This research project explores and analyzes the key concepts of French literature of the early twentieth century as a result of the political, infrastructural, and technological changes that began at the end of the nineteenth century. New architectural designs and the transformation of the structure of cities such as Paris had a profound effect on society and the artistic community, modifying art in both visual and literary forms. This study analyzes the ways in which these tangible changes influenced the creation of literary works during this shift into modernity, and how they led to the development of new artistic movements such as French Surrealism.

This project uses as a point of departure Walter Benjamin’s concept of the “aura,” which he discusses in the essay “Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” According to Benjamin, the aura is a sublime and unique quality that only an original work of art can possess. In his essay, he argues that technical advances, such as the invention of photography and film, which have allowed works of art to be reproduced and copied, have caused a disintegration of the aura. Benjamin’s notion of the aura and of its loss during the shift towards modernity can be analyzed in the context of the principal literary works of this time period.

The research project focuses primarily on the following works in order to examine the presence of Benjamin’s idea of the aura in literary texts: Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire, Du côté de chez Swann by Marcel Proust, and Le Paysan de Paris by Louis Aragon. While Les Fleurs du Mal was published in 1857, the other two works were written in 1913 and 1926 respectively, which allows for an observation of the sequential changes in French literature. A comparative study of these works allows us to contemplate the question of whether the aura has in fact been lost as a result of the modernizing urban landscape, or has rather undergone a transformation. Both Baudelaire and Aragon focus on the cityscape of Paris in their works, including its ongoing transformation, and the changes in the mode of perception of everyday life in modernity.

A key component of this question is the emergence of Surrealism, which Benjamin considers a revolutionary force in literature as an institution. The development of Surrealism complicates the idea of the loss of the aura due to the way in which Surrealist works depict the world. Surrealist works convey a sense of mysticism which raises reality to an almost magical level, adding to the discussion on the aura the possibility that it has been transformed as a result of the physical changes in the world, and their effects on literature, but that it may not have been completely eradicated by modernity.

In conclusion, this research project analyzes the works of Baudelaire, Proust, and Aragon in the context of the shift towards modernity alongside the ideas of Benjamin, in order to see how modern developments affected French literature at the turn of the twentieth century.