Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon

Aragon, Louis & Watson, Simon Taylor (trans.). Paris Peasant, London : Cape 1971

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Paris Peasant is widely celebrated as one of surrealist fiction's most important and influential texts.

Described by Aragon as “a mythology of the modern”, and “a novel that the critics would be obliged to approach empty-handed.” Paris Peasant uses an extremely detailed depiction of the landscape of Paris to explore metaphysical themes, and to question current trends of thought. Aragon avoids character development typical to fiction and veers towards unconventional forms of narration so as to completely undermine the assumptions of the audience and draw them into his eclectic world. The Parisian setting is reinforced by a great detail of ephemera including maps, newspaper clippings, cafe menus and inscriptions.

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

Borges, Jorge Luis, Kerrigan, Anthony (trans.), Bonner, Anthony (trans.). Ficciones, New York : Grove Press 1994.

This is a collection of 17 of Borges most popular works, or "fictions", in two parts; The Garden of Forking Paths, and Artifices. The themes of the stories are mainly centred around destiny, perceptions of time, and the concept of infinity, all three of which are the central component of Borges work. There is also an cultural and geographical examination of Argentina (particularly Buenos Aires). Ficciones is philosophically rich, steadily-paced, plot driven, and uses the thoughts and actions of characters to depict underlying metaphysical themes and questions, many of which are left up to the readers interpretation.