Exercises in Style - Softcover

Queneau, Raymond

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714542385 ISBN 13: 9780714542386

Publisher: Calder Publications Ltd, 1998

Synopsis

On a crowded bus at midday, the narrator observes one man
accusing another of jostling him deliberately. When a seat is vacated, the
first man appropriates it. Later, in another part of town, the narrator
sees the man being advised by a friend to sew another button on his
overcoat.

'Exercises in Style' retells this unexceptional tale 99 times, employing
the sonnet and the alexandrine, "Ze Frrench" and "Cockney". An "abusive"
chapter heartily deplores the events, "Opera English" lends them grandeur.

In 1947, when 'Exercises in Style' was first published in French, it led to
Queneau's election to the highly prestigious Academie Goncourt. This
virtuoso set of theme and variations is a linguistic rust-remover, a guide
to literary forms - a demonstration of the use of imagery and expletive.
But it is far too funny to be merely a pedantic thesis.

Barbara Wright's translation is a marvel of the art - much of it done in
collaboration and under the guidance of the author. The late Raymond
Queneau, novelist, poet, mathematician and editor, once told Barbara Wright
that of all his books, this was the one he most wished to see translated.
He rendered her his "heartiest congratulations", adding: "I have always
thought that nothing is untranslatable. Here is new proof. And it is
accomplished with all the intended humour."

About this title

Review

"Witty, playful, ingenious, it manages to transcend its own
sophistication by a sort of verbal slapstick which Miss Wright translates
into Pure Groucho Marxism."
-- The Guardian

About the Author

Raymond Queneau (1903-1976) is acknowledged as one of the most influential of modern French writers, having helped determine the shape of twentieth-century French literature, especially in his role with the Oulipo, a group of authors that includes Italo Calvino, Georges Perec, and Harry Mathews, among others.

Edition details

• Publisher: Calder Publications Ltd
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0714542385
• ISBN 13: 9780714542386
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 197