I think for anyone who’s familiar with the manic pixie dream girl trope, André Breton’s Nadja stands out as an obvious example- the girl you can never have, the girl of your dreams, the girl who’s too damaged to be loved, etc. A prime example- when Breton asks Nadja who she is on page 71, she replies “I am the soul in limbo”. How intriguing, how arcane and captivating she is! No wonder Breton was so entranced. Although there’s more to this book than Breton’s apparent obsession with her, this definitely is an overarching theme, and can be hard to get past at times. We’ve all seen it happen in popular media, and even sometimes in reality- a guy becomes suddenly infatuated with a strange and elusive woman, they begin spending all their time together and having deep, meaningful conversations (usually accompanied by sex), only for things to end abruptly when the mysterious outer layer is peeled back and things, so to speak, get real. Breton’s fleeting yet passionate relationship with Nadja reflects this common trope, but there are definitely more layers to this novel that are worth delving into.
For starters, the first sixty pages of Nadja discuss events and topics completely separate from her, and we are not introduced to her character until after this first exploration of Breton’s thoughts. I appreciated Breton’s search for meaning within his work and elsewhere, which he describes as concerned with “facts that present all the appearances of a signal, without being able to say precisely which signal” (p.19). In this first section of the novel, Breton presents a number of seemingly unrelated, often mundane events, in an attempt to express their meaning to him. It feels in many ways like a wander through his thoughts, as if he’s trying to make sense of them as he writes. These range from his apparent puzzlement over the play Les Detraqueés, and the strange dream that ensues, to his fixation on a woman’s blue glove at the Centrale Surréaliste. Breton portrays these moments as “truly unforeseen” (p.59) occurrences, and claims to find significant meaning in these small, unpredictable events, rather than “premeditated, continuously applied actions” (p.59) such as work, which he condemns.
Given that Nadja is a surrealist text and written in a style largely unfamiliar to me, I found certain passages to be quite opaque and found myself spending a lot of time pondering over their meaning. This didn’t make the reading experience unenjoyable- in fact, I quite liked having to stop and think about Breton’s intention behind the words, trying to put the pieces together. Honestly, I feel like there is A LOT more to say and unpack about this novel that I don’t have the space to write about here, so I’m looking forward to talking more about it in class. Overall, I thought it was quite an entertaining read and found it had some pretty amusing moments.
My question- what did you think of the portrayal of Nadja? Did she remind you of any female love interests in popular media?
This comparison is truly one I felt myself thinking during this book. She is “not like other girls”. It is almost the first part is him complaining about the mundanity of his life and it is Nadja who brings him colour.
Hi, Kendra. Thank you for this! I particularly like your contrast of the novel and popular culture.
I really understand the sensation of perplexity when reading Nadja, as I am also inexperienced with surrealism. What made this novel entertaining was the mystery around Nadja’s existence. Which brings me to your question: I believe that Nadja represents Breton’s journey of self-discovery, as observed at the beginning of the novel. The events that she was recounting looked so unbelievable that I’m astonished it took the narrator so long to doubt their veracity, unless she was a creation of his imagination. This is also why I believe she cannot be compared to anyone in popular media.
Hi Kendra,
I read Mad Toy instead of Nadja but from your blog, it seems like she is described as the “ideal” girl that everyone wishes to be like/with. However, even though she’s “perfect,” there are layers of her that we do not know about which can break her perfectness.
You know, I’d heard the phrase “manic pixie dream girl,” but don’t think I’d realized that there’s a whole “theory” of this figure as it appears in film and elsewhere. Reading more about the trope (here, for instance: https://www.thewomens.network/blog/the-manic-pixie-dream-girl-who-she-is-and-everything-she-represents), I totally get what you’re saying, 100%.
Hi Kendra,
I totally agree with your take on Nadja as the OG manic pixie dream girl. I found as I was reading she reminded me a lot of Natalie Portman’s character in the movie “Closer”, Alice. Alice seems to float between spaces, not adhering to societal normalities. She too tends to draw people, especially men, to her. Alice and Nadja are surreal experiences, seemingly from a dream. Both Nadja and Alice’s characters are also muses to their love interests.
Hi Kendra! I think it’s so funny in a way to bring up the “I’m-not-like-other-girls” trope, and to see how far back it goes. I wonder if that says something about the male gaze as it’s a trope that dates back this far and is still popular today, especially in books. I loved reading your post!
Hey Kendra, I loved your perspective on Nadja fitting into that stereotype. It is held that Breton was allegedly a misogynist and that this text includes a lot of hypermasculinity in its writing. Do you agree with that take, and if yes would you say this reflects in your perspective of Nadja’s character and the stereotype it entails?