Tropisms

Description

"Tropisms" are "movements of which we are hardly cognizant, [they] slip through us on the frontiers of consciousness in the form of undefinable, extremely rapid sensations. They hide behind our gestures, beneath the words we speak, the feelings we manifest, are aware of experiencing ... They ... seem to me to constitute the secret source of our existence, in what might be called its nascent state."--Foreword, p.[6].

Description

Hailed as a masterpiece by Jean Genet, Marguerite Duras, and Jean-Paul Sartre, Tropisms is considered one of the defining texts of the nouveau roman movement. Nathalie Sarraute has defined her work as the “movements that are hidden under the commonplace, harmless instances of our everyday lives.” Like figures in a grainy photograph, Sarraute’s characters are blurred and shadowy, while her narrative never develops beyond a stressed moment. Instead, Sarraute brilliantly finds and elaborates subtle details―when a relationship changes, when we fall slightly deeper into love, or when something innocent tilts to the smallest degree toward suspicion.

Subjects

Other Editions

• TropismspaperbackGeorge Braziller1967-06-01
• TropismsNew Directions Publishing Corporation2015
• TropismsG. Braziller1963-01-01
• TropismsBraziller Incorporated, George1967-01-01
• TropismsAlma Classics2018-01-01