While reading Nadja, I couldn’t stop thinking about how Nadja is such a “manic pixie dream girl.” Maybe she was like the first one… But after making that comparison, the rest whole novel feel even more uncomfortable for me… Breton seems fascinated by her spontaneity, her intuition, her drawings, and the way she experiences the world so differently from everyone else. But at the same time, it feels like he’s constantly watching her and not actually caring for her. I think he observes her like a case study and not a real person..
One thing that really bothered me was the fact that Breton has a wife, but he’s spending all this time wandering around Paris with Nadja, emotionally entangled with her. It made me question his moral position from the start. I think, if he already has a wife, why insert himself into the life of a clearly vulnerable woman? Like, Nadja is low-income, unstable, and struggling with her mental health, and Breton seems fully aware of this. That awareness makes his behaviour feel even more weird. He knows she’s fragile, but he continues to stay around her, wanting her presence while refusing full emotional responsibility.
Also, he is aware of his odd behaviour and admits even: “I suppose I observe her too much, but how can I help it? … It is unforgivable of me to go on seeing her if I do not love her. Don’t I love her?” (p. 90). What stood out to me here is how self-focused this reflection is. He’s worried about his feelings, his confusion, his moral dilemma and not about how Nadja might feel. Like this is some situationship between this artsy, mature, capable man and this “quirky,” mentally ill girl. I couldn’t stop thinking about how Breton is such a man (negatively).
I really dislike this kind of dynamic and especially when Breton is describing it: “I have Nadja, from the first day to the last, for a free genius, something like one of those spirits of the air… As for her, I know that in every sense of the word, she takes me for a god, she thinks of me as the sun” (p. 111) Like, okay he sees her as a genius and she’s so wonderful, OKAY. But then he says the god and sun part… Whatever.
ANYWAYS. I do think Breton shows some awareness when it comes to institutionalization and class… I agree a bit with his critique of psychiatric asylums, especially at that time: “Unless you have been inside a sanitarium you do not know that madmen are made there” (p. 139). He also connects what eventually happened to Nadja to poverty: “Nadja was poor, which in our time is enough to condemn her” (p. 142). These moments show that he understands how social systems destroy people in similar situations but he still did all that crap from before. Like, leave her alone. Whatever.
Something I enjoyed was the inclusion of the images, especially Nadja’s drawings. They felt intimate and raw, like a glimpse into her inner world that Breton’s narration never fully gives us. I felt like I could really see her and it made me think like Wow, she was a girl and she drew these.
In the end, I think I enjoyed the novel… but also I’m not sure. I also think the negativity in my thoughts might stem from my prejudice against this trope of a mature man with a whimsical women and I couldn’t get over it while reading and reflecting. So. My bad André..
My discussion question: Breton is clearly aware of Nadja’s mental health struggles, poverty, and the violence of institutionalization. Do you think this awareness make his treatment of her more forgivable, or more disturbing?