Old Email Archive

Return to old archive list

digest 1996-07-18 #001

11:25 PM 7/18/96 -0700
From: "Society for Literature & Science" 

Daily SLS Email Digest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 1996 07:26:21 -0700
From: "Candace D. Lang" 
Subject: Re: writing genres - ou-li-po?
On Wed, 17 Jul 1996, caroline nachman wrote:
> hello --
>         i know a very little bit about the ou-li-po (i think that's
the
> correct name) genre -- writing that imposes very specific
restrictions,
> assigning each chapter a max. # of words or sentences, for example
-- b/c
> one of the english profs at my college was/is into it
(sorrentino).
>         there is a book by one of these authors, about experiencing
WWII as
> a child, i think in a concentration camp at least some of the time.
 the
> only ou-li-po author i can think of is queneau, but i don't think
it's his,
> and i don't know the title.  anyone?
This is just a guess, but perhaps you are thinking of Georges
Perec's _W ou le souvenir d'enfance_?  He himself was not in a
concentration camp, but he does talk about his mother, who was exported
and never returned.  The book is a curious intermingling of personal
souvenirs of Perec and a fictional plot about a society that smacks of
Naziism.        
Candace Lang
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 1996 07:27:05 -0700
From: "Candace D. Lang" 
Subject: Re: writing genres - ou-li-po?
On Wed, 17 Jul 1996, caroline nachman wrote:
> hello --
>         i know a very little bit about the ou-li-po (i think that's
the
> correct name) genre -- writing that imposes very specific
restrictions,
> assigning each chapter a max. # of words or sentences, for example
-- b/c
> one of the english profs at my college was/is into it
(sorrentino).
>         there is a book by one of these authors, about experiencing
WWII as
> a child, i think in a concentration camp at least some of the time.
 the
> only ou-li-po author i can think of is queneau, but i don't think
it's his,
> and i don't know the title.  anyone?
This is just a guess, but perhaps you are thinking of Georges
Perec's _W ou le souvenir d'enfance_?  He himself was not in a
concentration camp, but he does talk about his mother, who was exported
and never returned.  The book is a curious intermingling of personal
souvenirs of Perec and a fictional plot about a society that smacks of
Naziism.        
Candace Lang