Tropisms

Nathalie Sarraute · 1900–1999 · France

Originally Tropismes (French)

Why it matters

Tiny, unnerving fragments capture the sub-verbal flickers of feeling beneath ordinary conversation, before they harden into cliché. Sarraute's debut announced the psychological method the nouveau roman would later formalize.

At a glance

Tiny, abstract fragments resist paraphrase by design.