Aragon's 'Paris Peasant'

 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? 










Comments

  1. Jennifer Nagtegaal24 January 2022 at 12:30

    "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."

    Yes! I completely agree. For me, this was most striking in the cane shop description, where the narrator sees (or hallucinates, perhaps, given his evening of drinking) the siren Lisel (pages 21-23). What was this for you?

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  2. Eliza24 January 2022 at 14:44

    I found your comments about how Aragon described women very insightful. I also felt the same way about his descriptions and felt they were oddly placed into his writing.

    To answer your question, this was a very confusing and challenging read for me, and enabled a lot of reflecting on my part.

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  3. Simonlsw24 January 2022 at 15:44

    Hi there, great blog post! Just like you, I never appreciated excessive descriptions, I find them long and delays the development of the storyline. So you're definitely not alone! But I guess this is Louis Aragon's writing style that not everyone can fully understand and appreciate them. Compared to a contemporary regular novel, the descriptions in the book made me feel like I've put myself in early 20th century Paris.

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