Nadja, André Breton

Week 3's read is Nadja by André Breton, a semi-autobiographical novel following the authors fascination with a women, Nadja. It is set in France and includes and explores the ideas of surrealism. The semi-autobiographical nature of this reading created a structure unlike anything I have ever read before. It felt like I was reading the authors stream of consciousness, or diary, in all his opinions of the places, plays, and people described. One part I really liked about this reading was the inclusion of photos of the places and people referenced. They are all French buildings and characters, that helped to remind me that I was reading about real people, places and events. I felt like I was able to imagine the time period in which this story takes place better. Furthermore, out of all the romance languages we are going to study in this class, I am most familiar with French. While I would not call myself fluent, I did study it for enough years that I enjoyed reading the excerpts that were left untranslated. I enjoyed, and had an easier time reading Nadja than I did the reading from week 2, Proust's Combray. While I found the beginning a bit weird as I was just reading about plays he was watching, I was immediately more interested and immersed in the reading than last week, and it was much easier to read in terms of structure. 

The descriptions of this book that I read when trying to decide what book to read this week all described Nadja as a love story. While I did see parts of this love story people described, I wouldn't describe it as one. André's complete infatuation with Nadja, but also his questioning of her did feel a bit less like a love story to me than it did research or inspiration for his ideas and opinions, and then this book. I can think of many works that include this theme that can be seen where artists use people in their real life as more characters and inspiration in their work, that it takes away from their real life. Sometimes their work even seems more important. For example this reminded me of the movie Tick, Tick... Boom!, where Jonathon Larson and his girlfriend Susan are trying to resolve an argument, and she realizes that he is already thinking about how to use the moment as inspiration in his work. I did some research after reading and discovered that Breton was a medical student, thus his interest and fascination with mental illness. He even met and was inspired by Freud. This reinforces my thought that while it may have been a love story at first, he was ultimately interested in Nadja as more of a project. 

My question for the week is: Do you think this truly was a love story, or was Breton just infatuated with Nadja due to his interests and curiosities? 



Comments

  1. Daniel Orizaga23 January 2024 at 22:45

    Breton's fragmented writing is somewhat close to ways of narrating to which we are already accustomed. In that sense, we are all already a bit "surrealist readers." It is also true that this novel has cinematic qualities, with interruptions that remind us of certain films. In some passages it almost seems like we can see the characters projected on a screen!

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  2. alizey23 January 2024 at 23:22

    Hi Samantha, great blog post! I agree with your sentiment about getting easily immersed into to this book, compared to Combray. While it was an odd book, the structure was definitely easier to follow along with. To answer your question I would say Breton's interest in Nadja was a mix of infatuation and obsession. He was drawn to her because she represented the exact opposite of who he was as an individual, and that intrigued him.

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  3. Anonymous23 January 2024 at 23:57

    Hi Samantha! I totally relate to enjoying the untranslated bits of the text (I also speak french), made for a fun reading experience. Now for your question, I think it was more of an obsession with what she represented, rather than love. He wanted to be close to her, was fascinated by her and her mystery, but she was more of his muse than someone he cherished and loved. This is most evident by his writing of the novel itself. The way he portrays her to be this mysterious woman that makes you unable to distinguish reality from falsehood is what makes Nadja his surrealist muse (rather then lover).

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  4. Gabriella D23 January 2024 at 23:59

    (Forgot to publish with my name)
    Hi Samantha! I totally relate to enjoying the untranslated bits of the text (I also speak french), made for a fun reading experience. Now for your question, I think it was more of an obsession with what she represented, rather than love. He wanted to be close to her, was fascinated by her and her mystery, but she was more of his muse than someone he cherished and loved. This is most evident by his writing of the novel itself. The way he portrays her to be this mysterious woman that makes you unable to distinguish reality from falsehood is what makes Nadja his surrealist muse (rather then lover).

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  5. Rowan24 January 2024 at 12:38

    Hi Samantha, I enjoyed reading your blog post. I felt it wasn't really love, but more of a fascination that the narrator felt for Nadja. Nadja was sort of the personification of his worldview and this interested him for a short time. I think if it was love the narrator would have shown less indifference towards what became of Nadja in the end.

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  6. Ryan25 January 2024 at 01:22

    I do not believe that this is a love story. Breton realizes Nadja is more than he can handle after getting to know her a bit more. Perhaps he was enchanted by her mysterious vibes

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