Blogs

Proust & The importance of our consumption

Whilst reading part 1 of Combray, I found myself re-reading lines and passages over and over again. I’m not too sure if this is because I wasn’t paying attention the first time round or if what I was reading was so engaging I wanted to read it again. At times I could recognise my passive […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with

Proust – Combray

As a first-time reader of Proust, I did not know what to expect from Combray. As I started reading, I…

Posted in Blogs, Proust | Tagged with

Paris Peasant – A novel that is not a novel? How novel!

Louis Aragon’s Paris Peasant was certainly an easier read for me than Proust’s Swann’s Way was. I imagine it is to do with the translation, though of course the writing style of the original author. In fact, I found myself thinking about translation a lot while reading this book. There were parts that had very interesting metaphors and jokes that I would love to see in the original language. I especially noticed this in the F.M.R. section where even the translator made a note that the original pun worked so much better. I suppose this is one of the weaknesses of translation; you can never conserve all the layers of meaning within a word or a phrase because you always have to choose one. If you can find a way to make it work with more than one meaning then you’re lucky.

Before starting the book, I knew that Aragon was part of the surrealist, avant-garde movement and you can tell. Paris Peasant has been described as a “novel-that-[is]-not-a-novel” and I agree with that description because there isn’t really a story that I could pick up on. Truthfully, it felt more like Aragon’s personal musings than a novel, but it was interesting nonetheless. 
That said, some of his musings aren’t particularly savoury, especially those about women. The way he describes women struck me as being a bit… weird… to say the least. Numerous paragraphs on women’s hair, their bodies, how much he likes blondes… let’s just say that he wouldn’t pass the 2022 vibe check. But we kind of knew that already, and I think he did too. After all, he did say that 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.” 
So I don’t think he’d be particularly bothered about our opinions. Or anyone’s opinions. Because he said some things about religion that would be controversial today, let alone the 1920s. As a communist, you can see the threads of Karl Marx’s ideas in his writing, especially in the parts about religion. He comments that religion is a sign of “mental laziness” and notices that religion is becoming replaced with a sense of human morality. Certainly, we can see that religiosity has declined over the past century or so, so his prediction wasn’t completely inaccurate.
In fact, some of his predictions were funnily accurate. One of the first quotes that really caught my attention was about how young people will eschew work, marriage, and children (or something along those lines, unfortunately I can’t find the exact quote anymore, try as I might). I thought it was a very interesting observation, especially since nowadays the “Child-free by choice” and “I don’t dream of labour” movements are increasing in popularity, especially among young adults.
In all, I’m not entirely sure that I managed to glean every message from the book and I think I’d have to read it a second time to better understand it, but what I did pick up was definitely thought-provoking. The question I’d like to present is; What makes a novel a novel, if this is a “novel-that-is-not-a-novel”?

Posted in Aragon, Blogs | Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Paris Peasant – A novel that is not a novel? How novel!

Louis Aragon’s Paris Peasant was certainly an easier read for me than Proust’s Swann’s Way was. I imagine it is to do with the translation, though of course the writing style of the original author. In fact, I found myself thinking about translation a lot while reading this book. There were parts that had very interesting metaphors and jokes that I would love to see in the original language. I especially noticed this in the F.M.R. section where even the translator made a note that the original pun worked so much better. I suppose this is one of the weaknesses of translation; you can never conserve all the layers of meaning within a word or a phrase because you always have to choose one. If you can find a way to make it work with more than one meaning then you’re lucky.

Before starting the book, I knew that Aragon was part of the surrealist, avant-garde movement and you can tell. Paris Peasant has been described as a “novel-that-[is]-not-a-novel” and I agree with that description because there isn’t really a story that I could pick up on. Truthfully, it felt more like Aragon’s personal musings than a novel, but it was interesting nonetheless. 
That said, some of his musings aren’t particularly savoury, especially those about women. The way he describes women struck me as being a bit… weird… to say the least. Numerous paragraphs on women’s hair, their bodies, how much he likes blondes… let’s just say that he wouldn’t pass the 2022 vibe check. But we kind of knew that already, and I think he did too. After all, he did say that 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.” 
So I don’t think he’d be particularly bothered about our opinions. Or anyone’s opinions. Because he said some things about religion that would be controversial today, let alone the 1920s. As a communist, you can see the threads of Karl Marx’s ideas in his writing, especially in the parts about religion. He comments that religion is a sign of “mental laziness” and notices that religion is becoming replaced with a sense of human morality. Certainly, we can see that religiosity has declined over the past century or so, so his prediction wasn’t completely inaccurate.
In fact, some of his predictions were funnily accurate. One of the first quotes that really caught my attention was about how young people will eschew work, marriage, and children (or something along those lines, unfortunately I can’t find the exact quote anymore, try as I might). I thought it was a very interesting observation, especially since nowadays the “Child-free by choice” and “I don’t dream of labour” movements are increasing in popularity, especially among young adults.
In all, I’m not entirely sure that I managed to glean every message from the book and I think I’d have to read it a second time to better understand it, but what I did pick up was definitely thought-provoking. The question I’d like to present is; What makes a novel a novel, if this is a “novel-that-is-not-a-novel”?

Posted in Aragon, Blogs | Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

A reflection of Argon’s “Paris Peasant”

Going into this novel, all I knew of it was that it is considered one of the major works of surrealism. Knowing very little about this concept, I searched it up in the context of literature. I primarily found it to refer to the attempt of an author to merge reality and imagination. If this […]

Posted in Blogs, Proust | Tagged with ,

My Take On.. Louis Aragon “Paris Peasant”

At first glance this book took me completely by surprise. The name and mention of Paris intrigued me and the notion I have of the word “peasant” drew images within my mind. Then, to read that this book is not traditional and breaking all rules in regard to narrative, plot, and character really caught me […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with

Marcel Proust, “Combray”

Being one of the most influential authors of the 20th century, Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time is an important piece in the literature of the Romance World, which gave us a good understanding about the everyday lives of French people in the late 19th century. This week’s reading Combray part 1 and 2 […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with

Paris Peasant: Unrelated Notes without Deeper Understanding

Hey Everyone, I found myself highlighting almost half of every page while reading Paris Peasant. All that and I still don’t understand the main concept. This is often the case for me when it comes to reading mixed-media pieces, as they do not necessarily make up a single story rather many small stories that intertwine.  […]

Posted in Aragon, Blogs | Tagged with , ,

Week Two: Lost Time in Proust’s “Combray”

Marcel Proust is an author who, despite the age of his works, portrays with great creativity the ever-present human condition–it is for this reason that his writing remains relevant. In his story “Combray,” readers are taken on a lucid journey not unlike a dream. The subjects ranging from childhood innocence to loves lost are made […]

Posted in Blogs, Proust | Tagged with

Combray 1: The Power of a Space

For a lack of better introduction, this week’s reading reminded me of one solitary thing; the concept of deja-vu. I found that with the beginning of the chapter, the vivid imagery persisted and felt so increasingly reminiscent that I could no longer decipher whether the character was asleep or awake. I found myself making sense […]

Posted in Blogs, Proust | Tagged with , , , , , , , ,