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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a love story between an insufferable man and his projections onto a mentally ill woman. This is a complicated book to review because it's obviously deeply misogynistic, but it also serves as an interesting historical document of Surrealist ideas. The collision of Nadja and Breton here is a key element, which merits further exploration, but while reading this book the main thought I had was 'Why am I reading this book?' or even 'Why have we collectively decided that this is a great work?' Must have been nice to be a French man with a notion to write a book in Paris in the 1920s; Breton really thinks he's a genius with this book and he just sounds like the most annoying boy at a college party.
Que dire de Nadja ?
Et bien... pas grand chose. Je ne sais pas si je manque d'esprit critique, d'intelligence ou de bon goût, mais ce bouquin m'est tombé des mains.
Je comprends (je crois ?) le projet de Breton. Parler de soi par le biais de l'anecdotique, faire de l'événement a priori insignifiant une source de compréhension de soi, ok, pourquoi pas. Mais ça ne me séduit pas. J'ai eu l'impression de lire un récit qui se refuse au lecteur, et même si c'est le but (encore une fois, je crois ?), ce n'est pas ce que j'aime lire. Ce côté insaisissable, mais pourtant très spécifique (notamment grâce aux photographies et indications spatio-temporelles très précises) m'a vraiment déstabilisée.
La relation de Breton avec Nadja est assez perturbante, j'ai eu la sensation qu'il l'utilisait comme une bête curieuse, lui permettant de rendre son récit intéressant... Je n'ai pas réussi à percevoir l'amour entre les deux, ou alors seulement celui de Nadja. Je reconnais cependant que Breton a réussi à rendre compte du caractère fascinant de Nadja, mais de façon un peu trop "bête de foire" à mon goût.
Ce qui m'embête finalement avec cette lecture, c'est que je pense avoir entraperçu des pistes, mais je n'ai pas réussi à m'y accrocher, par manque d'intérêt et par déplaisir.
Et bien... pas grand chose. Je ne sais pas si je manque d'esprit critique, d'intelligence ou de bon goût, mais ce bouquin m'est tombé des mains.
Je comprends (je crois ?) le projet de Breton. Parler de soi par le biais de l'anecdotique, faire de l'événement a priori insignifiant une source de compréhension de soi, ok, pourquoi pas. Mais ça ne me séduit pas. J'ai eu l'impression de lire un récit qui se refuse au lecteur, et même si c'est le but (encore une fois, je crois ?), ce n'est pas ce que j'aime lire. Ce côté insaisissable, mais pourtant très spécifique (notamment grâce aux photographies et indications spatio-temporelles très précises) m'a vraiment déstabilisée.
La relation de Breton avec Nadja est assez perturbante, j'ai eu la sensation qu'il l'utilisait comme une bête curieuse, lui permettant de rendre son récit intéressant... Je n'ai pas réussi à percevoir l'amour entre les deux, ou alors seulement celui de Nadja. Je reconnais cependant que Breton a réussi à rendre compte du caractère fascinant de Nadja, mais de façon un peu trop "bête de foire" à mon goût.
Ce qui m'embête finalement avec cette lecture, c'est que je pense avoir entraperçu des pistes, mais je n'ai pas réussi à m'y accrocher, par manque d'intérêt et par déplaisir.
2 stars
tl;dr: *ndr* Br*t*n as soon as I see you in the afterlife it’s on sight!!!
-
What a convoluted, wilfully impenetrable, and frankly really mean-spirited book Nadja is. I’m not saying there aren’t occasions when the prose is quite evocative – since it’s clear that Breton does have skill as an author – but it’s just so, so, so up its own arse that it becomes unbearable to read the more you go on. Definitely dated, the kind of book that could only have been written and held up as a masterpiece in the early 20th century (and even then you would expect something like this, I think, more from the late 1800s (but the French do love to be an exception to the rule, don’t they?)). For all the imagery and symbolism might be interesting, therefore, when it’s so hard to actually make sense of it, it’s really hard to find a reason why you should also actually care.
But let’s come on to the title character herself, and how Breton reduces what was in real life a young woman with obvious issues – and more importantly, a young woman who he could have probably materially helped, if he so desired – into basically the 1920s Parisian equivalent of a manic pixie dream girl. That’s not to say that you can’t have characters who are symbolic or who are inspired by people in real life. However, there’s something really insidious about the power imbalance between them, especially given the intro to my edition of the book and all the further background light this shed on Nadja’s situation. The fact that she herself didn’t want Breton to write about her in this way – which he did anyway – just proves my point, if you ask me. Important to the surrealist movement it may be, sure, but Nadja is ultimately a dense mire of purple prose, and the injustice at the heart of it, however symbolically important it may be, is just not enough to redeem the book or its author in my eyes.
tl;dr: *ndr* Br*t*n as soon as I see you in the afterlife it’s on sight!!!
-
What a convoluted, wilfully impenetrable, and frankly really mean-spirited book Nadja is. I’m not saying there aren’t occasions when the prose is quite evocative – since it’s clear that Breton does have skill as an author – but it’s just so, so, so up its own arse that it becomes unbearable to read the more you go on. Definitely dated, the kind of book that could only have been written and held up as a masterpiece in the early 20th century (and even then you would expect something like this, I think, more from the late 1800s (but the French do love to be an exception to the rule, don’t they?)). For all the imagery and symbolism might be interesting, therefore, when it’s so hard to actually make sense of it, it’s really hard to find a reason why you should also actually care.
But let’s come on to the title character herself, and how Breton reduces what was in real life a young woman with obvious issues – and more importantly, a young woman who he could have probably materially helped, if he so desired – into basically the 1920s Parisian equivalent of a manic pixie dream girl. That’s not to say that you can’t have characters who are symbolic or who are inspired by people in real life. However, there’s something really insidious about the power imbalance between them, especially given the intro to my edition of the book and all the further background light this shed on Nadja’s situation. The fact that she herself didn’t want Breton to write about her in this way – which he did anyway – just proves my point, if you ask me. Important to the surrealist movement it may be, sure, but Nadja is ultimately a dense mire of purple prose, and the injustice at the heart of it, however symbolically important it may be, is just not enough to redeem the book or its author in my eyes.
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I got ten percent of the way into the book, which, admittedly was only sixteen pages, but at that point nothing really had happened, and no real characters had been introduced. Think Sartre's "Being and Nothingness," without the "Being" part.
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While I love this book in the context of Surrealism, Breton himself is not exactly a loveable figure. His views about women (and Nadja's role as the original manic pixie dream girl) are challenging to get through.
However, as a Surrealist piece this title really hits the spot. Plus, it brings up interesting thoughts about mental health and relationships as they functioned at the time.
However, as a Surrealist piece this title really hits the spot. Plus, it brings up interesting thoughts about mental health and relationships as they functioned at the time.
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Nadja is the OG manic pixie dream girl to Breton, but in a way he's aware of it so it's bearable.
Disclaimer : this isn't a bad book, by any means. I just didn't adore it.
Nadja follows the brief relationship between André Breton, a french surrealist poet and author (the writer of this book) and Nadja, a poor and strange girl (probably a prostitute, too) who teaches him a new way to see the world. She inspires the writing of the book, which he names after her.
There is no actual story, only bits and pieces of what they shared together (and also unrelated stories that Breton wants to share, just because).
It's partly this messy and disjointed aspect that I didn't like, but the book has its strong points : Nadja is the beginning of a surrealist manifesto ("La beauté sera convulsive, ou elle ne sera pas") and has an inspiring dimension to it. It makes you want to create.
If you're a tortured and loveless artist, give this a read. Otherwise, it's still pretty interesting but not phenomenal. Apollinaire's Alcools accomplished much more for me (surrealism-wise) than this (even though his poetry isn't even properly surrealist). I shouldn't be comparing these two books though, lol.
Disclaimer : this isn't a bad book, by any means. I just didn't adore it.
Nadja follows the brief relationship between André Breton, a french surrealist poet and author (the writer of this book) and Nadja, a poor and strange girl (probably a prostitute, too) who teaches him a new way to see the world. She inspires the writing of the book, which he names after her.
There is no actual story, only bits and pieces of what they shared together (and also unrelated stories that Breton wants to share, just because).
It's partly this messy and disjointed aspect that I didn't like, but the book has its strong points : Nadja is the beginning of a surrealist manifesto ("La beauté sera convulsive, ou elle ne sera pas") and has an inspiring dimension to it. It makes you want to create.
If you're a tortured and loveless artist, give this a read. Otherwise, it's still pretty interesting but not phenomenal. Apollinaire's Alcools accomplished much more for me (surrealism-wise) than this (even though his poetry isn't even properly surrealist). I shouldn't be comparing these two books though, lol.