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This book was quite a mind-bending trip. Fun to read, but also made no sense. I liked it. 

The main feeling that I got from the narrator was a sense of nostalgia, a sense of time passing way too fast for his liking. As he took us on a tour of the various, curious little shops and stores around the neighborhood, I felt a desperation to hold onto each little moment that he was showing us in perfect preservation for as long as I could. The way he described each place in such immense, careful detail made me feel sad knowing that they were soon to be demolished and replaced. The word ephemeral kept coming to mind throughout my reading of this book. I thought about how the older I get, the faster time seems to fly by. When I was a small kid, I wanted nothing more than to grow up and get to what I thought was going to be the beginning of my life. What I didn't know then was that when I finally grew up, I would want nothing more than to go back and experience the little mundane moments of my childhood just one more time. No matter how many times an adult tells a child to enjoy their youth while it lasts, the ephemerality of life seems to be a phenomenon that one never understands until they are grown up and it becomes their turn to repeat the same words to another kid.

I especially liked the last couple of pages. It was like a summary of all the author's final thoughts and epiphanies about the state of love, truth, mind and reality. For me, those couple of pages were the ones that simultaneously made the most and the least sense out of everything that the author wrote in Paris Peasant. This quote stood out: "It matters very little to me whether or not I have reason on my side. I do not seek to be right. I seek the concrete." It's like he has the freedom to say exactly what he wants very carelessly but also very thoughtfully because he's not afraid of making mistakes, because he doesn't see making mistakes as a problem or as something to worry about while he speaks - he just speaks to seek the concrete. 

Here is my question for everyone: Was this book worth reading? As in, do you feel that you personally extracted something of value or utility from this confusing text? 

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This book was quite a mind-bending trip. Fun to read, but also made no sense. I liked it. 

The main feeling that I got from the narrator was a sense of nostalgia, a sense of time passing way too fast for his liking. As he took us on a tour of the various, curious little shops and stores around the neighborhood, I felt a desperation to hold onto each little moment that he was showing us in perfect preservation for as long as I could. The way he described each place in such immense, careful detail made me feel sad knowing that they were soon to be demolished and replaced. The word ephemeral kept coming to mind throughout my reading of this book. I thought about how the older I get, the faster time seems to fly by. When I was a small kid, I wanted nothing more than to grow up and get to what I thought was going to be the beginning of my life. What I didn't know then was that when I finally grew up, I would want nothing more than to go back and experience the little mundane moments of my childhood just one more time. No matter how many times an adult tells a child to enjoy their youth while it lasts, the ephemerality of life seems to be a phenomenon that one never understands until they are grown up and it becomes their turn to repeat the same words to another kid.

I especially liked the last couple of pages. It was like a summary of all the author's final thoughts and epiphanies about the state of love, truth, mind and reality. For me, those couple of pages were the ones that simultaneously made the most and the least sense out of everything that the author wrote in Paris Peasant. This quote stood out: "It matters very little to me whether or not I have reason on my side. I do not seek to be right. I seek the concrete." It's like he has the freedom to say exactly what he wants very carelessly but also very thoughtfully because he's not afraid of making mistakes, because he doesn't see making mistakes as a problem or as something to worry about while he speaks - he just speaks to seek the concrete. 

Here is my question for everyone: Was this book worth reading? As in, do you feel that you personally extracted something of value or utility from this confusing text? 

read full post >>

This reading had me reading with caution based off the fact that it was in evidently written off well-developed, personally-deep opinions and ideas. Majority of the book is written in often disorienting surrealism and although there is some imagery I would not characterize it as vivid. Surroundings of the specific Arcade, or mini-mall, are described […] read full post >>

This week I was challenged with the novel Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon. Although I found myself struggling to find a plot, the key themes and meanings behind the text stood out to me and I think I was able … Continue reading → read full post >>

Louis Aragon's Paris Peasant is a very interesting text. It does not depend on a plot to tell a story, as it is a confusing retelling of events. It reminds me in ways of the last book we read. There was not much told and it was told almost as if it were thoughts. Once again, it felt like there was a lot of description for very little content, which is not a bad thing. It makes the reader think more thoughtfully in an attempt to grasp the greater meaning of the text. 

Paris Peasant is a very important piece of literature to surrealism as it depends on the reader being able to use their imagination. Aragon relies heavily on description to invoke feelings within the reader. He is able to relate to a wide audience range by using everyday experiences. He explores the underbelly of Paris in a very thoughtful way. "The trouble is that you fail to appreciate the limitless strength of the unreal. Your imagination, my dear fellow, is worth more than you imagine." (page 61) This quotation stuck out to me as I feel it described one of the major themes of the text. It encapsulates the goal of the surrealism movement as imaginary and avant-garde. I also just found this quotation very thought provoking as it makes one wonder, if imagination was not scorned through adulthood, would there be a difference in the world? Throughout the reading, you can tell that the author truly believed in the importance of surrealism and its contribution to the literary world. 

The author uses personification for various objects and themes. This creates a more vivid image in the minds of readers. It makes the reading more enjoyable as you feel you are imagining exactly what the author intended. 

A major theme I found troubling in this reading was the depiction and objectification of women. He gets lost on tangents discussing women's hair, eyes and bodies. My greatest issue with old literature is how women are depicted in the minds of the authors or narrators. It is an obvious answer to my question, but why has there always been a fixation on the appearances of women in literature? So often the quality of a woman is dependent on the way she presents herself. It has always saddened me that male authors present women in an objectified context. Aragon relies on the old 'ideal' woman as submissive and shy, waiting to be pursued. Has the idea of a woman needing to be pursued continued on and negatively affected the way that our generations understand dating? 

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Louis Aragon's Paris Peasant is a very interesting text. It does not depend on a plot to tell a story, as it is a confusing retelling of events. It reminds me in ways of the last book we read. There was not much told and it was told almost as if it were thoughts. Once again, it felt like there was a lot of description for very little content, which is not a bad thing. It makes the reader think more thoughtfully in an attempt to grasp the greater meaning of the text. 

Paris Peasant is a very important piece of literature to surrealism as it depends on the reader being able to use their imagination. Aragon relies heavily on description to invoke feelings within the reader. He is able to relate to a wide audience range by using everyday experiences. He explores the underbelly of Paris in a very thoughtful way. "The trouble is that you fail to appreciate the limitless strength of the unreal. Your imagination, my dear fellow, is worth more than you imagine." (page 61) This quotation stuck out to me as I feel it described one of the major themes of the text. It encapsulates the goal of the surrealism movement as imaginary and avant-garde. I also just found this quotation very thought provoking as it makes one wonder, if imagination was not scorned through adulthood, would there be a difference in the world? Throughout the reading, you can tell that the author truly believed in the importance of surrealism and its contribution to the literary world. 

The author uses personification for various objects and themes. This creates a more vivid image in the minds of readers. It makes the reading more enjoyable as you feel you are imagining exactly what the author intended. 

A major theme I found troubling in this reading was the depiction and objectification of women. He gets lost on tangents discussing women's hair, eyes and bodies. My greatest issue with old literature is how women are depicted in the minds of the authors or narrators. It is an obvious answer to my question, but why has there always been a fixation on the appearances of women in literature? So often the quality of a woman is dependent on the way she presents herself. It has always saddened me that male authors present women in an objectified context. Aragon relies on the old 'ideal' woman as submissive and shy, waiting to be pursued. Has the idea of a woman needing to be pursued continued on and negatively affected the way that our generations understand dating? 

read full post >>

Paris Peasant, to me, was a story about everything, but also about nothing. I felt as though I was more reading a journal of a man as opposed to a story. There did not seem to be any concrete plot, nor did it feel as though there was one specific theme the writing was grounded […] read full post >>

 This week I read Parispeasant by Louis Aragon, and here are some of my readings.

The author begins with his reflections on philosophical theories' development and then returns to himself. The errors and sophistry of the philosophical development put forward by the author of the first part made it difficult for me to understand what the author was trying to express (probably because English is not a native language). And the descriptions of the weather and climate that followed turned out to be something I felt relatively better understood. The author sees that anything material is connected to emotional thinking while at the same time relying on rational insights to correct mistakes and find the way to truth. This mixed life of rationality and sensibility has a more psychedelic colour. The combination of reality and illusion makes the author's existence blurred, leaving only a thinking person who is good at thinking. Consciousness. The author tries to get out of this life but doesn't know how to take concrete action.

The author then describes the scenes on the street and the impressions and life experiences left by the different types of shops. It can be said that most of the objects and scenes described by the author are detailed in detail and often use some romantic colour adjective. And he covers the spatial relationship between different shops in it so that people can also outline the general layout of the street and the general colour in the author's impression in their minds. Among them, he described an old couple that made me very emotional to read: "For years now these two old people have been ineluctably moulded to the shape of this absurd place fringing the arcades, visibly consuming their lives, he smoking it away, she sewing, eternally sewing as though the fate of the universe hinged upon her needlework (23)." The sentence seems to combine the fate of the two old couples with the arcade and the act of knitting the older woman's sweater. Endowed with a sense of eternal mission, let me feel the unchanging and dull life of this old couple.

The way the author attaches little notices to the article is also exciting; these little ones put us in the environment. Like a bystander are reading the content of these notices to understand how things are going. This vivid narration makes it unnecessary for the author to describe the development stage of the event in the article again. And these short notices posted in the paper changed the typesetting usually used in books, making the work more lively and more interested in reading the following content.

I incorporate his memories of this street from the author's perspective when reading this article. At the same time, as a reader, I can feel the author's sense of A dashing, lighthearted personality. The author Marcel Proust, whom we've previously known through Combray, clearly has a very different character. It made me realize that even though two authors use similar writing techniques, their experiences in the world are very different because of their perceptions of the world. The writing technique of stream of consciousness does have a unique advantage in allowing readers to experience the author's emotions.

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 This week I read Parispeasant by Louis Aragon, and here are some of my readings.

The author begins with his reflections on philosophical theories' development and then returns to himself. The errors and sophistry of the philosophical development put forward by the author of the first part made it difficult for me to understand what the author was trying to express (probably because English is not a native language). And the descriptions of the weather and climate that followed turned out to be something I felt relatively better understood. The author sees that anything material is connected to emotional thinking while at the same time relying on rational insights to correct mistakes and find the way to truth. This mixed life of rationality and sensibility has a more psychedelic colour. The combination of reality and illusion makes the author's existence blurred, leaving only a thinking person who is good at thinking. Consciousness. The author tries to get out of this life but doesn't know how to take concrete action.

The author then describes the scenes on the street and the impressions and life experiences left by the different types of shops. It can be said that most of the objects and scenes described by the author are detailed in detail and often use some romantic colour adjective. And he covers the spatial relationship between different shops in it so that people can also outline the general layout of the street and the general colour in the author's impression in their minds. Among them, he described an old couple that made me very emotional to read: "For years now these two old people have been ineluctably moulded to the shape of this absurd place fringing the arcades, visibly consuming their lives, he smoking it away, she sewing, eternally sewing as though the fate of the universe hinged upon her needlework (23)." The sentence seems to combine the fate of the two old couples with the arcade and the act of knitting the older woman's sweater. Endowed with a sense of eternal mission, let me feel the unchanging and dull life of this old couple.

The way the author attaches little notices to the article is also exciting; these little ones put us in the environment. Like a bystander are reading the content of these notices to understand how things are going. This vivid narration makes it unnecessary for the author to describe the development stage of the event in the article again. And these short notices posted in the paper changed the typesetting usually used in books, making the work more lively and more interested in reading the following content.

I incorporate his memories of this street from the author's perspective when reading this article. At the same time, as a reader, I can feel the author's sense of A dashing, lighthearted personality. The author Marcel Proust, whom we've previously known through Combray, clearly has a very different character. It made me realize that even though two authors use similar writing techniques, their experiences in the world are very different because of their perceptions of the world. The writing technique of stream of consciousness does have a unique advantage in allowing readers to experience the author's emotions.

read full post >>

Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon I found to be very creative and abstract. It was difficult for me to logistically understand the plot and justify/recognize what and why things were happening in the book. That said, I thought it was a fun read because of the visuals given by Aragon. It was also fairly descriptive […] read full post >>

Reading Louis Aragon’s “Paris Peasant” is like therapy for me and I start to see how surrealism becomes the main theme of the text. It plays with the lightness and darkness of many situations which shows the illogicality of the narrative. Surrealism is described as “the offspring of frenzy and darkness” (65). Because there is […] read full post >>

In all honesty, I have no idea what happened in this story, plot-wise, but I think that was the point? Nevertheless, I found this to be a very thought-provoking read, with several lines sticking out as significant to me.  Aragon’s engagement within the surrealist movement is made apparently evident through this nonconforming novel that heavily […] read full post >>

Marcel Proust hopes to tell us, through this work, the story of his own life, but he does so in a very unique way. At the end of a person’s life, when he is getting old, at the end of his life, he will find that the prosperous and picturesque life he has lived is […] read full post >>

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Louis Aragon’s Paris Peasant is a masterful work reflecting the concept of surrealism. I frequently feel illusionary while reading the text. The narrator provokes surreal geographies by imagining and constructing the idea of “Paris”, primarily through describing two locations in the city — The Passage de L’Opéra and Buttes-Chaumont. In my opinion, this book is relatively similar […] read full post >>