Aragon, Week 3

Overthinking Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon

Compared to Marcel Proust’s Combray, I had a much more enjoyable time this week reading Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon. Nevertheless, the unique structure of the text did take some time to get used to. Even at first glance, the physical copy of the book is oddly shaped compared to other novels. Instead of conforming to the classic  5 x 8″ dimensions of most books, the copy of the book I have has a wider width. However flipping through the pages, the outer margins were disproportionately wider than the inner margins which resulted in the texts being uncentered. I initially thought that this could have been a publishing error, but the uploaded PDF copy on the course site had the same format. However, when I got over this initial confusion and started to read, I realized that the distinctive formatting of the book may also be reflective of what the novel is trying to say.

To start, the reoccurring theme of being unalike other novels is clear from the first chapter. Although it was a fairly easy to read, Paris Peasant doesn’t follow the narrative structure of most novels. As mentioned in the lecture, the text doesn’t follow a “sequential series of events” that leads to a certain plot point. Instead, the novel focuses on the narrator’s thoughts and observations as he wanders through Boulevard Haussmann. Hence, while I was reading, I found that this format, or there lack of, gives a dreamlike and whimsical feel to it.

On a last note, just as I finished typing everything above, I realized that there might be a simpler reasoning for the way the book was published. While I was flipping through the pages of the book to find certain quotes, I had the thought that I wish the copy of the text was mine so I could highlight some lines that stood out.  Then it hit me. The wider margins probably just serve the purpose of giving more space for annotations. Whoops.

Anyways, this post clearly shows that I am an overthinker, but I also have a few questions for everyone else who read this text:

What did you think about the format of the book? Do you think that the publishing choices of the book are for practical reasons or if it could be a reflection of how this novel takes a unique approach from other books. Do you like reading books with a firm plot structure or do you prefer this whimsical approach?

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Proust, Week Two

An Attempt to Understand “Combray” by Marcel Proust

My first attempt at reading Marcel Proust’s “Combray” was difficult, to say the least. I started off with the scanned pages posted to the course website, but between Proust’s long-winded sentences and my eyes feeling strained from staring at my laptop screen, I wasn’t able to immerse myself in the reading. Luckily, I was able to get my hands on a physical copy of the book from my local library, and the difference in reading the words from a tangible source proved to be beneficial in my understanding of Proust. Now, with a book in my hands, I was able to better appreciate Proust’s unique writing style and ability to craft elaborate descriptions.

Passed the initial hiccups of getting used to the structure of the text, I surprisingly found that many of the themes in the novel are fairly relatable. From the accompanying lecture, it was noted that Proust had published the novel between 1913 and 1927, but despite there being over a hundred years from its initial distribution date, the overarching idea of the importance of memory and the emotions that it brings is still very relevant to this day.
In particular, Proust’s ability to capture how actions can trigger memories and transport individuals to a different time and mentality is most clear in the scene where the narrator dips a madeleine into a cup of tea. The description of how the simple taste of the madeleine transcends its satiety purpose and is able to bring back memories of the narrator’s memory of Combray beautifully illustrates how memories can easily memories can be evoked.

Overall, although the narrative structures made following the plot a bit challenging, Proust’s stylistic choices in language and structure excelled in capturing the emotions of reminiscing the past. However, I found that my experience reading “Combray” is similar to the process of being transported back to an old memory. Instead of lingering on every word that he writes, in the end, I found myself focusing on the general feelings that Proust is trying to describe. Unfortunately, that also lead me to feel detached from the plot and I couldn’t find the inclination to continue reading beyond the minimum requirements.

Hence, the reading also leaves me with this question for the class: How did you approach this reading? Did you focus on the words themselves or how the words flow together instead? Were you able to finish the whole novel or did you stop at the minimum requirement?

 

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Week One

Introduction

Hi! My name is Rebecca and despite the mediocre and plain aesthetic, this blog took me way longer to set up than I would like to admit. Although I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I’ll read every long-winded anecdote before scrounging for the “jump to recipe” button, I’ll admit that I now have a newfound appreciation for the food bloggers who are able to effortlessly navigate through WordPress and pump out weekly posts.

Anways, going back to the introductory purpose of this post, I am a second-year student in the faculty of arts and I’m from Vancouver. I’m planning on majoring in either Political Science or International Relations. Also, I never really know what to write for introductions, but the instructions for writing blog posts mentioned that we can do anything including uploading cat pictures so I’ll take that offer up! For about a year or so, since the pandemic has allowed for more time to be spent at home, I took on fostering cats as a pastime. The picture below is my current foster cat, Tally and she’s currently up for adoption! 

As for why I decided to take this course, my initial motivation was for it to fulfill the Bachelor of Art’s literature requirement. However, after watching the first lecture and going through the website, I’m also excited to see what else I can get from this course! As one of my new year’s resolutions this year is to get back into reading, I’m hoping that taking this class can be an incentive for me to read more frequently.

Also, the “drinks pairings and playlist” pages on the site caught my eye and I’m very curious to find out how those drinks and songs will correlate with the readings and the topics that we’ll focus on. In particular, I remember singing along to “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in the car on the way to school in fourth grade, so I’m intrigued about how it might be relevant to Paris Peasant. 

The lecture was very engaging and as someone who isn’t very familiar of what Romance Studies is, I think the note about how it “belongs nowhere, and it therefore finds a place everywhere” is very intriguing. Additionally, the comment about how a common denominator for Romantic languages is how they are not Latin also leads me to wonder what the opposite of Romance Studies is. Would it be fair to see Classicism as the opposite to Romance Studies?

All in all, I can’t wait to dive into this course and get a better understanding of what Romance Studies entails! 

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