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 Paris Peasant was an unexpected read, to say the least. The first thing that caught my attention was Aragon's use of descriptive language. I've never particularly enjoyed excessive description, so I did find it kind of challenging to read certain portions of the book. 

However, the irregular structure of the text was fascinating to discover. It was interesting to see the paragraphs broken up by newspaper articles, pictures, and municipality warnings. As stated in the video lecture, the retention of the original fonts and motifs in the book adds a layer of authenticity and charm. This makes readers feel as if they are exploring the city of Paris with the narrator. 

Additionally, I found the blurring of the lines between reality and imagination intriguing. It would catch me completely off-guard - the sentence would start off as a description of a real place or person and end with a fantastical twist. In this sense, I truly do believe that Aragon was able to craft a wonderful surrealist world in his work. 

On the other hand, a point that confused me while reading was related to Aragon's description of women. Personally, I found the tangents describing women and their features a bit uncomfortable and not quite necessary to the text. I suppose that such writing was commonplace in literature back then, but I wasn't sure how it particularly added to the text in any way.

While I admit that I do not particularly enjoy overtly descriptive writing, I do see why Aragon employed so much detail in his writing. In this instance, the use of slightly exaggerated visual imagery helps in painting a very realistic picture of what these sights would have looked like back in the day. This is true especially so in the case of the Passage de L'Opera, which no longer exists. Out of all the parts of the book, this part stood out to me because of the fact that it was destroyed. 

Overall, Paris Peasant was a unique and challenging read that opened up my idea of what a novel could be like. My question to the class would be: what was it like for all of you to be reading a text like this? Did it make you feel any different from when you read a regular novel? 

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Personally, I liked this text better than the one last week. I found it refreshing. I do not know quite... read full post >>

Compared to Marcel Proust’s Combray, I had a much more enjoyable time this week reading Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon. Nevertheless, the unique structure of the text did take some time to get used to. Even at first glance, the physical copy of the book is oddly shaped compared to other novels. Instead of conforming […] read full post >>

Before reading “Paris Peasant” by Louis Aragon, I was a little cautious yet intrigued with what a “novel-that-was-not-a-novel” could mean. After the previous week, I knew for certain this collection of literature was not something I was used to, so diving into this text, I wasn’t sure what to expect (or not expect). Honestly, like … Continue reading Week 3: Aragon’s “Paris Peasant” → read full post >>

Reading Aragon’s Paris Peasant felt like a brain workout at one hand, and an imaginary escape at another. With a conventional bias, I struggled to find the “plot” of the story, like many of my peers reading this book. I constantly searched for a plot; however, in the process of doing so, I realized that […] read full post >>

Before reading Paris Peasant, I learned that this novel is more of a “novel-that-was-not-a-novel”, which was an idea I found quite interesting as I had never read a novel like this. Therefore, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from this novel.  As I read the novel, I felt pretty lost, as what was happening […] read full post >>

I think the quote, “I find myself unable to place complete confidence in any notion I may have of the universe without first subjectifying that notion to an abstract examination” (8), perfectly summarizes this novel. Paris Peasant‘s narrator either thinks too much, believes he has to share each thought as he experiences them, or a […] read full post >>

  This week’s book really threw me for a loop. Throughout the story, I was trying to question what I was reading in hopes of understanding the story, and the meaning behind it all, but most times my thoughts came up blank. My understanding was that Argon’s goal was to emphasise the idea of surrealism, …

Continue reading "Aragon, Paris Peasant"

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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 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 >>