Nadja by Breton is a fever dream. I was a few pages into the lecture transcription and stopped. The lecture provided too many answers to my questions; I want to try and elaborate a bit on my own first.
This is my first time reading a surrealism book. As usual, I avoid learning about the context and background of the author to get a fresh first hand experience. Nadja reads like a diary, soon I realize that the story might be based on real life events and become concerned for the narrator. One thing for sure is that, Breton fell head over toes for the woman, Nadja, and he was on the brink of going mad. He was already quite vulnerable since the beginning, questioning who he is and going on a “self-preservation trip”. The photos are probably there to provide context, but I just find them eerie how there isn’t anyone on the streets.
Breton describes Nadja initially as a “young, poorly dressed woman”. What attracted him was 1. her demeanor (“she carried her head high, unlike everyone else on the sidewalk”) and 2. her eyes (Breton goes into details about her eye make up). Nadja would occasionally get these visions that prompt her to do something. Breton and her went on a trip to Saint Germain because of a vision, and grew concious of what he had been doing. Did he feel guilt for having an affair despite being married? Probably not. He brought up the analogy of “a lapdog laying on Nadja’s feet”. A lapdog, teacher’s pet, whatever you want to call it. He knew at that point he was neck deep in mud, but it’s also not too late to get out–perharps he wanted to submerge completely. Nadja’s vision reminded me of Hildegard von Bingen, a German abbess who sees visions but historians think it’s just a side effect of severe migraine.
My questions is: What made Breton and Nadja attract each other? Was Nadja using Breton to cure her loneliness?
Edit:
I have returned after completing the lecture. It confirmed some of my suspicions. Breton wanted to be like Nadja. As a leader of the surrealism movement, and as a person. I found a transcription of Breton’s lecture on surrealism. This is most likely translated from French. I thought surrealism was only a type of art/literature, but Breton actually believed that they could change the world, in sort of a cult-like way. He said, “[surrealism] provoked new states of conciousness…modified the sensibility, and taken a decisive step towards the unification of the personality, which it found threatened by an ever more profound dissociation” From my understanding after conducting a brief research, members (well, artists) who wish to participate in surrealism activities had to get into Breton’s inner circle. Back to the book. I wonder if this affair with Nadja changed Breton’s view on surrealism. Nadja was basically the final product of what he was trying to achieve. She mixed “dreams” and “reality” into her own reality. However, it was later revealed that Nadja belonged to a psych ward. She was actually crazy. What confuses me the most is how Breton wanted to ride the fine line between sane and insane but retreated because he got scared (probably after the driving incident), yet he continued his surrealism movement and published this book. I would not support his movement after reading this book. I don’t understand the intensions behind writing this book. It was not useful as propaganda material.
Ryan, thanks for referring to the photographs. Paying close attention to these types of details is a revealing way to read novels like this one, which, as you say, accumulates doubts about the characters and what happens in the plot. Sometimes an answer is found in the least expected gap.
I really like the idea that Breton wanted to be Nadja even with her ending in the psychiatric hospital, highlighting Breton’s need/obsession to toe the line between sane and insane. I especially like how you linked this novel to Breton’s outside involvement in the surrealism movement.
Hey Ryan! First of all I really respect the fact that you decided to formulate your own opinion before watching the lecture and then returning to edit when you watched the lecture. To answer your question honestly I feel like Breton was attracted to Nadja because of the excitement she brought to his life. He wanted to be as carefree and spontaneous as Nadja. In the end I believe Breton ends up realizing that her spontaneity was a result of her madness and thats when he was left wondering whether what he felt was truly love or just a mere dive into mania. I believe Nadja on the other hand thought Breton could help her in some way but instead she just sucked him into her madness (not that this is any of her fault, I believe Nadja just wanted someone to confide in and affection). I wouldnt say that Nadja was using Breton to cure her loneliness but she was more noticing that this guy wanted to give her his undivided attention and well she went with it. Maybe she was, I do not quite know.
Hi Ryan! I agree with you on many aspects. Reading this book and getting context on Breton has made me a little fearful of him and of the surrealist movement as a whole. I think part of the movement was (is?) fascinating and worth exploring, but I agree that the whole thing reads as a thinly veiled cult. Thanks for this!
Hi I also find that the book read like a diary entry and found it interesting about his comment around the lapdog. Although he seems to lose attraction eventually I think it was real. Even if it was just interest he found something about her beautiful enough to love. I think she just got too complicated for him and he couldn’t come to terms with that
I definitely resonate with about the photos shown in the book. Whenever I turned a page to an image, I almost felt shivers, particularly those pictures of people; they for sure carry an eerie sense. Your perspective on why Breton was drawn to Nadja is very interesting, and it raises an interesting question about whether Nadja felt the same way towards him. Throughout the second part of the book, I, too, found it intriguing that Breton fell so deeply for Nadja and was willing to explore the fine line between sanity and insanity, as you mentioned.
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