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The Oulipo was founded in 1960 by a group of leading French writers and mathematicians, it still meets regularly some thirty five years later, making it one of the longest lived and productive literary groupings ever.

The Oulipo’s original aim was to inquire into the possibilities of combining literature and mathematics, but this field of study was soon expanded to include all writing using self-imposed restrictive systems. Remarkable Oulipian works have been written by Queneau, Calvino, Perec, Roubaud, Mathews (to mention only those familiar to English-speaking readers).

The group publishes a series of small booklets for circulation among its friends. This anthology reproduces six of them in English facsimile, from among the earliest (no. 3, 1976) to the most recent (no. 70, 1995); it provides the English reader with a taste at least of one of the most sustained and intriguing literary investigations of recent years. ... Read more

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Reformatting The Muse
Founded in late 1960 in France, at a colloquium on the work of Raymond Queneau, in order to research new writing by combining mathematics and literature (and also to just horse around) the Oulipo (The Ouvrior de LittÈrature Potentielle or Oulipo (The Workshop of Potential Literature)) expanded to include all writing using self-imposed restrictive systems.

Potential Literature, to me, seems an extension of Surrealism, which used the methods of literary production to critique modernism's obsession with the literary artifact; instead of the myth of the artist alone in some garret painstakingly crafting a Work of Art, literature is automatically generated by timed writing, or mechanically generated by multiple authors with games like the Exquisite Corpse or pieced together in a collage of found text. The Oulipo extends this the critique of modernism by exploring ways that literature can be produced as a result of mathematical formulas, or by building complex rules that limit writer's potential choices, or by the construction of new literary forms.

This book serves as a short introduction to the methods of potential literature several reprints from the groups pamphlet series, including François Le Lionnais's Manifestos and Italo Calvino's essay "How I Wrote One of My Books," which served as the blue print for If On a Winter's Nigh a Traveler.

Oulipo is a body of generative ideas rather than a critical or analytical method. It does away with philosophical underpinning in favor of just generating writing. Raymond Queneau regretted that writer's didn't use tools like other craftsmen. With word-processors, they do and this text supplies a range of techniques for extending mechanical writing beyond spell check. The muse has had her hard drive reformatted.

Absolutely Hilarious
This book is a riot!I highly recommend it.All of the texts are funny but Fornel's Suburbia is the funniest produced yet by the Oulipians. In addition, this book is a good introduction to the aesthetics of Oulipo, agroup of writers who are underappreciated by the American audience. ... Read more

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Les Ziaux (Eyeseas) presents a survey of Raymond Queneau's poems as written from his early Surrealist days of the 1920's through to 1943 and is representative of Queneau's range of poetic voices. Queneau (1903-1976)authored some 18 novels, 10 volumes of poetry, 7 volumes of essays and numerous commentaries, reviews, etc. during his lifetime. A founder of the literary movement known as Oulipo he is mainly known in the U.S. for his novel, Zazie dans le metro and Exercises in style. Very little of Queneau's poetry has been published in English. Translated by Daniela Hurezanu and Stephen Kessler who also provide an informative introduction. Bilingual French and English edition. ... Read more

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Thank you, New Directions
Queneau asked for this treatment. He deserved it. And you succeeded. The English-reading world thanks you for your good work. ... Read more

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Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Raymond Queneau," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Raymond Queneau in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Raymond Queneau when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Raymond Queneau, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Queneau, Queneau...
Une fête foraine, l'Uni-Park, sur l'emplacement de ce qui deviendra plus tard le Jardin Zoophilique. Au beau milieu de ce décor foiredutrônesque, où l'Alpinic-Railway voisine avec l'inénarrable Palace de la Rigolade, un étrange tombeau gardé par l'irréductible Mouilleminche, qui refuse obstinément de vendre son terrain. Tel est le décor au milieu duquel navigue notre ami Pierrot, amateur de petits boulots et de jolies filles, et ses amis Petit-Pouce et Paradis. Il tombe amoureux de la belle Yvonne, la fille du patron, qui hélas aime Paradis et se fiche pas mal de ses bonnes manières. Pas facile tout ça, quand on n'a pas un rond en poche et seulement ses yeux pour pleurer. Qu'il est étrange le petit monde de Raymond Queneau, ses personnages mêlant candeur et moquerie, son langage où surgissent ici ou là des incongruités grammaticales, des mots qui n'existent même pas. Et pourtant, qu'il est vrai! A la lecture de "Pierrot mon ami" les fans de Daniel Pennac découvriront une filiation évidente, sans toutefois les trouvailles de langage qui font florès chez Boris Vian et autres membres du célèbre "Collège de Pataphysique". Raymond Queneau a fait école, et c'est tant mieux, pour la langue française, qui a bien besoin d'être "décrassée", et pour notre plaisir de lecteur. A déguster sans modération... ... Read more

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