Paris Peasant was an incredibly unique literary experience that left me in a haze of contradicting emotions and thoughts. As was stated previously in the lecture Louis Aragon does this through putting aside traditional narrative convention altogether in favour of allowing artistic expression to be at the forefront of his literature. I was struck with how such a seemingly nonchalant text, in the sense that there no traditional plot structure, was so emotionally evocative and enticing. I really felt emotionally connected to that little arcade in Paris even though I have never been to France. As I think back to this my reading of this text I really think this piece was more of an experience than a story. We as readers are brought into a place and are just allowed to feel and interpret without the intervention of the ever driving plot, although as an aside Aragon does intervene in the sense that we are experiencing this through his worldview,. As a piece of literature this fact leaves me both in awe of the execution and slightly dissatisfied. Although I believe that dissatisfaction to be more of a conditioned response to a story “without purpose” than an actual critique. The awe comes from the fact that this piece was so entertaining while seemingly being about nothing. I will say as another aside excluding the emotional characteristics of this piece I felt this story reminded me a lot of the sitcom Seinfeld insofar as a seemingly mundane topic hides excellence in its craftsmanship.

The emotions and feelings elicited throughout the text are a jumble of extremes. These ideas and feelings can swing rapidly from section to section as well as within. Yet they are all underpinned with a level of dissatisfaction and alienation that plagues Aragon’s world. Aragon is grappling with a society predicated on ever expanding and renewing consumption. This is personified through the deteriorating arcade with all its little idiosyncratic details and a slew of both reputable and disreputable inhabitants. This is a leftover from a bygone era of the city that doesn’t align with the modern standard.  Yet Aragon revels in this stagnant place and all its well worn and character filled charm. Through this he clearly rejects a capital fueled consumption freight train of a life instead pushing an understanding of life not grounded in the real and physical but through whimsy and passion and raw sensual experience.