Nadja as Litterature and Loiterature

Abstract

Abstract Nadja (1928) is a novel written by André Breton (1896–1966). This article discusses how Nadja can be read as a form of ‘loiterature’ and ‘litterature’. The term ‘loiterature’ comes from Ross Chambers’s Loiterature; ‘litterature’ is borrowed from James Joyce and Jacques Lacan. The ‘litterary’ importance of litter is explored in Nadja through the narrator’s loitering in everyday Paris. To the narrator, Nadja’s ‘convulsive beauty’ embodies his own repression. When the repressed is considered as a residue of consciousness, its existence is akin to litter buried in a rubbish heap, like the residue of a city. The narrator says that each encounter with Nadja is fortuitous. Loitering in everyday Paris is the best means, if there is one, for the narrator to approach her; and the narration of Nadja can be read as ‘litterary loitering’ initiated by the unconscious.