Daniel Bougnoux's 'Vocabulaire d'Aragon' Deciphers the Contradictions of a Literary Giant

Daniel Bougnoux, editor-in-chief of Cahiers de médiologie and director of the Pléiade edition of Aragon's complete novels, has published 'Vocabulaire d'Aragon', an alphabetical dictionary that explores the coherence behind the seemingly contradictory oeuvre of Louis Aragon. Bougnoux, a leading commentator on Aragon's work, avoids ideological readings, focusing instead on the texts themselves. The dictionary includes entries such as 'Aimer', 'Bel Canto', 'Collages', 'Communisme', 'Temps', and 'Transmission'. It addresses questions about the relationship between Aragon's anarchist and apparatchik phases, his libertine and romantic sides, his lyrical poetry and meticulous criticism, and the vast scale of his works versus their destructive impulses. Bougnoux also examines the stylistic shifts from surrealist revolt to realist novels, and from colloquial language reminiscent of Céline to neoclassical cadences. The book demonstrates how Aragon's multifaceted writing weaves together an 'erotic, a political, and a poetic' dimension. Jacques Henric praises the work for revealing the deep unity of Aragon's diverse writings.