and unconscious landscape from which to gain insight. Similarly to Ocean, his prose is almost a stream-of-consciousness rambling, making quick jumps and sharp imagery to dance around a scene without quite narrating it. Instead, they both focus on digging and searching for the essence of the experience which is being described. Metaphors and surreal imagery are used to cast a haunting tone to the novel, and these small issues of tone and word choice are key in order to develop a theme and experience for the reader. 

I took the liberty of rearranging a particularly interesting quotation into a poetic format, to illustrate the melody and "dance" of Aragon's translated prose.

Best of all

love thrusts up shoots where no one plants it : 

how vulgarity convulses it ! 

it is liable 

to give 

sudden wanton twitches

There are maniacs possessed 

by the street's haunting memory

and only there 

can they experience 

the full flow 

of their nature

Another artist who comes to mind is Jack Kerouac. While writing 40+ years later, he used imagery, setting and experience to flesh out ideas and insights in a similarly surreal and consciousness inspired way.

Here is a snapshot of Kerouac's writing, again transposed to be framed as a poem.

I realized 

these were all 

the snapshots which our children would look at 

someday with wonder

thinking their parents had lived smooth, well-ordered lives 

and got up in the morning to walk proudly on the sidewalks of life

never dreaming 

the raggedy madness 

and riot of our actual lives,

our actual night, 

the hell of it, 

the senseless emptiness.

The two passages are similar in tone, and the insights they seek are similar in terms of existentialism and the human experience. Interestingly both authors are also French-speakers, though Kerouac's work is not translated. 

Questions

Are there any authors or artists who's work Louis Aragon work makes you think of?

Has surrealism had an impact on current artists or authors you enjoy?

read full post >>

 Aragon, Ocean and Kerouac

As I read Paris Peasant, and delved deeper into the surrealist movement and its dealings with the unconscious state, my first thought was of Frank Ocean. In Paris Peasant, and surrealist works in general, images are strung together to create a surrealist and unconscious landscape from which to gain insight. Similarly to Ocean, his prose is almost a stream-of-consciousness rambling, making quick jumps and sharp imagery to dance around a scene without quite narrating it. Instead, they both focus on digging and searching for the essence of the experience which is being described. Metaphors and surreal imagery are used to cast a haunting tone to the novel, and these small issues of tone and word choice are key in order to develop a theme and experience for the reader. 

I took the liberty of rearranging a particularly interesting quotation into a poetic format, to illustrate the melody and "dance" of Aragon's translated prose.

Best of all

love thrusts up shoots where no one plants it : 

how vulgarity convulses it ! 

it is liable 

to give 

sudden wanton twitches

There are maniacs possessed 

by the street's haunting memory

and only there 

can they experience 

the full flow 

of their nature

Another artist who comes to mind is Jack Kerouac. While writing 40+ years later, he used imagery, setting and experience to flesh out ideas and insights in a similarly surreal and consciousness inspired way.

Here is a snapshot of Kerouac's writing, again transposed to be framed as a poem.

I realized 

these were all 

the snapshots which our children would look at 

someday with wonder

thinking their parents had lived smooth, well-ordered lives 

and got up in the morning to walk proudly on the sidewalks of life

never dreaming 

the raggedy madness 

and riot of our actual lives,

our actual night, 

the hell of it, 

the senseless emptiness.

The two passages are similar in tone, and the insights they seek are similar in terms of existentialism and the human experience. Interestingly both authors are also French-speakers, though Kerouac's work is not translated. 

Questions

Are there any authors or artists who's work Louis Aragon work makes you think of?

Has surrealism had an impact on current artists or authors you enjoy?

read full post >>

I’ll be honest, when I first cracked open this book, I did not expect the start it presented me with. Perhaps I should have known from years of experience not to expect the book to immediately explain the title the author has given it however, this may be the first book that really drove home […] read full post >>

 While reading Paris Peasant, I was constantly trying to make sense of what was really going on. Prior to starting the novel, I thought that my ability to speak french and the title being “paris peasant” would provide me a leg up, but that was not the case. Although I am not sure of the original language this text was written in, it did not feel french. But, that may also be due to the advanced vocabulary… There is mention in this week's video that the incomplete thoughts create suspension, however for me, it only created frustration.  

At some points, small trains of thought would progress from the narrator and I would begin to think I ‘sorta’ understand what's going on…. Then flip to the next page and I would feel completely lost again, but I think that was the point.

As a psychology major where my textbooks consist of clear topics which flow nicely from page to  page, this style of writing is totally new and challenging for me. It is frustrating when reading to feel the need to understand what is happening before moving along, however that is something I'm trying to move away from as that doesn't seem to be very useful for these texts. 

While reading the first 30 pages, I had made a note that I feel as though the author is lonely in his life. He seems to always have a lot going on around him yet the background seems quiet, and his thoughts seem so loud that they overtake everything else. I enjoyed it when he said “Everything distracts me indefinitely, except for my distraction itself”. I think this signifies that at the end of the day, the world around him distracts him minimally, in comparison to his thoughts that seem to never stop.

Something else that stood out to me was that I felt the narrator was very opinionated, especially when it comes to women. Although I am aware that these are his own thoughts and not necessarily something he is saying out loud and to others, it seems as though he judges women off their bodies and their whereabouts a fair amount. 

My question to the class is if anyone feels that they can relate to having this magnitude of thoughts throughout the day similar to the narrator…always thinking critically of the world around them, and taking everything not just simply how it is, but thinking deeper of its meaning and significance. Personally, this is something I do not relate to whatsoever. I feel as though my thoughts are minimal and I tend to just go with the flow. 

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