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A review by joshsimp
Nadja by André Breton
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
The first novel by the father of Surrealism encapsulates some of the worst parts of the movement, mainly, it's obsession with the 'femme enfant' (the Surrealist's precursor to the manic pixie dream girl).
In the novel, a married Breton (or the fictionalised version of him) starts what is essentially a love affair with a woman about 10 years his junior. He tells his wife that Nadja is falling in love with him, and tells the reader that he is not in love with Nadja, which doesn't stop him sleeping with her. He holds her childlike naivety (youth), and unusual way of thinking about the world (mental illness) as the surrealist ideal. He then essentially ghosts her until she is institutionalised, and refuses to visit her due to, get this, his disregard on principle for the psychiatric profession. This may be a line he's selling himself because he can't handle his guilt, but there is little pointing to that other than natural human generosity from the reader.
Of course this is fictionalised, and enhanced for dramatic effect, but it is also rooted in real events and a telling portrait of Breton's mind.
Nadja offers up all the problems present in the Surrealist movement, with little of the joy or beauty that come along with them. Parts of the treatise on art are interesting, but not as interesting or profound as they think they are. In fact, the whole book could be described as not or interesting or profound as it thinks it is - self-indulgent, self-congratulatory, and rambling in the worst way. Breton, here, will do anything but self-reflect.
In the novel, a married Breton (or the fictionalised version of him) starts what is essentially a love affair with a woman about 10 years his junior. He tells his wife that Nadja is falling in love with him, and tells the reader that he is not in love with Nadja, which doesn't stop him sleeping with her. He holds her childlike naivety (youth), and unusual way of thinking about the world (mental illness) as the surrealist ideal. He then essentially ghosts her until she is institutionalised, and refuses to visit her due to, get this, his disregard on principle for the psychiatric profession. This may be a line he's selling himself because he can't handle his guilt, but there is little pointing to that other than natural human generosity from the reader.
Of course this is fictionalised, and enhanced for dramatic effect, but it is also rooted in real events and a telling portrait of Breton's mind.
Nadja offers up all the problems present in the Surrealist movement, with little of the joy or beauty that come along with them. Parts of the treatise on art are interesting, but not as interesting or profound as they think they are. In fact, the whole book could be described as not or interesting or profound as it thinks it is - self-indulgent, self-congratulatory, and rambling in the worst way. Breton, here, will do anything but self-reflect.