Initially, I was very lost on reading Paris Peasant. Often times, I tend to look too deep into a text to fully try to analyze what it is meant but it always leads me into overthinking the context. While reading Aragon’s “Paris Peasant”, I tried to keep an open mind, not letting myself get too lost in the sentences. Despite doing so, I was still lost. Starting off by noticing the words used, It was very descriptive. Aragon went on and on describing the structures around him. It was beautiful to imagine as Aragon really captured the essence of his environment of Paris. Another aspect I enjoyed in Paris Peasant were the small details incorporated by adding in poems, a dialogue and even a menu of drinks! It really takes you back to what it felt like to live in old time Paris.
The format of the reading was what threw me off the most. It felt somewhat disorganized and messy. It seemed less of a novel and more of a journal for Aragon. The details he added were interesting but it made it feel like I was reading someone’s personal diary. Another aspect of Paris Peasant that threw me off was how he described women and his interactions with them. On page 8, he really went into detail on how he wanted to interact with women and his descriptions on them. To be honest, it made me uncomfortable while reading it. One main aspect of Paris Peasant that I enjoyed was being able to compare life back in old times Paris versus life now. His descriptions of the environments and setting around him really added the factor of visualizing what it really looked like. Along with the describing of the setting, the small details I mentioned previously really added onto that as well. It was refreshing to be able to visualize what it was like in the past
As mentioned in previous discussions, many of the texts we will be reading in class will be translated to English; which makes me wonder if anything is lost in translation when reading Paris Peasant. I know French has phrases and terms that simply cannot be translated in English without losing its meaning. While reading, some phrases and sentences just did not make sense. Maybe I was just not able to fully comprehend what it means but I am wondering what a native French speaker views it as when reading Paris Peasant in French. A question I would have is can this story be analyzed differently if read in French?
I feel the same about this text, especially when it comes to the apparent disorganization, but also Aragon’s descriptiveness. Though the description was enjoyable, it also had me lost and rereading many details to get an idea of what was happening. In this sense, it reminded me of Combray by Marcel Proust because of the journal/diary-like format with excessive details. Also, I think your question is a great addition. There very well might be a lot that is lost in translation. Insightful analysis!
Hello! The impact of translation into English is something that I wonder about, too. I think it must be difficult to preserve the essence of certain ideas; but I also think it’s possible that different words can produce the same effect, which strikes me as the more important thing in Aragon’s novel. There’s a lot to consider!
Personally I believe that since the trasnaltion is a good one maybe its not that things get lost in traslation, but more like maybe some specific words that have no specific translation and are replaced with ones that are not as exact.
Montserrat Avendano