Louis Aragon, Paris Peasant

For this week's readings, Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon, I found myself at the start a bit confused because I first approached this novel with an annalistic point of view. I caught myself trying to analyze every detail to discover more about the narrative, plot, back story etc. However, as I read more and watched the introduction video about the novel, I became aware of Argon's intention that it was a "kind of novel that would break all traditional rules governing fiction, one that would be neither a narrative nor a character study." So, I had to re-read the pages to take in the book in the way it was meant to.

The imagery and detail throughout this novel painted a clear picture of the different areas of Paris. This book captured his day-to-day doings. Personally, I am a very observant person myself, especially when walking around campus or anywhere else. I pay close attention to the environment and the people in it. I enjoyed being a part of the narrator’s thoughts and scenarios as he walked around about the architecture and the people he passed by. I found the passage about women very interesting. It explains women with great detail and resembles them as flashes of light. He explains, "after passing an infinity of these desirable shimmering, without having attempted to take possessions of a single one of these lives... I ask myself disgustedly what I'm doing in the world" (8). I picture the narrator being caught up in his unconscious mind. I thought that the change in the narrator’s environment and the increase of modernization was a cause of stress for him. Also, the fact that he is constantly thinking about the philosophy of his surroundings could be to compensate for his quiet behaviour and his anxiety around his changing community that is making him question his life choices.

This book is known for surrealism. I was not aware of surrealism until reading this book. I searched up surrealism because I wanted to understand the story more. Argon did a fantastic job projecting surrealism and allowing the narrative to focus and allow the unconscious mind to express itself. I enjoyed following him along throughout Paris and understanding his interpretations of the cafe menu, monuments, newspaper clipping, and the people of Paris. The narrator was so detailed it was like being in the thoughts of someone’s mind. My question for this reading is How do you think the narrator felt about the increase in modernization? Overall, this story was nothing close to what I have ever read and it gave me an open mind to surrealism.