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.
The Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon is a wonderful culmination of intricate surrealism and elaborate imagery. I found myself deep…
Posted in Aragon, Blogs | Tagged with Surrealism
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
Posted in Aragon, Blogs | Tagged with Entries, renaissance, revolution, Surrealism
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 […]
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?
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?
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 […]
