“Paris Peasant” By Louis Aragon

by jenna loupret

Before I talk about the book itself, I have to describe how incredibly difficult it was to find a physical copy of it. I preemptively started looking for a copy two weeks ago. I started by looking at the Indigo locations in Vancouver and Burnaby because I work at a location in the city and therefore I have a discount. I had no luck finding a copy at any of the locations and shipping was going to take weeks. I then decided to try calling Pulp Fiction, they didn’t have any copies. I then proceed to call five or six different bookstores and even visited a couple on my way to work and almost all the booksellers commented on how rare it is to come across this particular title. Finally, I called one of the last bookstores on my list, “The Paper Hound Book

Here’s a cute little picture I took at the Seawall. I’ve lived in the city for 6 months now this is the first time I properly walked along the seawall and wow I’ve been missing out. Plus last Saturday was such a nice day!

store”, the phone rang and a young woman’s voice answered, I desperately asked her if they had a copy of “Paris Peasant” in stock and she cheerfully replied that they did. I was shocked but delighted. The next day I took a lovely trip downtown picked up the book and got coffee at a lovely cafe. Overall, the book was hard to find but the victory I felt when I found it was great and the whole experience felt somewhat like a treasure hunt.

Anyways on to discussing “Paris Peasant” by Louis Aragon. My thoughts on the novel were conflicted. I tried really hard to think past: this book is boring. I really wanted to find the beauty and originality that it had to offer. And truly I think that Aragon does a wonderful job of portraying the beautiful city of Paris in a very honest and non-cliche way. Aragon’s imagery was exquisite and he was quite funny at times. I especially enjoyed his display of self-awareness on page 97 when he says “These worthy folks are in a state of consternation. They have read, without really understanding, the pages which you inexplicably blacken with your frantic attempts to describe, in which looks suspiciously like a spirit of mockery, these winding byways now crouched under the threat of the raised pickaxe.” This quote made me feel better about the fact that a lot of his writing felt convoluted and hard to read; but obviously that was on purpose.

I took this photo when I was walking around downtown after picking up my copy of “Paris Peasant”. I saw the sign that says “rare books” and the sign that “coffee” above it and thought -wow algorithmic advertising in real life-.

As well, I thought Aragon’s themes were quite refreshing and found his candidness interesting to read. Although, at times I felt like he crossed a line. A lot of his opinions or dialogue about women were really uncomfortable to read. I understand the argument “it was a different time” or “this was a product of a different way of thinking” but I think it’s important that going forward as we evolve as a society to read literature from the past and criticize it with our current views. This way we can understand the mistakes of our past and move forward towards a kinder and more inclusive future.

This leaves my question: what were ideals or themes of Louis Aragon’s novel that were indicative of the time period and how do we view those ideals/themes now?