Nadja, by Andre Breton, the second work published by the author, originally published in French, is one of the prominent works of the French surrealist movement. One of the first things that struck me about this book was the style of narration, how it was magniloquent yet foreign. My initial reaction was to chalk this down to being a virtue of the text being a translation, with meanings and intentions being lost in the process. I maintain that this possibly affected the narration, but as I read on, it struck me that this was but the nature/style of the book. Nadja starts off with Breton having a philosophical reflection, wrestling with the question “Who am I”. This leads into an almost factual exposition of Breton’s philosophy, his influences, etc, lacking a clear, explicit explanation for any of it, leaving the reader in a state of limbo, with one foot in the boat, having an idea of what Breton is talking about here, and the rest of your body on the dock, trying to piece together where exactly this dock even is. In further trying to understand Breton’s intention with Nadja, and the seeming incoherence of the writing and structure, namely the contextless, episodic and almost factual narration, the seemingly haphazard page breaks and placement of photographs, all feel intentional in trying to induce and immerse the reader in the ‘surrealist’ ideal. Similar to my thoughts on Combray last week, these authorial choices ultimately culminate in the reading experience emulating a dream, where it’s effectively impossible to control the narration and its flashy episodic nature, while also experiencing vivid, evocative visions. Breton first meets, and the book first introduces the character Nadja in its second part. Nadja is said to be Breton’s personification of surrealism. We see this through the nature of their relationship, the initial infatuation with Nadja, moving to a continued obsession, evolving into a detached fondness and culminating in the relationship being no more, and also through her general depiction in the text and how her enigmatic drawings are used throughout the book with various captions. Especially in terms of their relationship dissolving, it starkly reflects the notion that Breton was himself scared of ‘sacrificing’ himself to an ideology/woman that he could not conceive as logical. Overall, Nadja dances the line of novel or biography. Additionally, Breton’s use of real names of historical auteurs and acquaintances adds a level of relatability and context to the text, allowing you to better place and picture the descriptions. Nadja was a fun and unique read, which I found to be an important and memorable dive into the world of surrealism.
Question: After reading Breton’s cautionary tale with surrealism, where would you place yourself in terms of your relationship with surrealist ideals and moreover surrealist art and literature?
If we start from the idea that both narratives, Proust’s and Breton’s, have “dreamlike” features, it is also interesting to see how they differ. Although ambiguity is present in both novels, Breton flirts with realism by introducing “verifiable” elements such as proper names and photographs. In terms of narrative technique they are almost polar opposites.