Aragon’s novel gives an interesting insight into how French surrealist artists perceived the world in the 1920s. The unconventional narrative made me feel like I was reading about a confusing, nostalgic, and mesmerizing dream. However, the story is enriched by specific descriptions of ordinary details that blur the line between imagination and reality. It definitely took me a while to adjust to the author’s flow of consciousness, but while I was reading “The Passage de l’Opéra” I understood that the author’s purpose was indeed freeing the mind from the restrictions of physical reality and not fully relying on reason. Being expressed between the fine line between fantasy and reality, the themes expressed by the author are intense but somehow harder to identify.
The author’s observation of “secret repositories of several modern myths” (14) is one of the most interesting aspects of the novel, in my opinion. The way in which the narrator explores the streets, monuments, shops, and parks of Paris through the lens of surrealism is very profound. Through his artistic perspective, the author deconstructs and interprets ordinary places and objects almost hyperbolically, rendering them abstract. The lengthening of the boulevard Haussmann that will destroy the passage of the Opera, for example, sparks the author’s reflections upon a place at the limit of disappearance.
Aragon’s portrayal of women in the novel is another interesting theme that shows the process of his surrealist thinking. The women in the novel are described as sensual and the author has a tendency of exaggerating their descriptions so much that, once again, it is hard to distinguish what is real from what is imagined. Aragon tries to explain what sensing a “woman’s divine nature” (176) feels like but his thoughts get tangled. It is hard to understand how these encounters occur but it is clear that the narrator gets very much caught up in his emotion and in the “religion of love” (178). The borderline obsession with which he describes the most earthly things – like places, objects, and women – is exemplified by the portrayal of women in the novel.
The details scattered throughout the book create an interesting contrast between the author’s philosophical reflections and the mundane reality surrounding him. Once again, what is considered tangible is juxtaposed to the intangible and there is an interesting dynamic between how the author switches between the two. There is simply no pattern used in the novel. Aragon sprinkles details as he pleases, like the list of drinks at Café Certa or images of the advertisements he sees around Paris. It is refreshing to pay attention to the freedom with which the author builds the narrative. There is a rejection of standards and an appreciation for what goes beyond them that I really enjoyed.
Overall, I found that this novel resembles poetry even though it’s written in prose. The author is submerged in his imagination but also pays close attention to the physical detail he observes in his life. My question for the class is the following: is the fluidity between reality and imagination used efficiently in the narrative? In other words, does Aragon’s narration help capture his perspective?
Can’t wait to read the other posts!
– Bianca