Aragon's Paris Peasant Week 3
Louis Aragon's Paris Peasant is a very interesting text. It does not depend on a plot to tell a story, as it is a confusing retelling of events. It reminds me in ways of the last book we read. There was not much told and it was told almost as if it were thoughts. Once again, it felt like there was a lot of description for very little content, which is not a bad thing. It makes the reader think more thoughtfully in an attempt to grasp the greater meaning of the text.
Paris Peasant is a very important piece of literature to surrealism as it depends on the reader being able to use their imagination. Aragon relies heavily on description to invoke feelings within the reader. He is able to relate to a wide audience range by using everyday experiences. He explores the underbelly of Paris in a very thoughtful way. "The trouble is that you fail to appreciate the limitless strength of the unreal. Your imagination, my dear fellow, is worth more than you imagine." (page 61) This quotation stuck out to me as I feel it described one of the major themes of the text. It encapsulates the goal of the surrealism movement as imaginary and avant-garde. I also just found this quotation very thought provoking as it makes one wonder, if imagination was not scorned through adulthood, would there be a difference in the world? Throughout the reading, you can tell that the author truly believed in the importance of surrealism and its contribution to the literary world.
The author uses personification for various objects and themes. This creates a more vivid image in the minds of readers. It makes the reading more enjoyable as you feel you are imagining exactly what the author intended.
A major theme I found troubling in this reading was the depiction and objectification of women. He gets lost on tangents discussing women's hair, eyes and bodies. My greatest issue with old literature is how women are depicted in the minds of the authors or narrators. It is an obvious answer to my question, but why has there always been a fixation on the appearances of women in literature? So often the quality of a woman is dependent on the way she presents herself. It has always saddened me that male authors present women in an objectified context. Aragon relies on the old 'ideal' woman as submissive and shy, waiting to be pursued. Has the idea of a woman needing to be pursued continued on and negatively affected the way that our generations understand dating?
Hi Madi! Thank you for this post :) I also wrote about Aragon's objectification of women. I think literature, particularly old literature, has not moved beyond women as sex objects for men; worth defined by appearance. And I definitely think this contributes to most women's self esteem issues, in connection with dating and separate from it. I don't think this is only attributed to literature, but also to media as a whole.
ReplyDeleteHi Madi, love your post! It also reminded me of Proust work... Comparable with their super descriptive and all over the place writing. As Neko mentioned, I also spoke of this particular theme in my blog post. Sadly I agree with both you and Neko in terms of the unfortunate reality that this is still something that we are dealing with in todays society. Not only is it still present, I feel as though it has only been made worse on a much larger through media now that we have photos and videos constantly there for people to comment on.
ReplyDeleteHi Madi, after reading your opinion on this book, it even changed my opinion of this book a little bit, and I even kind of want to read this book again from your point of view. Because at first when I read the book I thought it was too difficult to read, which made me a little reluctant to read further. But after seeing your post-reading, I think maybe I can look at this book from another perspective.
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